Name: Christina Katbe

Instructer’s name: Dania Adra

Class: English 203

28 October 2015

             This picture reflects the quest for freedom people are trying to achieve. The natural surroundings alludes to the fact that freedom is associated with nature rather than with the constraints of society. The man’s open arms show the relief and appreciation he is experiencing by temporarily spending a moment far from society’s pressure and expectations. The text “The Social conscience” written by jean-jaques Rousseau illustrates the idea held in this picture, whereby the author alludes to how freedom is lost through society. In his thesis, Rousseau questions whether legitimate rule of administration can exist in civil order. In other words, Will people have the ability to conform to laws in this society which is shackled by morals and expectations. Rousseau’s text is centered around how man is born free , and then becomes subjected to the shackles of morality, duty, and order. When he sais “the role that instinct used to play in his conduct is now taken over by a sense of justice(Rousseau 114)” , Rosseau  demonstrates the shift from being free to guiltlessly do anything within a person’s capacity, to being forced to cope with morals and ethics. He compares man’s civil liberty in society which is limited by his own will to the natural liberty which is limited by his physical capacities. He shows how living free in nature enabled people to act based on instincts and ability to acquire possessions through physical capacity and force, as opposed to being repressed by their sense of duty and obligation to conform with society’s  expectations of duty. This natural freedom is expressed through the content and relief evidently being felt by the man in the picture.

Works Cited

Rousseau, Jean-jaques. "The Social Contract." Shifting Narratives. Beirut: Center for Educational

          Consultation and Rsearch, n.d. 113-15. Print.