Literature and history have many examples of people living in confinement, and I was reminded of a quote from a recent favorite that is a perfect confinement novel. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles tells the story of a Russian count sentenced to confinement in a hotel by a Bolshevik tribunal. Instead of remaining a guest there, he becomes a prisoner; if he leaves he'll be shot. I loved the Count's thoughts shortly after his sentencing.
“Having
acknowledged that a man must master his circumstances or otherwise be mastered
by them, the Count thought it worth considering how one was most likely to
achieve this aim when one had been sentenced to a life of confinement.
For Edmond Dantès in the Château d’If, it was thoughts of revenge
that kept him clear minded. Unjustly
imprisoned, he sustained himself by plotting the systematic undoing of his
personal agents of villainy. For
Cervantes, enslaved by pirates in Algiers Elba , strolling among chickens, fending off
flies, and sidestepping puddles of mud, it was visions of a triumphal return to
Paris
But the Count hadn’t the temperament for revenge; he hadn’t the imagination for epics; and he certainly hadn’t the fanciful ego to dream of empires restored. No. His model for mastering his circumstances would be a different sort of captive altogether: an Anglican washed ashore. Like Robinson Crusoe stranded on the Isle of Despair, the Count would maintain his resolve by committing to the business of practicalities. Having dispensed with dreams of quick discovery, the world’s Crusoes seek shelter and a source of fresh water; they teach themselves to make fire from flint; they study their island’s topography, its climate, its flora and fauna, all the while keeping their eyes trained for sails on the horizon and footprints in the sand.”
So how are you enduring your confinement? Plotting revenge, planning future work and future triumphs, or like an Anglican washed ashore?
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