Dr. Seuss and Philosophy - Jacob M. Held [23]
Pontoffel Pock, Who Are You?
To oversimplify, under capitalism workers are forced to sell their labor in order to buy necessities. And to add insult to injury, their work is often unfulfilling, dull, and mostly pointless. Take Pontoffel Pock, for example. In the animated story, “Pontoffel Pock and His Magic Piano,”1 alternatively known as “Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You?,” we’re introduced to Pontoffel Pock, a bumbling doofus who just can’t get things right and wishes to get away from it all. Ultimately, he gets his wish when a fairy, McGillicuddy, gives him a magic piano that takes him all over the world.
Pontoffel Pock’s troubles begin at Gicklers Dill Pickle Works. Pontoffel Pock wants a job in works, and he gets hired. And the job seems simple enough. His training consists of a twenty-second song introducing him to his job, “Just pull on the pull’em and push on the push’em and the pickles go into the jars” (Pock). Now imagine you’re Pontoffel Pock. Your job is dull, even if you like it. Pontoffel Pock wants this job and is very saddened when he loses it. But it is still undeniably dull. It dulls your mind and your senses. There’s no room for development. And you are stuck here so long as you need a paycheck, insurance, or what have you. To leave the job is to leave behind your ability to make a living. Most people can’t afford to do so, so they find themselves trapped in jobs that are unfulfilling, with no real possibility of escape. Like Pontoffel Pock they can wish, wish, wish to get away, but no McGillicuddy is going to award them a magic piano, so they’ll continue working as long as they can or are allowed to. But why is this so bad? We all have to do it, and it is just the way the world is, right? We can make do and enjoy what we can, like vacations, flat screen TVs, video games, sports. . . . But is this what life should be? Should life consist of working undesirable jobs for other people and merely tolerating it through the consumption of a few luxury items? If you want to understand why Marx is morally opposed to capitalism, you have to begin at the pickle works and with an understanding of what it is to be a human being.
For Marx, the essence of humanity is activity, specifically free, conscious activity.2 People are first and foremost producers; we can create and recreate our environment to suit our needs, and as an expression of ourselves. In this sense, Marx is indicating that the unique characteristic of humanity, its species difference, what distinguishes the human being from all other creatures, is that we can produce or create according to a freely chosen plan. In addition, our activity is inherently social. We produce in a community in order to not only secure our necessities but also to free ourselves up for leisure activities, and thus freer production. “[Man] only truly produces when free from physical need. . . .”3 Until our necessities are net, our needs dictate how we will produce. Once our needs are met we can produce freely.
Marx’s account of the role labor plays in human life is influenced heavily by the account of artistic expression given by G. W. F. Hegel (1770–1831). Hegel writes: “[M]an is realized for