Definitions of dignity

The literature on why the loss of dignity is but a gradual loss of individuality

I had a horrid start to my reading list this year. After labouring through a so-called modern classic, I got hit by a couple of gave-up-ons. But right after that came Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day and two other masterpieces, Born a Crime by Trevor Noah and Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. Though set in different worlds, all three had a common undercurrent, attempting to define the concept of ‘dignity’.

Ishiguro tries to explain dignity from the eyes of Stevens, an elderly butler who derives his definitions of dignity from his father’s and his own experiences. Even in a very colonial, classist environment, he is able to convey the meaning as the uprightness displayed under trying circumstances. An uprightness that was typically expected out of butlers in the traditional English houses. At one point, when asked what dignity means, he responds:  “It’s rather a hard thing to explain in a few words, sir. But I suspect it comes down to not removing one’s clothing in public”. But later in one more personal experience, Stevens narrates how he went about his duty while his father was on his deathbed under the same roof and calls that dignity. That could be the closest example to justify the first meaning of dignity according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary — ‘formal reserve or seriousness of manner, appearance, or language’. Despite the seriousness of Stevens’ experiences with respect to his father, it did sound very superficial. And I discovered the deeper meaning and perspective of dignity as I went on with the next two books.

In

Born a Crime , Trevor tells the compelling story of his childhood set in the apartheid in South Africa in his unique humorous ways, without explicitly mentioning dignity or the lack thereof. Apartheid was a clear case of direct attacks on individuals’ dignity and this was not limited to a few individuals but on multiple generations of native South Africans. Without any mention of dignity, each attempt or experiment of Trevor during his childhood or growing up years to earn his living was in a way an attempt to regain or retain his dignity in the post-apartheid era. The ways and means may not always be

legal , but the context was there for everyone to see.

This brings us to the third book in this

dignity-series , Unbroken , which is a story of Louis Zamperini, a U.S. Air Force bomber who survives through extremes of brutality during the Second World War by Japanese forces on western prisoners of war. At one point, Laura mentions: “Dignity is as essential to human life as water, food, and oxygen. The stubborn retention of it, even in the face of extreme physical hardship, can hold a man’s soul in his body long past the point at which the body should have surrendered it.” She also says, “Without dignity, identity is erased. In its absence, men are defined not by themselves, but by their captors and the circumstances in which they are forced to live.”

In the case of Trevor or Louis, dignity was not in maintaining manners during torture, but about being able to feel equal human. Their struggle was to overcome the aggressors not in physical scuffles, but to not let them succeed in making the captives feel lesser humans. And that is much closer to the second Merriam-Webster meaning of dignity: ‘the quality or state of being worthy, honored, or esteemed’.

Laura takes it a bit further by contemplating how an individual reacts when his or her dignity is violated. The most common reaction is to keep reliving the torment through flashes and nightmares and eventually convincing oneself that the only way out is to seek revenge. And that makes both Louis and Trevor special. While Trevor attempts to overcome the experiences using humour, Louis goes a step further and grants forgiveness to his captors through religious followings. A tough act given the brutality of suffering he had to endure.

The understanding of dignity provided by Ishiguro and by Trevor and Laura may differ, but the common factor between them is Individuality. Loss of dignity is a gradual loss of individuality.

mangesh18@yahoo.com