Booth Tarkington’s Essay ‘Freedom of Speech’: A Story of Two Men at the Brenner Pass

The author gives added meaning to Norman Rockwell’s painting

A detail of Norman Rockwell's "Freedom of Speech," 1943. National Archives. (Public Domain)

We each have personal opinions and thoughts that we like to discuss and compare with others. Whether on trivial or crucial matters, this discussion, enabled by freedom of speech, allows us to search for truth.

The Saturday Evening Post commissioned the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Booth Tarkington in 1943 to write an essay to accompany Norman Rockwell’s painting “Freedom of Speech.”

In his short essay, “Freedom of Speech,” Tarkington highlights the true value of the freedom of speech by creating a story about a conversation in 1912, long before this painting was created.

Rockwell’s painting depicts a working-class man standing in a meeting room among well-dressed gentlemen. Though rugged and dirty, this man’s posture represents one who is speaking his mind and standing for what he believes in. His difference in class from those around him does not deter him from declaring his thoughts and opinions: His are just as important as others’.

Tarkington illuminates this painting not by describing its setting and figures, but rather by following the conversation of two completely different men. As these two sit in a chalet along the Brenner Pass in the Alps, these young strangers exercise their freedom of speech by discussing freedom of speech.

Ambitious Young Men

One young man sits at one table with his paintings, while the other sits at another table with his writings. As they watch each other, they each recognize a certain secrecy and ambition behind the other’s eyes.

They each admit that they both “have certain ideas”—conspiratorial ideas. The painter says: “Each [of us] in his own country seeks an extreme amount of success. This means power. That is what we really want.”

The desire for success, greatness, and power is not inherently bad, nor is ambition. However, the writer, who calls himself a journalist, has a darker purpose and says that these ideas of success, greatness, and power are “socialism, of course.”

Norman Rockwell's "Freedom of Speech," 1943. National Archives. (Public Domain)

G.K. Chesterton recognizes this point and says in “Eugenics and Other Evils” that socialism “proposes that the State, as the conscience of the community, should possess all forms of property; and that obviously on the ground that men cannot be trusted to own or barter or combine or compete without injury to themselves.” The painter and journalist aspire to use socialism to become supreme rulers of their countries.

The Purge 

Both men realize that this desire to be the highest and greatest will be seen by others as insane and tyrannical. The people would object, stand up, and speak against such actions. Therefore, to ensure that they gain the desired power, they must take away the people’s right to free speech for, as the artist says, “If you prevent them from expressing their will in speech, you have them enchained.”

In order to maintain this supreme rule, the painter says that they must destroy the people’s freedom of speech “by means of a purge.” The purge consists of a “carbolic acid,” which cannot coexist with freedom of speech. The purge means that if a man tries to utilize his freedom of speech and gets away with it, the man’s family will suffer for it. The carbolic acid will burn away everyone until no one is able to stand up and say anything against the dictators.

Tarkington’s story becomes all the more potent when he reveals that the young journalist’s name is Mussolini and the young painter’s name is Hitler. This revelation proves the utter hypocrisy and irony of this discussion between two of the most heinous socialist leaders in history. While they utilize their freedom of speech to express their opinions, they plan to destroy everyone else’s freedom of speech. This, in turn, allows the two socialists to destroy every other right that belongs to the people. The people will lose everything, and the socialists will win everything.

Stand and Speak

Through this story and Rockwell’s picture that it accompanies, Tarkington wants to show us the importance of freedom of speech and how easily it can be destroyed. This freedom is threatened by many things, such as socialism.

Through the dialogue between these two characters, Tarkington shows us, as G.K. Chesterton says in “The Outline of Sanity,” that socialism “is a remote Utopian dream impossible of fulfillment and also an overwhelming practical danger that threatens us at every moment.”

Novelist and essayist Booth Tarkington, circa 1920. (Public Domain)

Rockwell’s “Freedom of Speech” painting shows the alternative to secretive plotting for power. We see the courage of a man standing up and openly stating his opinions, exercising his freedom of speech. We see those near him listening and appreciating an honest disclosure of a point of view.

Tarkington seems to suggest that one means of preventing the Hitlers and Mussolinis of the world from taking away God-given human rights is to stand up and say your piece.