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Freedom and imprisonment in The diamond as big as the Ritz.
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The theme of freedom is not as apparent as the theme of imprisonment in Fitzgerald's short novel *The diamond as big as the Ritz*. A careful read will show how freedom is self-destructive in many aspects. It's not even worth talking about themes *freedom* and *i;prisonment*. It's very important to take the theme *freedom **and** imprisonment* into account as a whole.
Starting with the modern era and 20th century, the negative sides of *freedom* as the United States inhabitants know it were starting to stand out. The uprise of corporate capitalism and commercialism took over the world, starting with the United States and bringing endless consumerism to other countries all around the globe. We must not forget that this all started because of freedom. Freedom that the founders of the USA had in mind did not take enough precautions about not regulating trades and actions of companies. Freedom was meant to unite people, to bridge the social gap, but in the long run, it widened it open even further. Companies have climbed above the government and license agreements took the freedom of regular people away from them.
By now not only the American, but also the life of many others is a *prison*. Be it not a physical or even a mental one, it still provides and enforces strict guidelines that lead, impact and influence lives of unsuspecting people. We, as a human race, are prisoners of our own actions and capitalistic instincts.
With the rise of digital media this is getting more and more apparent, but on the other hand more and more inevitable. The monopolistic products produce a strange, yet very dangerous, effect that is sometimes referred to as *vendor lock-in*. Users sign contracts with established companies in hope of receiving a worthful product, but are instead forced into use of such worthless product for a long time, if not by clauses in the contracts and license agreements then by obfuscation and technological prevention measures cleverly put into used products. On one hand, advocates of free and open software products are pushing the idea of *libre* computing, but, on the other hand, most of them get sued into oblivion.
The same theme is expressed in our story and can be explained with similar moves. The Washingtons used their freedom to mandate and sell geographical equipment, therefore having a monopoly over cartography products, meaning they hid their precious diamond with great ease. It was not hard to protect it from the outer world, but what they didn't realise until it was too late, or maybe their capitalistic instinct did not allow them to realise, is that they were in fact protecting the outer world from themselves and vice-versa. They cut themselves and the diamond out, but what is to be done with a shiny boat in a deadly dry desert?
It's important to realise the dangers of our human actions and think about the impact they will have on the future generations. The idea of freedom does seem fine and useful, but can't really work in the real world, at least not with the human mind, wanting more and more.
-- Anton L. Šijanec, 2. a
2. december 2020 ob 00:00
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