DISJUNCTIVE SOCIAL PROCESSES
IN
STEPHEN GILL’S THE FLAME
By
Dr. G. Dominic Savio
And
Mrs.
S.J. Kala
“ If a man does not make new acquaintances
as he advances through life, he will soon find himself alone….” - Samuel Johnson
An individual
abhors the state of isolation. He is not born into this world to live a life of
segregation. From womb to tomb he/she continually interacts with other members
of the society to fulfill his/her needs. This spurs an individual to come in
contact with other members of the society. Society comprises of norms and
statuses-the static element and it includes social interaction, the dynamic
element too. No individual is spared of social relationships, the functional
aspects of society. They are engaged in
different kinds of interaction called social processes.
The
term “Social Process” encompasses human interaction and patterns of behaviour. According to Green social interaction is
“…the mutual influences that individuals and groups
have upon one another in their attempts to solve problems and in their striving
toward goals. Social interaction discloses the concrete results of striving
behavior upon roles, statuses, and moral norms” (Green 57).
He also elaborates that “social processes are merely
the characteristic ways in which interaction occur” (Green57). Social
interaction that takes on a specific direction evolves into a social process.
Social processes are found in all societies. The processes of interaction have
been classified by sociologists based on the relationships that exist between
two interacting individuals and groups. “So classified the forms of interaction
are called the social processes” (Biesanz 113).
Integrative or Associative or Conjunctive social processes and Disintegrative or Dissociative or Disjunctive social processes are
the two kinds of social processes that they can be divided into. “Those
processes which tend to create harmony or unity in society” are called
Integrative or Associative or Conjunctive social processes (Ruhela133).
Accommodation, adjustment, assimilation, cooperation and integration fall under
this category. Disintegrative or Dissociative or
Disjunctive social processes are those “which tend to create disharmony or
disunity in society (Ruhela 134). They are competition, conflict, contravention
and dissension. Literature also mirrors these Conjunctive and Disjunctive
processes. Like many literary works Gill’s works too talk of these social
processes.
Stephen Gill, a
“The Flame is about peace and peace is
the main area of my exploration” (19). This long poem an outcome of Gill’s
eight years of work is divided into eight parts that is further divided into
sixty two cantos. In Gill’s own deliberation on the poem, the first part of The Flame is devotional. The second,
third, fourth, fifth are about the destruction caused by maniac messiahs. The
sixth part deals with those responsible for destruction. The yearning for the
loss surfaces out of the seventh and eighth part of the poem. Hope reigns in
the last part of the poem.
A
close study of the poem, The Flame
exposes the fact that a major portion of the poem deals with the causes and
consequences of disjunctive social processes. Hence, the paper aims at
identifying the type of disjunctive process, studying their specific characteristics and analysing their positive and negative effects on the
society.
Gill’s The Flame
mentions many socially defined relationships and specifies certain social
processes. Though social processes involve both conjunctive and disjunctive
processes yet, the poem brings into focus only the disjunctive processes. With
social contact and communication being the essential conditions of social
processes, it is scrutinized that negative social contact that paves way for
unhelpful social processes are predominant in the poem. “The
adherents of a wicked belief” (95) communicate only “wanton violence” (100) in
the poem.
Before delving deeper into the social processes a
study of the two essential conditions – social contact and communication – of
social processes becomes obligatory. What sort of social contacts are
underscored in the poem? Before that what is a Social contact? It is a pair of social
actions that have no further consequence. Social contacts can
otherwise be called an accidental social interaction. According to Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia, “social actions refer to any action that takes into account the actions and
reactions of other individuals and is modified based on those events.”
As social contact can be called an accidental social interaction,
in Gill’s The Flame the social
contact that takes place is due to the explosion of the Day Care Centre. The
social interaction among the victims’ parents, the volunteers, the fire
fighters, other rescue operators, doctors, nurses and counsellors
is a social contact of a kind.
There is a social contact of a different kind. The
plan chalked out by the terrorists with the mastermind of the blast preceding
it, is certainly a type of social interaction. The scheming is also an
interaction between human beings as Max Weber has pointed it out. It takes
place in windowless cells.
in the windowless cells
of anarchistic gospel
they prepare terror (104)
The terrorists are trained to carry out the project
and they are sufficiently brain washed to execute the task. It vouches for the
social contact among them. The social contact leads to a social action, the
blast that in turn leads to actions and reactions of other individuals in the
society. Their alleged actions and
reactions are modified based on those events.
A
camp was extemporized
in a parking lot….
The
area was cordoned off
most exit ramps were closed….
