A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of - Etheses - Queen Margaret ...

at random
I would not
normally think
of them
as rules
but now
I‟m thinking
about them
it becomes
apparent
(l.3:249ff.)
By imposing structure every time he passes through New Street station, Ben is able to
manage this journey. It is when things happen unusually that he becomes anxious. For
example, he becomes irritated when people will not stay put on the escalator (l.3:196). He
stated that „if this were a station I wasn‟t familiar with it would be overwhelming‟ (l.3:104).
The recognition of his need to impose structures, to do things his way even if this is not the
way others would do them, is not something that worries Ben:
247
My attitude is you do what you do... you just do... it‟s Zen, if you like... because you
can‟t do otherwise... it‟s a way... just one way of... everyone has a different way...
the way I do things is a way which has developed between the interaction of me, the
physical environment and the social environment... and we‟re all a part of that
mixture... and there isn‟t any sort of moral difference in that... in terms of a brave
struggle and all that nonsense... no, I don‟t subscribe to that... (l.3:581ff.)
He rejects a view which places a requirement on individuals to conform to ideas that there
are „right‟ and „wrong‟ ways of doing things, affirming instead the rights of people to go
about things in ways that suit their own needs. Identifying the oppression inherent in trying
to enforce a standardisation of behaviours, he stakes a claim for the equal valuation of
difference: