Do Humans Desire Absolute Freedom?

“Do human beings inherently desire absolute freedom?”. A question that your teacher is asking you to answer. Your answer is clearly “Yes” because, who doesn't want freedom? You then ask your classmates what they would do with their ‘absolute freedom” only to realize that they all have different perspectives of what “absolute freedom” is. While one of your classmates’ definition is to be able to stay out later than usual, another one’s definition is to be free of government laws, and another’s definition is to be free of the laws of physics. A classmate could even go by the quote “Absolute freedom is absolute responsibility”, which was said by Ursula K. Le Guin, and that basically means that they’d only do “responsible” things. Then you start to wonder “Do fictional characters desire freedom too?”

In The Mississippi Trial 1955 we are introduced to Hiram HIlburn, a young teen who lives in the North. After years of asking his father to let him go visit his grandfather in Mississippi he’s finally allowed to go. When he does get to Mississippi he notices things he hadn't noticed before. Like the fact that both people of color and white people find it odd to befriend the each other. When he decides to befriend Emmett Till his neighbor R.C Rydell makes fun of him. And when Emmett is accused of whistling at a white lady R.C threatens to come for Emmett. Hiram, being scared for his friend tells the sheriff, who says that he’ll check into it, but then Emmett is reported missing and his body is found days later. The sheriff tells Hiram that he might have to go but his grandpa tells him that he shouldn’t go. Hiram, being who is, decides that he was gonna go anyways. Though the book doesn't really talk about absolute freedom, Hiram does feel that he has the right to do what he wants to do. Someone in the book who goes through a similar experience is R.C. Rydell. Though he also doesn't talk or think about absolute freedom, he feels that. now that he no longer has to deal with his father, he can do what he wants, like moving and getting a job. Now what other story deals with absolute freedom?

Another story that deals with absolute freedom is The Stanley Parable. The Stanley Parable is a game, following the story of a man named Stanley. Stanley works for a company where he is employee #427. His job was to push buttons on his computer in the order that was told to push them in, he was happy with his job. And then one day there was no one else in the office, he knew there was something wrong. The player is given the choice to leave the office, they can either stay and get the Coward Ending or explore the building to get one of the other ten endings. I won’t be talking about the story through the perspective of a player but rather as is Stanley were his own character with his own choices. The Narrator is the one who narrates Stanley’s journey, and Stanley can either choose to follow what he says or do whatever he wants. If Stanley chooses to leave his office the Narrator will do what he does and narrate his story as written in his script. And then Stanley can choose to leap out a window and out the map, where the Narrator then says “At first, Stanley assumed he had broken the map, until he heard this narration and realized it was part of the game all along. He then praised the game for its insightful and witty commentary into the nature of video game structure and its examination of structural narrative tropes.”, Stanley gets asked if he’s sick of the place yet and choosing either Yes or No will get him the Out of Map Ending.

It may seem like I’m dragging on for a bit too long on but I’m just showing that Stanley truly has absolute freedom. If Stanley wanted to he could keep on disobeying the Narrator or he could form an alliance with him. Stanley could even kill himself or make the Narrator mourn his lack of response. Stanley isn't the only one with thoughts of absolute freedom, the Narrator also has his chance to shine. The Narrator can restart Stanley’s story at any time and can make things appear out of nowhere, he is free to do almost anything he can imagine the only thing in his way is Stanley.

Another game that deals with absolute freedom could also be both Portal 2. In the game the main character Chell is woken in a sleeping chamber by a robot named Wheatley, who tells her that she has been asleep for awhile and that the whole facility they're in is falling apart. Wheatley takes Chell to get a Portal Gun, a device that can make two portals that connect to each other. While they try to find a way out of the facility they wake up GLaDOS, a robot who used to be in charge of everything in the Aperture facility until she was corrupted and removed. Chell doesn't really have absolute freedom but that is her goal throughout the game. She goes through deadly puzzles and can choose whether or not she goes by the games rules, of course that will most likely lead to a death.

Now you may have noticed that I've been talking about games a lot, specifically free roam games. And that’s because free roam games always make me feel like I have absolute freedom over everything. I can do things that would be considered bad in real life without any consequences. Games are my escapism from the stressful reality that is my life. When I was younger if I didn't play a game I could get so bored that I may try to start drama between other people and end up getting myself into trouble, though that doesn’t really happen as often as it used to since I’ve found a new way to deal with my stress. My new way of feeling free is drawing and listening to music. It’s not absolute freedom but I enjoy it.

All in all, humans all desire absolute freedom. They might not know it but they do, wishing that they could do what they want or say what they want. Some even know that they want absolute freedom. Some people might use their freedom for bad and some might use it for good. But I know that if I had absolute freedom I may not use it entirely for good.