Investigators
and relatives
filled the hotels.(81)
Hospital
postponed planned surgeries
and nonessential radiological
procedures. (81)
The alleged reactions that are modified because of
the social action are manifested in the above lines.
With a study of the first condition of
social process, social contact, an investigation of its next condition –
communication - is indispensable. The learned skill, communication is acquired
by different people in varied ways for innumerable purposes. In Gill’s The Flame the people that we come across
can be broadly classified into two types. Firstly, the afflicted, their friends, relatives and rescue operators in general
can be grouped together. Secondly, they are the maniac messiahs the source of all affliction. Both groups of people
use only oral communication in the poem.
A look at the first group of people, tells that they orally
communicate with one another only in their anxiety to trace someone alive or
dead or to help one another in some way or the other.
A
woman
showed a picture of her two sons
to everyone to know
if they had seen them….
Another,
requested all
if they had spotted her daughter. (77)
The maniac messiahs’
terrific act, though unsaid, certainly involves communication. They in their
secret hideouts would undoubtedly have drawn out specific details about the
safe implementation of the devilish deed, debated again and again about its
feasibility. Who knows it might have involved even some written communication?
Whatsoever it may be they have openly communicated hatred for humanity through
a violent act. These conditions pave way for social processes.
Of the four social
processes - competition, conflict, contravention and dissension, that create
disharmony or disunity in the societies, conflict abounds in The Flame. “Conflict is deliberate attempt
to oppose, resist or coerce the will of another or others”(Green58).
In The Flame there is no situation of
cold war, that is conflict in the form of threat but there is a detailed
description of violence and its repercussions. If it is so, what type of a
conflict is it?
Simmel has spelt out four types of conflict. They are war,
feud, litigation and conflict of impersonal ideas. The violence in The Flame is not clearly the implication
of a war, a feud or litigation. Nor is it an eruption of conflict of impersonal
ideas that is carried on by the individuals not for themselves but for an
ideal. No one in the poem seems to be fighting for an ideal.
…the
social lepers wander
among the denominations of malice
brazen about their endless idols
to worship the bubbles
of the self. (99)
There is yet another typology of conflict that can be
classified into corporate and personal conflict; latent and overt conflict;
class conflict; racial conflict; caste conflict; group conflict; and
international conflict. The verbal pictures of violence and its aftermath
featuring in The Flame can be
identified as a corporate conflict or a group conflict. The violence described
does not talk about just an individual or a group being a victimized, but it
talks of the killing of a great number of people.
When
the avatars of savagery
mow down defenseless innocence (48)
The
line “mow down defenseless innocence” brings out the image of a lawn being
mowed by a mower in an attempt to maintain it. Gill with his apt choice of
words brings out the appalling predicaments of the innocent victims of the
disaster wrought by the maniac messiahs.
The
crumble of steel doors
besmear with red
drops.
Pressed
into a shaky layer
of a massive cake
stuffed with metal, broken furniture, …( 49)
Such devastation is surely the outcome of a corporate
conflict or a group conflict. “Corporate conflict occurs among the groups
within a society or between two societies. Groups often attempt to impose their
will upon other groups….” (Green59). Race riots, communal upheavals, religious
persecutions, labour- management, conflict and war
between nations are examples of a corporate or a group conflict.
Though Gill does not talk conspicuously about the
cause of the horrifying violence, yet it is clear that it is an upshot of
terrorism, a topical issue bothering everyone in the globe.
I
cannot see
the burning bush of your beauty
because terrorists have loosened
suffocating gases… (106)
The
terrorists and their insane behaviors modify the behaviors of others. The
terrorists’ act that takes place in the poem robs each individual of their
peace. They are no more “citizens of peace.” (104)
Thick
black smoke
that arises from cannons
hovered above the choicest gem
leaving the smell of the gun powder
to poison the
palate of peace. (51)
The
scenes of “deafening disorder”, “ the waves of supreme
disaster” (52) and “wanton violence” (100) in The Flame can also be
evidences of group conflict. It is a
conflict “found between two more groups of any kind ….” (Rao 320). The “avatars of savagery” ( 48), the “blood spillers”
(89), the heartless men who “deal with the devil”, “ the sightless assassins of the innocence”
(90), and the “social lepers” (99), are the individuals who are in conflict
with other groups of the society.
Even though the destructive act has been identified as
the result of the corporate or group conflict yet the features of conflict in
general can be attributed to it. In keeping with such a notion, let conflict, a
disjunctive social process that has certain specific characters be analysed. Firstly, conflict is universal. It is nothing new
and unique to a society. No specific reference to a geographical location of
the Day Care Centre in the poem allows Gill to assure for the universal nature
of conflict. The Day Care Centre that is shattered to pieces in the poem is not
of any particular city, nation, or a continent.
