American Freedom
As Americans we enjoy many freedoms but they are often overlooked and taken for granted.
Freedom is defined by Dictionary.com as the condition of being free; the power to act or speak or think without externally imposed restraints. The freedoms that American’s enjoy are a luxury of being born within the borders of this nation. These freedoms are often overlooked and taken for granted because their benefits were given and their cost’s forgotten.
In Clancy’s The Hunt for Red October several naval officers risk their lives and the lives of their crew members for a chance to taste freedom. Their actions are an insult and embarrassment to the Soviet Union’s Government and the Communist way of Life. This paper will look at the measures that nations and people will go to attain and/or retain this way of life.
Many fight to achieve something that has been considered a lifelong dream, and those who have realized this dream will fight even harder to preserve what has taken countless numbers of lives to establish.
Freedom can be found generally in a democratic society and government. In most cases the people of a nation have risen against the tyrannical regime to escape an oppressive lifestyle of communism, dictatorship and oppressive controlling governments. For those who successfully achieve this goal, the thought of losing it will excite a nation to defend it at all cost. For others they fight and die for an intangible, inexperienced dream that may or may not ever be realized.
Aristotle stated the following about democracy, “If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost.”
In Clancy’s The Hunt for Red October a handful of naval officers have come to realize freedom can only be attained by defection from the Soviet Union to the United States. Captain Marko Ramius has devised a plan to take a secret new Typhoon Class submarine, the Red October, on its maiden voyage and sail to the United States. Although the novel can be viewed from a military and tactical position, the underlying theme is the desire for a few men to escape a communist government and experience what freedom really is. For these men, they are chasing a dream of something that has never been experienced and are willing to die for a mere chance at that dream.
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