"Your only norm is the absence of all norms. The only thing left for me to rebel against is you...you and your immorality." ("Tango" by S. Mrożek) - What norms does a man rebel against? Is the rebellion justified?

Agnieszka Grochowska - 11.10.2018 @ 17:25

After our meeting in Cracov, I decided to write a short article about "Tango". Enjoy it :)

Is it worth to rebel?

by Mikołaj Ziębicki, VIII LO Kraków/Poland

In 1964 Sławomir Mrożek wrote "Tango". The drama became very popular in Europe, divided into two hostile spheres of influence and standing before great revolution in society. How did Mrożek stir the imagination of the recipient? What kind of world can we see in "Tango"? How did the author tell us about the rebellion?

The world we can see in the play has no rules. There is no value system, respect, emotional bonds or tradition. How to rebel against a world like this? Arthur, the main character of the drama, searches for the answer to this question. His rebellion is based on creating new rules. But why does he make so much effort? Is life in a world without rules not good for him? Similarly to any other young revolutionist, Arthur wants to "make the world a better place". He is scared of empty, emotionless life. He wants to live in world full of love and, paradoxically, freedom. The reason behind this is his opinion that real freedom is when we do something being aware of all consequences of our decisions.

In my opinion, this idea is the beginning of every revolution. Arthur did not feel well in a world without rules. He understood that the reality surrounding him is worthless. He wanted to make his life full of colours. I believe that such ideas are always worth fighting.

More than 50 years have passed since the premiere of "Tango". Is Arthur’s attitude still up-to-date? Is there a reason now to rebel? And are we similar to Arthur? Are rules important for us? Or maybe we just want to make our world a "comfortable" place?

  picture by Mikołaj Ziębicki

Mikołaj Ziębicki - 21.11.2018 @ 08:3

Many people nowadays rebel against many ideas which are bad in their opinion. I think laws and rules are our freedom, because we can feel safe with them. We are not afraid of someone e.g. stealing our property, but if someone does it, he will be punished. If there were no rules and everyone could do whatever they wanted, like in ”Tango”, we would not agree with the world like that and we would rebel like Arthur. I think we should follow the laws and not allow anything to make our world a “comfortable” and worthless place as you said. I could not agree more that such ideas are always worth fighting for.

Damian Stępak - 30.12.2018 @ 20:36

The value of society is law, beacuse without prohibitions that protect us, society would be broken by itself and lose its worth. Rules shape the community and help it to function. It's like with diamond, when it's rough it does have quite good worth, but when it gets cut, it becomes brilliant which has a lot bigger price. It does require a lot of effort but the final effect is incomparably better.

Maciej Czuba - 02.01.2019 @ 14:31

Thank you for your article, Mikołaj. Rules are important! Rules create all of the sciences. Without them there will be nothing, because our world is made with their help (rules). We, as humans, are also nothing without them. If you want to build a sandcastle, you must regulate (give the rules of) its shape. Laws give us freedom that enables us to develop ourselves and the whole society as well. But in the world of rules how much freedom should we have? I agree here with the famous writer Alexis de Tocqueville who wrote "my liberty ends where your begins".

Szymon Pstrusiński - 09.01.2019 @ 23:21

Hello Mikołaj, thank you for your article.

I think the book raises such an interesting topic, which I often thought about myself. You can definitely compare today`s society with the one mentioned in Tango, except for that we now revolt against the rules and laws. We want to be free in every decision we make, we want to not be defined, and not to be judged based on our appearance. Personally, I believe that we do not really need such laws and rules like Arthur intended to have in Tango, but we actually need something to fight against. Today we fight against gender inequality and discrimination, which in the first place gives us a thing to think and discuss about and to fight against. In easier words rebellions are keeping us busy. And in my opinion, even if we solved all of the problems of today`s society, we would still find a new issue to worry about. It lies in the human nature to be unsatisfied. Slawomir Mrozek wanted to give us a new perspective to think about and a new issue to fight against.

Sofie Glauß - 28.01.2019 @ 17:16

I personally think that to establish rules, we need to think. And as things go with thinking, it goes in different directions; no two thoughts are the same, no way of thinking follows the exact same path as another. So, that means, that, in a way, while we are wrecking our heads to think up new rules, at the same time others are doing the same thing to rebel against the rules we are trying to establish.

Also, to make up new rules, old ones need to be broken first, to see if those old rules are surpass able and, if they are surpassed, remain necessary. For the sake of making people see that it is no "gross indecency" for a man to love another man or for two women to get married to eaxh other, those people had to fall in love and see this for themselves first, before showing others that this love is as natural as any other and that the rules that made this punishable by law were nonsensical.

Mirjam Kronthaler - 31.01.2019 @ 18:35