Children
either breakfasted
or played
and the cribs overlooked the street. (70)
Had the poet named
the Day Care Centre or the street that
it overlooks the readers would have certainly distanced themselves from it and
the disaster that have struck it. They
might have felt just the way they would have after reading of such an incident
from a newspaper. They may even breathe a sigh of relief and feel undisturbed
that it has happened in some corner of the globe. But, the situation of the
poem makes any reader from any part of the globe to empathise
with the victims and feel for them as he would when his own friends or
relatives are confronted with it.
Secondly,
conflict is a conscious process. Members of a group harm the members of the
other group consciously and knowingly. Gill, too is quite sure that it is a
conscious process. In Part –six of the poem he shoots forth a volley of
questions at the assassins revealing the alertness of their consciousness
before the act.
Who
can tell
if they wiped sweat
before unchaining the bulldozers
of their delusional disorder … (90)
Who
can tell
if the night before
they tied and untied the knots of reason… (91)
What
more can keep one’s consciousness alert other than reason? Still, they do not
pay heed to it.
Thirdly,
sociologists are of the opinion that it is emotional. The whole process is
founded on emotions. Sociologists state that men’s actions are guided by
instincts and not by logic or reasoning. Gill too upholds the same idea.
Who
can tell
if the tender hands of the toddlers
tried to strangle
the throat of their conscience (91)
The phrases
“delusional disorder”, “strangle the throat of their conscience”, “tied and untied
the knots of reason” used by Gill in the poem are instances of conflict being
emotional. The terrorists are purely driven by instincts terms Gill. Had
logical thinking and reasoning accompanied the attack it would have been
avoided. But, even that seems to be lacking. In the poem Gill is not quite
explicit about what they wanted to achieve as he himself is not sure of it.
Who
can tell
what it was
they wanted to achieve
and the glare of which beliefs
lured them
for a tango with the agents of carnage
on the mountain of emptiness. (94)
Fourthly, any
conflict is a personal process. The destruction of Day Care Centre, by the
terrorists does not have a valid cause but, it may have a personal motive. The
coming together of the individuals as terrorists is certainly because of an
individual, his personal and inner unhealed wound or his consideration of it as
a pastime. Gill himself is of such a belief.
…they
become maniac messiahs
to snuff out the inner blaze.
breathing the stink of ferocity
as a pastime (102)
Fifthly,
conflict is intermittent. Its appearance and disappearance happens suddenly.
There is no proof of it being continuous. In the poem too the attack is very
sudden.
Suddenly
windows came crushing in
and the ceiling began to drop.
(70)
The
disastrous act specified in the poem is so sudden that nobody is able to
recollect how it happened and what followed it like the “grandmother” who feels
that she has woken up from a bad dream.
For
his grandmother
it was awakening
from a bad dream.(71)
Conflict, a fundamental social trait, is an
inevitable part of the society. Simmel is of the
opinion that conflict- free society is impossibility. Whatever be the type of
conflict, it has a specific role to play in the society. It has to be underscored that it has both
positive and negative roles to perform. The positive effects of conflict in
general are many. But, only one of its effects that can be associated with
corporate or group conflict is taken for study. “The group in conflict with
another group is strengthened in its ‘we’ feeling.” (Biesanz
116)
The
rescue operations that follow the devastation bear witness to the strengthening
of the bond among the victimized and the empathisers. Such a situation also paves ways for the
emergence of a leader.
The
leader often shouted
as loud as he could:
“We
are here to help.
call out.”
All
would wait, praying
to hear a whisper or sob. (65)
The
usage of the blanket term “the leader” not relating to a political, a religious
or an administrative leader reveals the oneness of the group led by a single
head. “All would wait, praying” irrespective of age, caste and creed. How
unified they are!
The most vigorous form of social interaction,
conflict has umpteen negative effects. Those that are relevant to the study of
the poem are dealt with here. Social thinkers have analysed
that it is a costly way of settling disputes. Gill is also on the same line of
thought. In the poem the damage caused to the lives of the people is
unimaginable.
A
man hung out of a window
blood from his head
dripping.(52)
The verbal description of the man hanging
from the window and the blood dripping from his head emphasizes the hideousness
of the abominable act. Gill’s detailed picture of the gruesome incident makes
the readers recoil in horror.
There
was an arm and a head
and a woman’s leg
from the knee down
the rest was buried under the rubble.
