Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2002. Vol. 8. Eger Journal of American Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 28)

Studies - László Dányi: On the Bad Side of the Fence: Fiascos of Southern Ethos

former category. The characteristic features of these ethos groups will unravel themselves through the analyses of Peyton Loftis' encounters with the aforementioned ethos groups. The examination of the individual's attitude to these ethos groups raises two questions: in what ways the whole, the universal and the general are related to the part, the particular and the special; and how the individual is linked to the four ethos groups. I assume that first the individual possesses general notions referring to the whole structure of ethos, and he acquires certain preconceptions that describe mainly the first two ethos groups. Later on he links elements of the last two ethos group to the first two. So the individual has his concepts and pictures of general notions, and then in the light of those general concepts he can judge over his own thoughts, ideas and actions, and he visualizes himself related to the totality. The elements of the first two ethos categories precede the appearance of the elements of the two latter groups. To make it more plastic, in this ethos system the first two groups form the core (which is by far not an unbreakable shell), and elements of the other two groups are attached to it. The "bad side of the fence" as implied in the title can be comprehended by introducing the terms "pathos" and "pathetic". In my understanding pathos denotes the personal or emotional element in the ethos of a society, or a person. The reason why I found it adequate to use the word pathos is that it adds a very important shade of meaning to the relationship of the individual to the elements of the four categories. This further shade of meaning conveys the quality of suffering and sorrow of those dangling characters who are representatives of that twentieth century man whose existential dilemma of being forces him to struggle persistently to come to terms with a universe which does not offer any points of linkage to the individual seeking a raison d'etre. Finally, the failure of the individual's struggle ignites pathos that can even reach the level of being apocalyptic, which here means that it can create such realms of ethos where darkness, obscurity and uncertainty rule behind the camouflage of social and personal order. Failure, or fiasco as it is denoted in my title, is the key word describing a dominant characteristic feature of the individual's 176