As John Book awakes in an Amish household, he is immediately thrust into a lifestyle that holds a drastically different set of ideals from his own. Coming from highly individualized and self-centered city living, Book is accustomed to managing his own affairs, and his affairs alone. It’s the English way to take care of oneself independently from others, as the rest of the population does the same in autonomous peace. When he arrives in the Lapp house, however, he is helpless and relies upon the kindness of others, humbling him and teaching him humility. Once he is able-bodied, he begins to pay it forward and benefit the community much in the way they benefitted him, as we see through his chores, the barn raising, and even rebuilding the birdhouse.
Also whilst living in the Lapp household, Book unconsciously takes on a father role as he protects Samuel, humbles himself to Eli, and falls in love with Rachel. Never starting a household of his own, this introduces to Book the importance of family values, a virtue he may have gone on without knowing were he to continue his life in the city uninterrupted. In mealtime scenes this makeshift family looks natural from the outside, and leads Book to roleplay the father in something of a training experience for him.
Though he is in constant conflict with the Amish way, making mistakes and faux pas one after another, Book eventually learns to subjugate his own cultural norms and accept the ones around him. His stubbornness slowly wears off, and as their values of modesty and hard work rub off on him, he abandons the traits of individuality and selfishness that conflict with his new way of life. His steady adaptation to the Amish way is often comic relief, but he eventually realizes that their living is not backwards or inferior to his own, and embraces it almost in its entirety.
But unfortunately he cannot completely transform into a denizen of the Amish world. As we see in his conflict with the abusive tourists, he cannot learn their stoic pacifism due to his origins in a world saturated with brutality. However, the director’s original intention was not to present this as the final message of the film. “Peter Weir wanted the climax to Witness to downplay the violence and stress the love affair between Book and Rachel.” (Pfeiffer 152) The persevering violence ingrained into Book makes a powerful statement about his nature. Though he can be conditioned into much of the peaceful Amish way of life, his failure to completely adapt reinforces the idea that these are indeed to very different worlds, just as Eli Lapp believed. You can take the man out of the violence, but you can’t take the violence out of the man.
I like your writing style and your last sentence “You can take the man out of the violence, but you can’t take the violence out of a man” is a perfect description of the evolution of John Book’s character. I agree that while he has learned a lot from this experience, and has become more considerate to others, he will always have a tendency towards violence in him.
ReplyDeleteBut the love affair did seem to be the focus of the film to me, as you say in Pfeiffer’s quote, and his learning to be part of a family and community through Rachel is very important. Rachel provided him with insight into a whole new world, a whole new way of life, which he seems to like even though he is not cut out for it. His father role and affection for Samuel are important as well. and it is good that you mentioned that, along with his subjugation to Eli.
The fact that Eli seems to respect Book at the end is also important, because it is evidence, proof that Book has changed, even in Eli’s eyes, who was originally so disapproving.
He learned how to be part of a community, even though he continues to do things on his own (making the birdhouse and Samuel’s toy).