The Other, Post 4

Upon reading the fourth section of The Other, by David Guterson, I have come to realize that the main topic of the book is compromises. More specifically, the book explores the idea that most people make compromises in their lives in order to assimilate to society. People have to deviate from their ideal vision of how they should live their lives if they want to enter mainstream culture. Neil Countryman is the character in The Other who makes these compromises—he is finding the middle ground between doing what he believes in and doing what is convenient. John William, of course, represents the opposite of this. John William has decided that he is going to avoid compromising his beliefs and ideals at all costs. This choice has led him to live in a cave, isolated from society.

Neil’s decision to let society’s standards overrule his own beliefs may initially make him seem like a hypocrite. For example, when Neil receives the first $70,000 from John William, he is originally repulsed by the idea of having so much money. He realized that, because of the money, his “life was changed, and this understanding was not only poignant, but tinged by…corruption” (135). Even though at first, he hated the idea of being rich and wanted to give all the money to charity, he eventually decided to use some of the money to stay in a fancy hotel with his girlfriend in San Francisco. On one level, this decision reveals a double-standard held by Neil. But on the other hand, who wouldn’t use a fraction of the windfall for enjoyment? Wanting to have fun in life is a natural human desire, and Neil is simply acting the way that almost all other people would act in his situation. Furthermore, Neil split the difference between his idealistic aspirations of giving the money to charity and his greedy desire to use it all for himself. He didn’t move out of his ratty basement apartment and he didn’t take a month-long vacation to Italy—in other words, he didn’t entirely abandon his morals. Therefore, I think it would be a mistake to label Neil as a hypocrite, because of his conscious decision to maintain some of his ideals.

John William, however, refuses to budge from his lofty ideals and criticisms of society. He is fiercely opposed to materialism, to society’s emphasis on money and status, and to almost anything that is celebrated by the bulk of society. He criticizes Neil incessantly for Neil’s assimilation into mainstream culture. For example, at one point Neil asks John William how he plans to survive the winter in his cave, without a source of food or heat. Neil asserts that John William will “go up to Forks for bacon and eggs” instead of sticking to his disciplined life confined to the forest (149). John William fires back that this is only something Neil would do. John William tells Neil, “You’re thinking of yourself. You’re a loyal citizen of hamburger world” (149). John William prides himself on being separate from civilization and its flaws. His goal in life has become to live without stooping to society in any way, and that is what motivated him to retreat into his cave. However, even John William has a certain dependence on civilization because of his reliance on the food and supplies that Neil brings him periodically in his cave. Therefore, not even John William, in his extreme way of life, is free of hypocrisy.

In writing about Neil and John William, author David Guterson seems to draw no conclusions about which character’s way of life is correct. His purpose in writing the book isn’t to persuade readers to adopt John William’s hermit lifestyle, or to follow Neil’s path. He is simply examining the compromises that our society forces us to make, and the way people react to this societal force. An interesting exception to this neutral stance, however, is that Guterson portrays Neil as being happier than John William. Neil has a girlfriend, takes vacations, and enjoys his studies in college; John William leads a lonely existence weaving baskets from bark. The only thing that John William has that Neil lacks is the knowledge that he is doing only what he believes in. As a reader, this difference between the two characters makes me want to lead a life like Neil’s as opposed to one like John William’s.

Work Cited:

Guterson, David. The Other. New York: Random House, 2008.