THE ROAD WAS NARROW

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The road was narrow, and so were the people's perceptions. They would fight physically at the slightest instigation or verbal accusations. There was no law and order. The intellectuals were the decision-makers of the society. They would condemn the common junta when they considered things to be wrong.  In the name of religion and knowledge, the learned philosophers and the clergymen would take advantage of the people. The people were declared bad because they thought so. It was the ‘moral/religious poaching’. There were thieves, cheats, and the hypocrites.

Besides those belonging to the priority class of the society, the women were treated as commodities. They had no voice and could only follow whatever the male section decided but their toughness was commendable. Their desires, sexual as well as mental and intellectual, not being fulfilled, made them go wild and take certain steps to be regretted later. There were fewer or no male-female interactions thus, leading to secrecy, falsity, and dishonesty between the couples, who were married, as well as those still unmarried but ought to do so.  Society preferred secrecy and so was followed by all.  The marriages among the privileged ones were just socio-economic alliances. There was no protection and help for the pregnant females.

The reality was harsh and left unconfronted.  The kindness would escape in a blink and was only left with orthodoxy at its peak judging people's lives.  The clever ones would manipulate and take away the best, leaving the leftovers for the lower strata. The impression projected that anything out of their interest had no role in their lives.

 The society was treated like a materialistic establishment. The creative and intellectual minds of the society were divided into separate compartments as per their convenience like the economy, politics, religion, philosophy, literature, etc. Life was a pity, but still, all survived. It represented a drab and motionless essence.

Such was life in Sormetshire, England in the eighteenth century. It was an example of a small territory.

But the real debate is, has it changed now?

 

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