Theme Of Substitution In Henry David Thoreau's Metamorphosis

Substitution is another fundamental theme in Focus. Ethical relationship is an essential character of all human beings. Which is to say, it is our ethical relations that define us, make us individuals. Such relations stems from the face, the face of the other. “The face speaks to me and thereby invites me to a relation” (Totality and Infinity 198). Substitution as articulated by Levinas is related to “self-coincidence, self-possession, and sovereignty” (Basic Philosophical Writings 79). In this vein, Levinas redefines the Western philosophical concept of identity. Levinas states that, “my responsibility for the other is the for of the relationship, the signifyingness of signification, which signifies in saying before saying itself of the said”
According to Levinas, the idea of substitution goes hand in hand with responsibility. For him, one needn’t place oneself in the other in order to feel whatever he feels, but, rather, “it is to bear his weight while sacrificing one’s interestedness and complacency-in-being, which then turn into responsibility for the other” (Is It Righteous To Be? 228). Miller clearly explores this motif in two characters in the relationship of Finkelstein and Newman. Finkelstein puts himself at risk for the sake of Newman when a group of thugs attacked the latter while returning from a film one night. Here Finkelstein responds to the call of the other, acting out his responsibility towards Newman. As Levinas states: “What can it be but a substitution of me for the others? It is, however not an alienation, because the other in the same is my substitution for the other through responsibility, for which, I am summoned as someone irreplaceable” (Otherwise than Being 116). Newman and Gertrude have left the movie theater and are heading home when they suddenly realize that there are followed by five
Gertrude flees while Newman is besieged by five men. “Two behind his shoulders, three in front” (Focus 206). He tries in vain to escape but he can’t because “they were dancing towards him” (207). Then, out of the blue, Finkelstein arrives with two bats and attacks Newman’s assailants. He gives a bat to Newman in order to defend himself. Then, Newman sees that Finkelstein is wrestling with two and his nose is bleeding. When the old man notices they are in the light, he says “all right you Hebrew bastards. This is warm-up” and flees (209). “Mr. Newman looked at Mr. Finkelstein’s face and saw the blood coming out of one nostril” (210). He removes his handkerchief and wipes the blood from Finkelstein’s nose. Then Newman takes Finkelstein to his house. Basically, Finkelstein plays the neighbor’s role in this fight; more than that he is willing to substitute himself for Newman when he comes to the latter’s aid. In the process, Finklestein awakens something in Newman and thereby saves Newman’s soul. Levinas remarks in Otherwise than Being are more than a little apropos of Finkelstein’s