Society is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations such as social status, roles and social networks. It is characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals sharing a distinctive culture and institutions. The relationship between individual and his group is very interesting to be analyzed by the psychologist, because the group have incredible effects on individual’s behaviour.
Psychologists have found that group behavior tends to be more extreme than the typical behavior of its individual members. This phenomenon is clearly seen in the behaviour of mobs. A mob is one of the most influential forces in changing individual’s behavior. Social Psychologists attribute this effect to a process of deindividuation, defined as the loosening of normal constraints on behavior when people are in a crowd, leading to an increase in impulsive and deviant acts. By deindividuation, the individual might lose his normal behavior and follow the behavior of the mob.
On the other hand, mob psychology could be arranged by an individual, in order to change the mob’s members behavior or even to raise a mass hysteria. In several cases, mob psychology involves manipulating the mass hysteria to fulfill one's desires. Like what happens in a Japanese short-story entitled “The Dragon” which tells about a Buddhist priest who makes a black lie to arrange the mob psychology. This paper is intended to analyze his ways to arrange the mob psychology, and the result of the mob psychology.
In “The Dragon”, the setting of place is a village named Nara, which lived a priest called Kurodo Tokugyo who is later called Hanazo because of his extraordinary large nose. He makes a hoax by putting a notice-board which said, “On March third a dragon shall ascend from this pond” on the bank of pond of Sarusawa. He makes a hoax because he is displeased with the priests of Nara who were habitually making fun of his nose, so he planned to make a trick of them. On the next days, the notice-board is known by the people and the rumour of a dragon which will ascend from Sarusawa pond on March third spreads in the society and produces a mass hysteria that makes people come to Sarusawa pond on March the third to watch the ascending dragon. Even Hanazo’s aunt, a priestess in Sakurai, also come to watch the dragon’s ancession. Hanazo feels guilty when he realizes that a very large crowd of people gathers on the side of Sarusawa pond. Suddenly, a torrential rain comes down. In the middle of the rain, Hanazo and most of the people catch a blurred vision of an ascending dragon from the pond. That vision is believed by the spectators, except Hanazo himself who still doubt that his hoax really happens because he feels that the dragon’s ancession is impossible.
Whether the ascending dragon is a reality or only an illusion, even Hanazo will be unable to answer it. But the first thing to be analyzed in this paper is Hanazo’s ways to arrange the mob psychology. In the story, there are several ways used by Hanazo, those are :
1. He sets a notice-board which said in bold characters, “On March third a dragon shall ascend from this pond.” (p.89). Possibly reason why Hanazo use ‘ascension of the dragon’ to arrange the mob psychology is because of the position of the dragon itself in Buddhist religion. Dragon is reputed as a symbol of holiness. Buddhist believe that dragon is a creature from heaven which serves the god in spreading Buddhism. From the story we also know that to dream a dragon ascending to heaven is an auspicious omen (p.92), that means there is a close relationship between lucky and the dragon. That is why Hanazo choose dragon as his mischief trick because he believe it will easily exploit people’s interest.
2. He explains to an illiterary old woman that tens of dragons could naturally live at the bottom of a big pond like Sarusawa pond. (p.90-91). His status as a priest plays important role in spreading his hoax about dragon. The people would trust him and every his explanation, because the people has been convinced that priest never lied.
3. He informs Emon, his cell-mate, that there is a notice-board said a dragon will ascend from Sarusawa pond on March third. (p.92). Hanazo knows that Emon understand that a phenomenon of dragon ascending to the heaven is a black lie, that is why he just informs Emon about the notice-board. When Emon challenges him to prove the dragon’s ascension, Hanazo does not reply but ask Emon to see the notice-board. It shows that Hanazo wants to trap the priests of Nara, included Emon, in such a controversial belief.
All Hanazo’s efforts are intended to make the people of Nara – especially priests – know the information in the notice-board and belief it, so he could laugh at them.
The second thing to be analyzed is the result of the mob psychology. As we know that Hanazo does a lot of things to inform the people about the notice-board, and “the rumor must have spread to the province of Settsu, Izumi, and Kawachi as far as the provinces of Harima, Yamashiro, Omi and Tamba, to say nothing of the province of Yamato. The mischief he had done with the intention of playing a trick upon the people of Nara had brought about the unexpected result of deceiving tens of thousands of people in many provinces” (p.96). But he does not realize that his efforts to manipulating the psychology of mobs produce unexpected mass hysteria.
Niki Foster (2010) stated that mass hysteria is a phenomenon in which a group of people simultaneously exhibit similar hysterical symptoms. The term is also commonly used to refer to any mass delusion, in which a group of people become governed by irrational beliefs or moral panic. In the story, Hanazo’s hoax about the ascension of the dragon brings a mass hysteria of the people which is shown by several evidences :
1. A nine-year-old daughter of a Shinto priest dreams about the dragon in the pond of Sarusawa. That dream causes a large sensation in the town, and also being exaggerated in one way to another. (p.94). It is possible that the dream of the girl is caused by his imagination about dragon of Sarusawa. But when news about that dream comes into the society, that dream is exaggerated because the mental of the society has been influenced by their beliefs about tha dragon.
2. A man who said that he had seen a dragon ate his river fish, which brings a controversy in the society. Some people said that was an old otter, but not a few said that the dragon king took a pity on the life of the fish, and called them down into the pond where he lives. (p.94-95). It also shows that the people’s mindset has been changed because of their beliefs of the dragon’s ascension, that when they see a mysterious thing in Sarusawa pond, they would relate it with the existence of the dragon.
3. Emon, a priest who challenge Hanazo to a Buddhist controversy about dragon’s ascension to heaven, also comes to see the dragon. It shows that Emon has been influenced by the people’s beliefs about dragon, and a process of deindividuation occurs.
Those evidences symbolize that the people are governed bay irrational beliefs or moral panic. And the peak of the mass hysteria is the coming of spectators from the provinces of Kawachi, Izumi, Settsu, Harima, Yamashiro, Omi, Tamba and others, to say nothing of the city of Nara (p.96). That also answers that the result of the mob psychology is a mass hysteria which is never expected by Hanazo.
From the story, it can concluded that Hanazo succesfully arrange the mob psychology about the ascension of the dragon, but the result is a large mass hysteria which is unexpected. That mass hysteria makes Hanazo feels guilty, but luckily the spectators are not dissappointed because of the blurred vision of a dragon. All the spectators belief that the dragon really ascends from the pond, except Hanazo who still doubt about that.
References :
Foster, Niki. 2010. What is Mass Hysteria?. Quoted from http://www.wisegeek.com. (accesseed on October 27, 2010).
Anonimous. 2010. Essay Sample on : Mass Hysteria in The Crucible by Atthur Miller. Quoted from http://www.essaysample.com. (accessed on October 27, 2010).
Anonimous. Unknown. What is Mob Psychology. Quoted from http://www.disableworkerlaw.com. (accessed on October 27, 2010).
