Afternoon of Alterity - Nazareth College

“capable of seeing things objectively, ‘as they are’ [which] less[ens]man’s implicit sense of alienation and estrangement in the world”(O’Neill 112) and can therefore show Gawain the world as it is, aworld with difference and dissonance, but still a real world, a trueworld. This sort of love eliminates alterity because it accepts andassimilates. It does not demarcate. It does not divide, or conquer.It is not superficial. It is objective, understanding, and completelyimpartial in nature.Love removes alterity. The author of Sir Gawain and the GreenKnight knew that if it were continued to be accepted that those courtlyand chivalric precepts of what love is supposed to be is irrefutablefact, that mankind would surely confound itself into oblivion andobliteration out of sheer confusion with its very own standards.Love is not possible without acceptance of an entire individual,regardless of what that might consist of. Love takes the monster awayfrom mankind’s borders and puts it into the light so that it can beseen for what it is. Fear and hatred are the smiths of monstrositybecause they do not solve the unknown, but only demonize it intosomething which it does not have to be. Love is the answer to thequestions posed by otherness. True and lasting compassion for allof mankind’s shapes, sizes, and capacities is the only way to create auniversal social freedom within our collective culture.lauren apt 51