ELIZABETH DALTON
403
Was he soldier, judge , mechanic , chemist and draughtsman?'" he
asks. This legendary figure who combines all talents and occupa–
tions is of course the heroic father of childhood, whose mythic aura is
never entirely dispelled . The "designs" he leaves behind continue to
control the workings of the superego and immortalize his influence
in the structure of personality.
The broken commandment to be inscribed on the body of the
soldier is "Honor Thy Superiors ." The story tells us that the son can–
not help but do this - if not through obedience then through the suf–
fering and guilt that accompany disobedience. The prisoner does not
know his sentence, hor even that he has been sentenced, and thus
has no chance to defend himself. The officer's guiding principle is,
"'Guilt is never to be doubted.'" This is the experience of neurotic
guilt : suffering grotesquely disproportionate to an unknown crime, a
mysterious sentence impossible to mitigate or even understand.
The officer shows the explorer the Old Commandant's designs,
but the explorer can see only an unintelligible labyrinth of lines . "'I
can't make it out,'" he says, and the officer agrees that "'It's no
calligraphy for school children.... Of course the
st;r~pt
can't be a
simple one; it's not supposed to kill a man straight off.'" The prohibi–
tions and punishments of the superego are not, after all, rationally
intelligible .
And guilt does not in fact "kill a man straight ofT." It is a slow
torture ; the ordeal on the machine may represent a lifetime . But
eventually there is a turning point. Around the sixth hour occurs the
climax of the torture, the moment of "enlightenment ," which Heller
explains as "the lifting of the curse of individuation."
"Enlightenment comes to the most dull-witted. It begins around
the eyes. From there it radiates . A moment that might tempt one
to get under the Harrow oneself. Nothing more happens than
that the man begins to understand the inscription, he purses his
mouth as ifhe were listening. You have seen how difficult it is to
decipher the script with one's eyes; but our man deciphers it with
his wounds . T o be sure, that is a hard task; he needs six hours to
accomplish it. By that time the Harrow has pierced him quite
through and casts him into the pit. . .. "
This "enlightenment" must be the-moment when the ego finally gives
up the struggle with the superego and abandons itself to guilt and
self-punishment. The victim then "understands" his sentence- not
with his rational intelligence but with his suffering.
