Society as Organism
Contrary to what many believe, “survival of the fittest” is not an evolutionary term that originates with Charles Darwin. It was Herbert Spencer who coined the phrase which has since become inextricable from Darwin’s theories of natural selection and evolution. Prus was a committed devotee of the philosophies of Spencer which included in addition to the fittest surviving the weakest the metaphorical concept of the organism as a microcosmic realization of society at large. Thus, many of the stories of Prus are those which are confined to an extremely limited geographical space, but which are to be interpreted allegorically as symbolic of society on a larger scale. “Mold of the Earth” and “The Waistcoast” are two of his stories which are often singled out as the finest examples of this particular thematic pursuit within the entirety of his canon.
Agoraphobia
The author himself suffered from agoraphobia, an anxiety disorder which stimulates panic whenever a person fears they may not be able to easily leave their “safe space.” Although often associated with a fear of wide open spaces, that is not technically correct. Agoraphobia is related more to the place the sufferer is forced to leave than any particular sort of destination; they can become just as panic-stricken in an enclosed room as among a large outdoor crowd. The perspective of the agoraphobe becomes a recurring thematic component in many of the stories of Prus as a result of being told from point of view of narrators with limited mobility. The protagonist of “The Barrel Organ” is a prime example in that he reveals the mistaken assumption that agoraphobia is related to destination as a result of his ability to take a daily walk away from his home. It is his attempt to control the external conditions of his safe space by banning organ grinders from playing their instruments that is the genuine demonstration of his condition. A number of stories follow this pattern of the limited conditions of mobility.
In Praise of Polish Peasants
The heroes of the stories of Prus often wind up being the peasantry of Poland. Throughout his fiction, the author reveals a patriotic pride in the fundamental goodness of the peasant class. This is not merely an objective appreciation of the underclass; it is primally located in the people of Poland as a result of the failure of the upper class. That his stories pursue a thematic motif of placing not just trust in the peasantry but something approaching a desperate hope for the future of his homeland is the direct result of his perceived failure of the aristocracy and privileged classes to grow and evolve. In this way, of course, the theme of the hope of the peasants is also related to his fascination with Spencerian evolutionary philosophy: the failure of those to see the approaching doom European aristocracy and yet cling stubbornly to all its outmoded ideals is precisely why any hope for the future had to be rooted in the underclass.
