Running head: ON THE THING ITSELF BY RICHARD TODD

On The Thing Itself by Richard Todd David Owens-Hill Queens University of Charlotte December 6, 2010

ON THE THING ITSELF BY RICHARD TODD

The thing itself: On the search for authenticity give full cite the first time you mention it. is not a scholarly work based in the traditional realm of research and analysis; Todds book is all about reflection upon his life and his personal quest for elusive authenticity. This paper will attach Todds assumptions about the location of authenticity to the following areas covered in our class discussion of Critical Perspectives: Critical Theory Consumerism and the American Dream Postmodernity Identity and Resistance

By exploring the themes of this memoir through a critical, academic lens, we will see that the urge to explore, explain, and identify ones authentic self is not relegated to the dusty corridors of academia, but is a theme present in the minds and hearts of writers and thinkers in every sector of American society. Great intro.

Critical Theory Eisenberg tells us that Critical theory reveals the hidden but pervasive power of organizations over people (2010, p. X). At the heart of Richard Todds memoir is the notion that his authentic self is obscured by the very organizations to which he selfselects and his life-long quest must be to lift the obfuscatory layer that we accumulate as we wander through life making decisions affecting others and being affected by decisions outside our control. His home, his vacations, his feelings are all defined by the things he ownswhich he sees as a manifestation of the organizations to which he belongs.

ON THE THING ITSELF BY RICHARD TODD

To read Todds work through a scholarly lens with a mind toward Critical Theory is to presuppose a few basic assumptions. Primarily that Critical Theory is grounded in an age of particularism and complicit subjugation and that the theory is best summarized in this simple phrase: the normalcy of everything is the problem. Well put. Todd speaks at length and with beautiful poetry of his home in the farmlands of New England. He describes a home full of antiques that he lovingly curated through the course of his life; things as normal as sets of Windsor chairs that he acquired at antique stores on long weekends on crisp fall days, but tells us of Virgils lacrimae rerum, the tears of things. The things that we create, the banal items with which we surround ourselves, accumulate meaning to our lives, even after theyve outlived their usefulness (Todd, 2009, p. 39). Todds barn is full of old cowbells, the accouterments of a short-lived pet horse, a couple of wagon wheels, and a set of tractor chains. To the casual observer the barn is full of disused ephemera. To Todd and to those reading with an eye towards the search for authenticity as it relates to Critical Theory, the normalcy of these items is secondary to their acquired meaningthe horse that was a gift to his daughter, the cowbell picked up on a trip to Switzerland, the wagon wheels a part of a derelict cart found in the woods surrounding his home. Todd is willing to tease out the meaning in each item that should have been discarded long ago. When training his eyes around the barn, he sees a set of yellow model airplane wings: The huge yellow wings of a model airplanebuilt by a boy who helped me with the tractor chains. The boy is dead, as it happens, killed in a traffic accident. He was a better fellow than I gave him credit for and in some unspoken but real way I

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was cruel to himhome [and this barn] is a place full of things that only remind me of my own insubstantiality. (Todd, 2009, p. 41) Todds clutter is an embodiment of the malaise suffered by those Critical Theory seeks to explain. If currency in Critical Theory is power, and power is defined as the force in organizations (such as life) that control us, Todd is admitting the currency of the items with which he is surrounded. He has succumbed to the power of deconstruction as he observes the details of his life. Hes facing a critical analysis of his possessions and their metaphorical significance to his authenticity. David, this is beautifully written and you do an excellent job of relating it to course material. Ph.D anyone???

Consumerism and the American Dream as it relates to Postmodernity In writing about a trip to Disney World, Todd tells us that it is like America in its love of broad sentiment and bright colors and violent movement (Todd, 2009, p. 93). A few pages prior, while still speaking on travel, he says that no place is one dimensional. We share our environment with too many disparate people who are telling their own stories. (Todd, 2009, p. 79). I mention the second statement to validate the first. Todd is not dismissing the value in broad sentiment, bright colors, and violent movementhes speaking to postmodernity. Postmodernity is omnipresent. The cacophony of voices and stories press upon us and create an immediate need for reflection and interpretation of the space we occupy, for if we delay in our reflective activities we run the risk of missing the moment for reflection as the din of voices moves on to the next thing. Postmodernism is maddeningly both urgent and playful. It uses the strategies of blankness, irony, and

