final article for school paper

‘The purpose of the poetry is not to dazzle us with an astonishing thought, but to make one moment of existence unforgettable and worthy of unbearable nostalgia.’ Milan Kundera writes in Immortality, referring to Goethe. Kundera builds up the fictional character, Agnes, through continual references back to the real world. We see the inspiration of Agnes, and hear or are shown where he collects the names for her acquaintances from. Kundera clearly has a general theme which he wishes to explore, but rather than accomplishing that through a conventional story, he creates an entire world through which to weave his ideas.

For example, he explores how a person exists as an individual. ‘In our world’ he tells us, ‘where there are more and more faces, more and more alike, it is difficult for an individual to reinforce the originality of the self and to become convinced of its inimitable uniqueness.’

Uniqueness. As I reach the end of my time at Canford, I find myself wondering what all the bother of my time here has been about. With the headmaster asking me to avoid the temptation of being a ‘rebel without reason’, and almost daily strange inquiries from all sides (‘are you wearing a non school jumper?’) I feel there’s been an unnecessary amount of bother from everyone. As Kundera says, I try to subtract everything that is exterior or bothered, in order to come closer to my sheer essence (at the risk that zero lies at the bottom of the subtraction), and I’m told that I have to wear shoes. In order to keep my existence visible, I add attributes to my identity (with the risk that the essence of the self may be buried by the additional attributes) and I’m asked not to wear wellies. We all know the moans, and they’re boring.

Mr. Vandvik says to write about all the things which make me who I am. I guess the constant war of attrition I have enjoyed against the staff members here has helped form my personality. I am now an expert on pushing the boundaries just enough to annoy everyone.

Perhaps I am simply being petty, caring about material things such as uniform. Who cares about clothes enough to really rebel for them? I certainly have never felt that strongly that clothes convey one’s personality. Nevertheless, they are, in some ways, symbolic. It doesn’t matter at all whether material things resemble one’s soul, the point is that the thing becomes one of the attributes of the self. It’s always interesting to try to imagine what the teachers who ask me not to break the rules think my motives are. Perhaps they imagine I am a crazed anarchist who is utilising the imagology of creative clothing to convey my ultimate meaning of creative ideology. I’m sure the worry keeps them up at night. They’re wrong, though. Just like if you think that Kundera is trying to press a message through the beautiful writing in his books you’d be wrong.

But this article does have a message. Around me, the good burghers of this magazine are erupting with displeasure at the censorship which is, yet again, being displayed towards our paper. As usual, the writers have put their heart and soul into a beautiful article, perhaps mildly full of assumptions, and they are beaten into the dust of censorship, bemoaning the prospects of this magazine for getting anywhere, ever. The words of hope and courage with which the new editors greeted the magazine are being rapidly forgotten. But, like the issue over uniform, this is old news. We, the people of Canford, are told to grow up and realise that freedom of speech is not a reality when you’re not an adult. Oh wait, we are.