Spontaneous Order in A Mercy

Abstract：Human tends to live up to their potential and treats others friendly when given enough freedom to choose and decide，which can be promised by spontaneous order with the established judgment being removed.

Key words：spontaneous order；established judgement；free will；best performance；friendly

Spontaneous order，proposed by Hayek in Constitution of Liberty，is the self-generating order in social life by peoples free will in natural evolution.（Zhu，2014：44）It happens when coercion is reduced to the least and people is given liberty to live up to themselves.There are two moments in A Mercy that especially echoes spontaneous order.One is during Rebeccas sea journey to America for her marriage，and the other on the farm built by Jacob together with his women.

On the boat when the only available lamp threatens to throw them into darkness at any moment，the seven thrown-away women begin to behave the best they know of.They offer whatever they can for their “tea party.”（ibid，84）Judith spreads her shawl on the lid of box，Elizabeth retrieves a kettle and spoons，Lydia heats water in the kettle over the lamp and protects the flame with her palm，Judith and Dorothy pour rum into the tepid water with the care of a butler，Rebekka sets the cheese in the middle of the shawl and surrounds it with biscuits，and Anne offers prayers.Rebekka recalls “how each of them，including the ten-year-old，lifted her little finger and angled it out，”（ibid，85）which，however，is in contrast with their origins.

Their origins are anything but noble.Anne is sent away in disgrace by her family；Judith and Lydia，prostitutes，and Dorothea，cutpurse，all are sentenced to choose between prison and exile；Patty，Lydias ten-year-old daughter，is a thief；Elizabeth simply claims herself the daughter of an important company agent.In contrast，Rebekka proves the best in that she is going for a marriage and the only one with passage being prepaid.Their range of baggage，clothes，speech and attitude all speak clearly of what they are.

However，the same threat confronting them removes the necessity of judgement.They are enveloped by darkness in the cabinet - unable to see the sky，footsteps above，and animals lowing behind.Judgement by their past proves meaningless in improving the poor condition they share.They thus are given a moment of release from their origins and have the chance to be a free human not harnessed by the established social order.“Wretched as was the space they crouched in，it was nevertheless blank where a past did not haunt nor a future beckon.”（Morrison，2009：85）At such moment they choose to perform their best as they know.

Much the same happens on Jacobs farm when he is alive.The members on Jacobs farm is either purchased or abandoned.Rebekka，a white disliked by her religious family，is purchased as a wife.He occasionally purchases Lina，andorigines witnessing the vanishing of her family and beaten by her husband，and accepts Florens，a black given，as a way of paying debt.Sorrow，found alive by a sea and unwanted by her hostess，is given to him for his probable good care.And Jacob is also abandoned by his families.He has nothing but one hundred and twenty acres of a dormant patroonship from an uncle never met.Probably for his poor origin，he does not treat his women and servants as the established ways.

Instead，Jacob builds a kingdom where the usual unequal and vicious treatment to women and servants at that time is removed.Jacob with Rebekka makes good couples of “disagreement without bile；trust and that wordless conversation that years of companionship rest on.”（ibid，87）The servants are treated well.“Mistress never strikes us，”（ibid，68）as Florens comments.Even people outside the farm share their mercy.Willard and Scully，the two male servants from neighborhood，are given gifts of rum during Christmas tide.Once Jacob shares a tipple straight from the bottle with Willard.And Blacksmith，a free but black，is treated as brother by Jacob.All this is against what the established way treating colored and the female.On the farm where Florens comes from，the colored is treated as animals - “one by one we were made to jump high，to bend over，to open our mouths.”（Morrison，2009：165）With the established judgement by color，gender and status being removed，Jacob together with his women carve harmonious companionship out of isolation.

In spontaneous order when the established order is removed，free will of human drive them to perform their best and treat people friendly.On the boat to America，all the unwanted women act in the best way they know of with the darkness covering their origins.And on the farm，as Willard and Scully comments，each member lives upon each other，none cruel，all kind，and that the master Jacob never curses or threatens the servants.

Works Cited

Toni Morrison.A Mercy.New York：Vintage Books，2009.

Zhu Wang.Major Theorists of Modern and Contemporary Western Culture.Beijing：Peking University Press，2014.

哈耶克.自由秩序原理.北京：生活·讀書·新知三聯書店，1997.

作者簡介：

陳麗薪（1985—），女，漢族，云南曲靖市人，英語語言文學碩士，單位：云南大學外國語學院英語語言文學專業碩士2016級研究生，研究方向：應用語言學。

（作者單位：云南大學外國語學院）