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reflexivity to heighten our awareness of paradox, ambiguity, uncertainty, emergency, and difference (Taylor, 2006, p. 118). The consumers of Disney Worlds bright colors are different than the people who occupy the broad stretches of land surrounding Todds farm, but they are no less authentic than he. They authentically like broad sentiment, bright colors, and violent movement. The language Todd uses is charged, but his thoughts go on to explain that he is gratified that someone has gone to such lengths to entertain us (Todd, 2009, p. 95). Todd acknowledges that the type of people that enjoy Disney World are as important to his understanding as the type of people that enjoy New England farms. In the very next chapter, Todd relays a story of a visit to Hampshire Mall, a mere twenty-five miles from his house. The mall abuts farmland and he notices the juxtaposition of industrial commercialism and construction with the natural beauty of fields and crops. The Hampshire Mall property is a physical representation of the very notion of postmodernity: two very different goods are protected and promoted, the good of satisfying the urge to shop, and the good of satisfying the need for food. Both, ironically, are a form of consumption. Both are necessary to survival in a modern age (as we are further and further removed from the ability to produce enough to offset our needs,) and, though ideologically contradictory to one another, both the farmland and the parking lots exist in relative harmony. This is wild and insightful.

Identity and Resistance In a chapter on nature, Todd tells us that we live in the world that has been given to us. His attitude toward nature is not irreverent, nor is it casual. He longs for something pure, instinctive, organic and instead finds nature to be artificial simply

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because we have touched it (Todd, 2009, pp. 119-120). Todd is a travel writer by trade. His work is nothing if not uncovering the natural and exposing it for our pleasure. The nature of his longing is one of resistance to his existing narrativea narrative of consumption and a sense of being removed from the intimacy of nature. Todd has misplaced his native identityif there is any such thing. He has deliberately deconstructed the notion of his life and space in the pubic sphere to the point that he no longer feels welcome in the arena he helped socially construct. He explains that he borrowed gestures, created scenes, and crafted characters for himself; he is living in a movie, dreaming of celebrity (Todd, 2009, p. 152). To deconstruct his existence in the ultimate quest for granular authenticity, he has resisted the urge to continue to build upon the social characters he constructed for public performance and is instead stripping away the contrived notion of identity performance. To find the root of authenticity is to pull away the manufactured emotions of modern life popularized by athletes who cry and celebrities who pray. Wow david. Very good.

It boils down to what we already knew If we assume that deconstruction is the act of examine ing typo the taken-forgranted assumptions of our lives, than the only vehicle to this examination must be a stripping of the pretenses we hide behind emotion. Todd spends 247 pages examining his life, his organizational attachment to his self-selected groups, his relationships and he comes to one conclusion: the key to authenticity is awareness (Todd, 2009, p. 212). Todd quotes his friend Margaret in the final chapters of his memoir as she tells him that she believes we may feel real in direct proportion to the reality that we can

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grant to others. Margaret explains, in terms so clear and crisp that Todd can no longer deconstruct them, that living as an authentic self is about existing in a moment in time, listening to others as they layer their narratives atop ours in a textural way, participating in relationships instead of analyzing them, and (perhaps above all) knowing the first-level effects of our actions. Wow thats really powerful. Deconstruction and a critical perspective, to Todd, was a useful tool to analyze his current way-of-being and to track down a new one, but in the end his message is clearonly by being cognizant of the attachments we make and the emotional currency of these attachments can we truly live as an authentic self. David, You did an excellent job with this! This paper is extremely well written. It is insightful, interesting and stylistically beautiful. You are a very good writer with your own cool style. You also do an excellent job tying this book to course concepts. I like the way you organized the paper around course concepts as well. This book sounds cool but a bit like a dense read and you did a really good job deconstructing it. Great work, David. Kwg A

ON THE THING ITSELF BY RICHARD TODD

References Eisenberg, E., Goodall, Jr., & Trethewey, A. (2010). Organizational communication: Balancing creativity and constraint. 6th ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martins. Taylor, B. C. (2005). Postmodern Theory. In S. May & D.K. Mumby (Eds.) Engaging organizational communication: Theory and research. (pp. 113-140). New York: Bedford/St. Martins Todd, R. (2009). The thing itself. On the search for authenticity. New York: Riverhead.