A
body appeared
to have through
a meat grinder.
There
was an open
chest cavity
beside a headless torso.(53)
Gill’s vivid account of the body having
gone through a meat grinder, of the “open chest cavity beside a headless torso”
and of the man in a sitting position split in half unravels the repugnance of
the horrendous incident, making the readers shudder at the very thought of it.
At
the back of the building
a body was slumped
in a sitting position
and a man was split in half. (53)
They
saw babies
shrouded in blood … (72)
The ghastly and dreadful sketch of the victims is
quite heart – ripping. Besides an illustration of the dead, Gill lists a wide
range of materialistic damages too. From parking metres
to the crumpled cars each and every object that would have been damaged due to
such a bloodcurdling incident are discussed elaborately.
Parking
metres rent
metal doors twirled
and the lot strewn
with burnt, mangled chassis,
fenders and hoods.
Cars
crumpled, flipped
and went into flames.
Some
overturned
and some were covered
with rubble (56)
Nothing
can replace lives. The loss of lives, property and other materials is indeed
colossal. It causes social disorder, chaos and confusion.
Several
people spent their nights
in sleeping bags
on cots or folding chairs
stunned or thinking
how they would cope without a brother
child, wife
or mother.(83)
Confusion, anger, fear, and shock that would quite
unconsciously grip the afflicted and those agonizing thoughts that may shroud
individuals during such moments are highlighted in the poem. It is not only the
causalities that Gill chronicles but he also records the psychological
impairment.
Fearing
retribution
several families did not speak
and several more
confused, outraged or shocked …(84)
Volunteers,
cops, remote- sensing specialists, engineers, investigators, sergeants, medical
team and fire fighters involved in rescue operations “wearing a despairing
mantle of confusion”(79) have to manoeuvre through
the “ghastly wreckage”. (64)
Conflict
also brings in a lot of psychological and moral damages. Besides the plagued
relatives of the dead, the rescue operators too are psychologically affected by
the incident. They too undergo the same traumatic experience.
While
carrying an infant
When
a cop paused to breathe
he looked down.
He
was standing
on a dead child.
The tribulation endured by the cop and the rescuer is
indescribable and unimaginable.
A
rescuer was frozen
when he saw a truck
like the one his
son had.(73)
In
general fire fighters are considered to be very strong after all the rigorous training
that they undertake before and after recruitment into their service. But, in The Flame, along with the volunteers
they too are shaken by the chilling truth.
The
fire fighters wept
as they lifted weightless bodies
struggling
to retain composure. (75)
shocked volunteers
witnessed a pyramid of ashes
over the cradles –
a bone – chilling calculation
that demeaned the design in living.(78)
Such a sight weakens their morale, posing varied
questions on the wretchedness of life. Sensing the psychological impact, Gill
stresses the need for counseling centres during such
shocking and gory moments:
Counseling centres sprang
up
with psychologists
pastoral assistance
and psychiatrists (83)
A study
of the disjunctive social processes in The
Flame very specifically conflict, divulges the characteristics of the
corporate conflict in the poem. It also unfolds a positive effect and scores of
negative effects of conflict – the blowing up of the Day Care Centre. Regardless of the only positive effect the
‘we feeling’ it is worth pondering that the negative effects are quite
excruciatingly painful. If it is assumed that the positive effects of conflict
outnumbered the negative effects of it, even then no one should be lured by it.
The life of a human being is inestimable and irreplaceable.
Nothing should be wrought
staking the lives of individuals. If a conflict in a literary work is so
stirring how much more will it be when we come to grips with it in reality?
Should innumerable innocents be subjected to such a harrowing experience? So,
is such a conflict an essential part of the society? Is it indispensable? Can’t
a society progress without it? Should it not be averted? It certainly should be
however beguiling it may be. “I believe that peace is the legitimate child of
peaceful means.” (21) Only then a peaceful society built solely on love can
prevail. Since all human beings aspire for peace, let a world of peace be
established.
WORKS CITED
Biesanz, John and Mavis Biesanz. Introduction to Sociology.
Gill, Stephen. The Flame.
Green, Arnold W. Sociology an Analysis of life in Modern Society.
Rao , Shankar,C.N. Sociology.
Ruhela,
Satya Pal. Introduction
to Sociology. Gurgaon: Shubhi
Publications, 2005.
Social Contact. Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia.
Social Action. Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia.
What is Communication?
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Dr. G. Dominic Savio is Reader in English at The American College
In
Mrs. S.J. Kala is a Senior Lecturer in English at
Both have written and
published extensively on literary subjects.