Barabbas exemplar
1. Analyse how internal and / or external conflict were important to the text.
Planning:
Doubt and guilt
faith vs. cynicism
Anomie
analogy / analogous
cynical – contempt for gullible followers
Lagerkvist’s literary position (modernist writer)
EXISTENTIAL CRISIS OF MODERN MAN
Frederick Nietzsche
The industrial revolution in Europe led to great advances in mechanical technology and
people were often swept up in the idea of Western civilisation becoming something truly noble.
Efficient engines took over from tired work horses; rational thinking was championed over
superstition.
However, the arrival of WWI horrified modern man because of the gruesome
deaths suffered through chemical warfare and machinegun fire. How could any sensible person
suggest that society was progressing when men were creating such barbaric ways of killing each
other? Modernist writers in the early part of the 20th century became disillusioned; they no
longer believed the ‘lies’ of progress and glory; and, as a result, they suffered from a sense of
anomie. In this respect, Par Lagerkvist is a typical modernist writer. Interestingly, Lagerkvist
explores the existential crisis of modern man by writing an analogy centred not on modern
warfare but on the internal conflict of Barabbas – a thief who was acquitted so that Jesus was
crucified.
Barabbas begins with the acquitted thief watching Christ’s crucifixion and noticing two things:
the paralysing sadness of Mary and the feebleness of Jesus.
As an orphan who grew up to
become a criminal, Barabbas is naturally curious about a mother’s reaction to her son’s death
sentence. He is taken aback when he sees that Mary is emotionally drained by witnessing the
slow death of her son’s crucifixion. In comparison, Jesus is also a terribly pathetic figure. He
has a puny frame, a hairless chest, and his weak hands show that he has not done much physical
work. As he slowly dies on the cross, he asks for water in a croaky voice and a Roman soldier
finally obliges by offering him a sponge soaked in muddy water. Jesus cannot bring himself to
suck from the sponge and, hours later, dies on the cross just after uttering: “My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me?” As Mary leaves Golgotha, other mourners point out Barabbas to
her and explain that he was acquitted so that her son, literally, dies in his place. Mary gives
Barabbas a filthy look yet helpless look, which deeply implants a sense of guilt in the freed thief.
Subsequently, the level of Barabbas’ guilt increases profoundly because Jesus is also a very
popular rabbi, as well as being a mother’s beloved child. His followers believe that he is the ‘son
of God’. According to the Christians, Barabbas is partly responsible for deicide. Here, Lagerkvist
is clearly linking Barabbas’ association with Jesus’ death with modern man – namely Frederick
Nietzsche – declaring: “God is dead”.
German philosopher Nietzsche reasoned that western civilisation had progressed to the point
where man had ‘killed’ God because there was no place for faith in a modern society where
science and reason could produce solid answers to important questions about life and existence.
Biblical tales about miracles appear to be a symptom of naïve superstition rather than sound
scientific judgement or reason.
Without God, modern civilisation is a lot more logical - but at
the same time, the universe also becomes a lot lonelier. In addition, modern man is inflicted with
a sense of guilt for ‘killing’ God. Thus Barabbas’ internal conflict is analogous to the existential
crisis of modern man, which is obvious when the reader considers how - throughout the novel Barabbas is searching for proof that the crucified man was the ‘son of God’. [582 words]
Throughout Barabbas, the freed thief looks for evidence of Christ being divine. When he first
sees him in the courtyard, Barabbas thinks Jesus is surrounded by a halo, but later dismisses the
idea as a normal illusion created by being locked up in a dark cell for too long. He talks with a
hare-lipped girl who was also present at Christ’s resurrection. She insists that a flaming angel
from heaven thrust a spear into rock so that Jesus could rise from the grave. But Barabbas was
there and saw no such thing. He also knows that the girl is a sad and lonely outcast who is forced
to live with lepers, so she is clearly delusional. Barabbas then seeks out Lazarus – the man Jesus
supposedly raised from the dead – and asks him about the afterlife.
Lazarus is puzzled by
Barabbas’ question and blankly states that death is just nothingness.
All these fruitless
attempts to find solid proof of Jesus’ divinity and of life after death changes Barabbas. [751
words]
At first, when he realises that most of Christ’s followers are either gullible or desperate – and
he comes to grips with the finality of death - Barabbas indulges in wine and woman. Lagerkvist’s
analogy, at this point, notes that modern man, when faced with the idea of a Godless mortality,
often makes a desperate attempt to live every day as if it were the last. But Barabbas’ hedonism
doesn’t last long because he soon tires of the woman.
The second phase of Barabbas’ change involves his guilt mutating into cynicism and contempt.
When Barabbas becomes a slave in an underground copper mine, he tells Sahak (a devoted
Christian) the hare-lipped girl’s story of a flaming angel opening up Jesus’ grave.
Sahak’s is
awestruck with the idea of being chained to a man who has witnessed the resurrection and hangs
on Barabbas’ every word. Barabbas, in turn, begins to despise Sahak because he is so gullible.
This event represents the internal conflict of a modern man – a rationally minded person – who
nevertheless chooses to go through the motions of religious worship. How could a reasonable
person revere tales of miracles when faith appears to be nothing but desperate, intellectual
laziness?
The climax of Barabbas’ internal conflict comes at the end of the novel where he is crucified at
Golgotha. Alone, with just his reasoning and cynicism for comfort, Barabbas utters: “To thee I
deliver up my soul” and then dies. Thanks to the brilliance of Lagerkvist’s writing, there is a
great deal of ambiguity over whether or not Barabbas finally surrenders entirely to religion. The
unnerving uncertainty at the end of the novel underscores the fact that there is resolution to
Lagerkvist’s analogy – just as there is no solution to the existential crisis of modern man in the
early 20th century. [1013 words]