K r u t i  P a t e l

Evaluating Stories of Injustice

 

            A Columbus man known by the name of William Jackson was accused of multiple rapes in early 1980’s. Pronounced to be guilty and gifted with the label of a rapist stamped onto his forehead, Jackson was thrown in prison. Five years later, it was discovered that the rapes William Jackson was accused of were committed by a physician who shared similar appearances and a last name with Mr. Jackson. Half of a decade’s worth of time was stolen from Mr. Jackson as he remained behind bars, being punished for someone else’s actions. “No one has ever known for sure how many women Dr. Jackson raped, while the wrong man was in prison.” (Spring) In relation to this case, approximately 10, 000 people like William Jackson are wrongfully convicted of serious crimes in the United Sates, annually. “The Long Exile” and “The Piece of String” tell a tale of two wrongly accused men; outside perspectives, their own characters, and events/explanations evoke both similar and different internal conflicts within Akensof and Haucherorne (main characters), forcing them two undergo various emotions in their situations.

           

            “The Long Exile” begins in the village of Vladimir, where a jolly man known by the name of Akensof prepares for his travel to another village. Akensof’s journey comes to an abrupt stop when he is framed for the murder of his merchant friend. His reputation does a bit good for him. “So you, too, have no faith in me!”(Tolstoy 807) And he wrung his hands and wept. (Tolstoy 808) Devastation crashes into him when he learns even his own wife has no faith in him; eventually he becomes numb to it and concentrates on solely prays about nothing in peculiar.  Akensof, transported to a prison in Siberia, is described as a man of truth; twenty years transform Akensof into a hopeless old man with white hair, a stringy beard, and a bent posture who barely knows the definition of laughter. Makar, a man who looks to be about sixty years of age, joins Akensof in prison; he is the man whose sins Akensof has been paying for. Akensof becomes upset by this, and wallows on the fact that he was put in prison for nothing; he holds a grudge against Makar, which is slowly eating him inside out.  “As soon as Akensof heard these words he felt convinced that this was the very man who had killed the tradesman. He stood up and walked away. All that night he was unable to sleep. Deep melancholy came upon him, and he began to call back the past in his imagination.” (Tolstoy 810)  As events unfolded, there came a moment when Makar’s life depended on the words that came out of Akensof’s mouth. “If I shield him ... but why should I forgive him when he has been my ruin? Let him pay for my sufferings! But shall I tell on him? They will surely flog him. But what difference does it make what I think of him? Will it be any the easier for me?” (Tolstoy 811)  Akensof’s eyes were opened to an epiphany; he realized holding a grudge against Makar will not change anything; the last twenty years of life would not be handed back to him.  A heavy weight lifted off Akensof’s chest as his grudge against Makar evaporated into nothingness. “And suddenly he felt a wonderful peace in his soul. And he ceased to mourn for his home, and had no desire to leave the prison, but only thought of his last hour.” (Tolstoy 811) Akensof reached peace within himself after he reached peace with others; he found peace within himself before he left behind his corpse.

           

            The stingy Haucherorne, main character of “The Piece of String”, appears in Goderville and crouches down to examine a piece of string, which twists his life. Haucherorne is wrongfully accused of stealing a wallet; however in reality, he was picking up a piece of string. He tried voicing the truth, but no one believed him. And who would? It sounded so absurd. “The news had spread. As he left the town hall, the old man was surrounded by people who questioned him with a curiosity which was sometimes serious, sometimes ironical, but in which there was no indignation. He started telling the story of the piece of string. Nobody believed him. Everybody laughed.” (Maupassant 800) Even after the missing wallet, the one that was not seen to be in Haucherorne’s possession, was found by a travelling man, the laughing and disgusted glances had not subsided.  “A horse dealer from Monti Villiers called out to him: ‘Get along with you, you old rascal! I know your little game with the bit of string.’” (Maupassant 801) “He returned home ashamed and indignant, choking with anger and embarrassment, all the more upset in that he was quite capable, with his Norman cunning, of doing what he was accused of having done, and even of boasting of it as a clever trick. He dimly realized that, since his duplicity was widely known, it was impossible to prove his innocence. And the injustice of the suspicion cut him to the quick." (Maupassant 801) "The local wags15 now used to get him to tell the story of the piece of string to amuse them, as people get an old soldier to talk about his battles. His mind, seriously affected, began to give way." (Maupassant 801) Haucherorne faced both external and internal conflicts in “The Piece of String”; outside perspectives centering on him forced a sense of despair into him; he cared too much about what outsiders thought of him. Society taunted him; it mocked an innocent man. Blame could not be assigned to any one side; it was Haucherorne’s thrifty personality which caused him to pick up the string in the first place, and not to mention the entire misunderstanding could’ve been avoided if Haucherorne’s pride had not taken over him when he discovered his nemesis was watching him. “He died early in January, and in the delirium of his death agony he kept on protesting his innocence, repeating over and over again: ‘A bit of string ... a little bit of string ... look, Mayor, here it is ...’” (Maupassant 801) Even at death’s doorstep, Haucherorne refused to stop proclaiming his innocence—repeatedly. Humanity did not halt its cruel injustice against the anguished Haucherorne, even after his death.

 

            “The Long Exile” and “The Piece of String” feature wrongfully accused two men, Akensof (“The Long Exile”) and Haucherorne (“The Piece of String”); the two men are thrown into similar situations; they are wrongfully convicted, which causes different emotions and conflicts to evoke, not only within themselves, but they also face external factors. Though the settings, Akensof of Vladimir and kept imprisoned in Siberia, and Haucherorne of Goderville, vary greatly, the situation each character is planted in is remotely similar. Akensof’s and Haucherorne’s, accused of actions they did not follow through with, struggle against facing external and internal conflicts. “The Long Exile” (dynamic)  undergoes a string of tones from light to discontent to enlighten; while, “The Piece of String” (static) maintains a melancholic tone. Both stories feature two men who are marred by the taint of false accusation and eventually are faced with death, but while one welcomes death with open arms, the other is strangled by it.