Un-Independent People

I have been reading a lot. It is a desire that I had forgotten I had, but now that I have found it again I have easily slipped back into the mode of a time when I was younger and always had at least one book at hand. Of all the books I’ve read, Independent People by Halldor Laxness is the one that I cannot get off my mind. There were times when I hated it and times when I loved it. Sometimes I was captivated by the story and drank up every word of Laxness’ descriptive storytelling and sometimes I was bored and struggled to get through. But the book has stuck with me. It has gotten me to think about what independence really is and helped me better understand Iceland in the context of its history. 

The story focuses on Bjartur of Summerhouses, a poor but independent sheep farmer, and his family. Bjartur is stubborn to the greatest degree possible. I came to loath him and started to wish that the main character could have been a bit more likable. Often I would put the book down in utter disgust at something Bjartur said or did. He is so focused on being “independent” that he forgets to be a father, a husband, and a friend. And I almost forget that he is human. At some point in the story I realized that there was not going to be much character development. Bjartur and his family were all struggling and they were all stubborn and that was not going to change.

Bjartur prides himself in being independent, but he goes about it in entirely the wrong way. He focuses on his sheep and completely ignores other duties in his life. I see independence as similar to sustainability, but sustainability is more than just economic sustainability. One way of looking at it is the compass of sustainability, which includes nature, wellbeing, society and economy all at equal weights. Bjartur ignores the wellbeing of his family and himself in favor of his sheep and he refuses to create meaningful friendship with anyone. He thinks he is being independent by refusing gifts and favors, but really he is missing his chance to build community and enrich his life. So he is unsuccessful at creating the wellbeing and society aspects of sustainability.  Bjartur lives an unsustainable life. And because of this, he is not the independent man he so prides himself in being.

If Bjartur were living 100 years later and came to Solheimar he would be outraged. He would see a collective society made up of people that depend on each other for happiness, work and food. But in a sense, Bjartur does exist today. He exists in my consumerist society. I live in this society, but I do not want Bjartur to exist in me.

The Iceland I am living in seems so different from the place that Bjartur lived. I live in a modern country that boasts a 100% literacy rate and an excess of geothermal and hydro-power. Bjartur lived in a dark turf house, starved through the spring and fought against disease and the infamous Icelandic weather year-round to keep his sheep alive. But the similarity between the two points in history is the strive towards “independence.” Bjartur wanted independence and he made himself a slave to hard work so he would not have to owe money to anyone. My modern society also puts a lot of value on working hard to have money to buy things. The American dream is to own your own house and lots more stuff to fill it with. And this has become the dream of every other country, including Iceland. But there is nothing in the dream about a sustainable life that stresses a balance of community, wellbeing, nature and economy.

I don’t want to follow the path that Bjartur and many others in modern society have taken that so focuses on economic security that they miss out on the happiness of life. Instead I want to use my strive for independence to live more sustainably. I want to focus on building community, knitting sweaters, growing food and making music.

-Julia