his labor from himself. Pickle jar filling is just something he does, it’s not who he is. Yet he spends every day doing this one thing. Laborers exercise no, or very limited, control over the process of production. Labor is not expressive; it’s necessary and often undesirable. Really, how many people like to go to work? How many people, if they had their druthers, would continue doing their current job? For many, work is a necessary evil because work is not where they find satisfaction. And since many can’t find satisfaction in their jobs, they begin to identify with those functions over which they do have control. If one spends one’s life filling pickle jars, then off time is where he will find his true self. Marx believes that the worker will identify with those things he does have control over; satisfaction of basic animal urges such as eating, sleeping, or sex; his consumption patterns; and what he buys. “The result we come to is that the human being (the worker) feels freely active only in his animal functions, eating, drinking, procreating at most also in lodging, attire, etc., and in his human functions he feels like an animal. The bestial becomes human and the human becomes bestial.”7 Of course, Marx is not saying that these activities have no place in a full human life. Clearly, eating, drinking, and procreating have their place. Who doesn’t enjoy a round at the bar? But Marx’s point is that when these functions take on a character of being the sole focus, end, or purpose of one’s life, then we’re attempting to satisfy our need to be producers with ultimately unfulfilling activities or the mere acquisition of goods. You can’t buy happiness when happiness is only found in expressive activity, yet this is proletarian life. One copes with alienation through distraction; that is, through conspicuous consumption or filling one’s life with one idle entertainment after another. The individual becomes a consumer, not a producer, and so our existence fails to live up to our essence. This may work, for a while. We may be momentarily happy on the surface, but this is only so long as we can distract ourselves from the realization that our lives are not expressive of what we at root are. When this realization hits, it hits like a ton of bricks, and we cope the best we can with what is within our control, and red sports car salesman and plastic surgeons like Sylvester McMonkey McBean make out like bandits.
Just Pay Me Your Money and Hop Right Aboard
Consider the plight of both the Sneetches and Gertrude McFuzz. Dissatisfied with their respective lots in life they attempt to consume their way out of their misery. The Sneetches, originally the ones without stars but later all of them, believe that they must occupy a certain social position. The Sneetches without stars seek recognition; they want to be seen as equals to those with stars. But there is nothing they can do about this. They can’t make stars, they can’t take stars, it’s their lot in life to be “less than.” Thankfully, Sylvester McMonkey McBean offers them the opportunity to elevate their social status. For a nominal fee they can buy stars. Since they can’t actually do anything to make life bearable, to earn status as equals, they will buy it. Gertrude McFuzz is in a similar position. She wants to be accepted; she wants to be pretty and presumably liked by the other birds. But she only has one droopy-droop feather. She needs two, just like that fancy birdie, Lolla-Lee-Lou. Then she’ll be happy. Again we have a disaffected person who seeks acceptance, recognition, and affirmation. At first it appears that she is powerless. Then after she pleads with him, Uncle Doctor Dake reluctantly informs her about a pill-berry bush that will give her what she needs, more feathers. But he knows it’s a fool’s errand. “Such talk! How absurd! Your tail is just right for your kind of bird” (McFuzz). This is good advice against vanity and for self-esteem and a realistic and healthy body image. But Gertrude is having none of it. She knows what she needs.
With both the Sneetches and Gertrude