Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front

Of the readings from week six, Wendell Berry’s poem “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front” seemed to raise some interesting questions in class that I would like to expand on a bit for my blog. The narrator begins the poem with an attack on capitalism and society as a whole, saying, “Want more / of everything ready made. Be afraid / to know your neighbors and to die” (505). The breaks in these lines are set up to end with commanding the reader to “Want more” and “Be afraid.” The first command is a more obvious critique on capitalism; the second is more subtle and complex from a psychological standpoint as it shows how desire is driven by fear to a certain extent. Berry also points out that we are afraid to move outside the capitalist system because all we know is capitalism and that which we do not know we fear, just as we fear death. The alternative to the repugnance of capitalism that the narrator prescribes is to, “do something / that won’t compute. Love the Lord. / Love the world” (505). The narrator subsequent recommendations are reminiscent of the teachings of Jesus, such as “Take all you have and be poor” and “Love someone who does not deserve it” (505). This is a rather unexpected turn for the poem as one would expect it to go into a glorification of nature or something along those lines. Although I did find some of these prescriptions to be an interesting and innovative way to undermine capitalism, the line “Love the Lord” was a pretty significant turn off for me. While I appreciate where he goes with the rest of the poem, the overt religiousness of that line alienates me as a reader and I imagine it has a similar effect on other readers as well. It makes the poem seem like it has a specific agenda that is being forced on the reader a little too aggressively. Overall the poem is successful in offering insight into both capitalism and its effect on our society, but the prescribed solution seems to be thrust upon the reader (which, for me, made me resistant to it). Whether or not Berry intends for his reader to have this reaction, I am not sure. Nevertheless, I think the poem would have a significantly different effect if that line were to be altered.