“Originality does not consist in saying what no one has ever said before, but in saying exactly what you think yourself.” This astute quote by James Stephens surpasses the surface concept that we hold of originality: it makes the bold assertion that originality is not in the entity that is dreamed into existence; rather originality exists in the dreamer. True originality occurs when the dreamer, remains true to themselves and has enough belief in their own abilities to create a better world.
Perhaps one of the hardest struggles for the human race is learning to be content with oneself amidst an environment that continually offers enticing inducements for conformity. When the millennium bells rang clear seven years ago and the gigantic glittering ball dropped from Times Square, Americans everywhere were issuing new hopes and making new goals, not that they would stay true to their own desires, but that they would become like everyone else. Wanting to lose weight, wanting to get a more fashionable car, wanting happier lives, they gave up more than a passion for junk food: they gave up their passion for themselves – for originality.
Eliot claims that the artist’s ultimate work should link the past to the present and to the future. As a link in time, a piece of art can only shine when it conforms, to some degree, to the precedence (Eliot 1093). When it accomplishes this goal, then the work can be objectively compared, and it gains a place in history. Yet, art should also strive for a sense of newness, of uniqueness in order to evoke new responses and feelings in the reader, to create meaning. Due to innate archetypes and pan-temporal themes, creating a completely new icon remains inconceivable to most minds. However, as Eliot argues, the success of uniqueness lies not in creating a new icon, but rather in creating an iconoclast: in other words, the artist should juxtapose old motifs in implausible positions and relations in order to break the established pattern. As a result, the mixture of past and present creates a new genre that continues into the future, and the artist links the past to the future.***
Originality cannot coexist with conformity. Like a rose choked amongst a host of weeds and brambles, instead of blooming it becomes suffocated and dies. When humans lose contentment with who they are, they voluntarily commit homicidal suicide because they murder every chance they have of living a fruitful life.
***Part of this essay was taken from one of my Lit Crit essays for Dr. Woodard's Literary Criticism class
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