Molly Puckett - Liminality and Journeys


I wrote my exploratory essay on this topic, however, I want to emphasize the importance of liminality. As we have talked about in class, liminality is used to describe the space between two states. It comes from the Greek word “Limen” meaning “threshold.” Kurt Lewin talked about liminality in terms of managing change in an organization. He talked about unfreezing fixities (norms or values that you previously held) in order to go through change or liminality. The only way to change, is by letting go of things from our previous phase in life in order to accept things in our new way of life. Kurt Lewin wrote this management theory in terms of organizational structure and leadership, however I believe that we can connect this theory to other contexts that pertain to liminality. For example, in my essay, I explored the liminal phase of prisoners in Auschwitz when they first enter the concentration camp. To achieve this, I used Viktor Frankl’s first hand account: Man’s Search for Meaning. In order to survive the concentration camp, prisoners needed to change their values and daily norms to fit in with camp expectations. Similarly, I explore Louis Zamperini’s story in Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand. He was an Olympic runner turned military personnel. He was stranded at sea for several weeks before becoming a prisoner of war in Japan. The liminal phase that I explore in his story is his subsequent return home. The liminal stage between being a prisoner and being a normal citizen and husband is jarring (this is something that Dr. Redick talked about in his book American Camino). The last artifact that I use to explore liminality and journeys is Herman Hesse’s book Journey to the East. This book differs from the other two artifacts because it was a voluntary introduction to a liminal phase, whereas the other two artifacts contained “forced” liminality in order to survive. I believe that liminality is the common denominator between all of these artifacts. They are extremely different in terms of their external journeys and the interior journey of the individual, however, they all went through necessary liminal phases in order to progress to the next steps in their journeys.

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