Week 13 - Open City

    In Open City, Julius’s constant walking produces both moments of good insight and moral blindness, revealing the limits of observation. At times, his wandering allows him to understand and see what others overlook, like where the city’s surface gives way to buried histories of slavery and tragedy. Here, walking becomes a tool for uncovering layered meanings and connecting his present day environment in New York to his cultural suppressed pasts. However, this same detached and observational mode leads to moral complexity in his interactions with people in his life, especially with Moji. When she confronts him about a past assault, instead of responding with accountability or empathy, Julius just leaves without saying anything or providing any closure. He evades responsibility, repressing his emotions and his truth, neither of which he provides the reader. This contrast shows that while walking can expand perception, it doesn't ensure a reliable awareness because Julius is capable of seeing the world with depth and nuance, but he can't apply that same scrutiny to himself. Observation alone isn't enough, it can foster understanding but can also enable avoidance, allowing people to move through spaces, histories, and relationships without fully confronting their own role within them. Our observation of the world is not neutral at all, we are extremely bias towards ourselves and justifying our own actions. 


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