'Acception In Damon Knight's The Handler'

Without a doubt, the biggest struggle in an individual’s life is to show his true face in a society that only acknowledges those who wear flawless façade. In Damon Knight’s The Handler, Harry is faced with the same ordeal, as he struggles to show his true self, while the people around him pressure him to hide inside his attractive mechanical façade named Pete. Throughout the story, Knight uses characters such as, Harry, George and Pete to express one of the major flaws in society. Indeed, through these characters Knight argues that society only offers acceptance towards those who satisfy their arbitrary ideals and forces those who do not to conform to it. To begin with, Knight uses Harry’s failed attempt to stay comfortable in his own skin to validate his argument. To elaborate, immediately after Harry decides to part from his mechanical facade, Pete, and interact with the party goers as his “round-backed,” “brown-face[d]” self, he is almost completely ignored and disregarded in the process. Eventually, the apparent disapproval conveyed in the people’s silence and inattention pressures Harry to crawl back inside his false persona, in order to regain the crowd’s acceptance. Through Harry’s decision to neglect his individuality to please the crowd, Knight illustrates how individuals are bullied by society into conforming to their beliefs in

Pete is depicted as a “bronzed and tall” actor, with “teeth gleaming white as his shirt cuff.” Now, given the fact Harry is responsible for all of Pete’s success, yet only Pete is acknowledged while he is ignored, implies that it is only through having Pete’s appearance can one get acknowledgement from these people. Similarly, as Knight argues, an individual, regardless of his personality and talents, can only obtain acknowledgement from society if and only if he satisfies their arbitrary ideals, including their concept of what an ideal man should look