What’s the big deal about a chair? Well, actually, because this chair is big, about four times as large as a normal chair, and a work of art that has taken on a life of its own. Jake Beckman, a student at Swarthmore College, conceived and built the original chair, which found a place among the other normal-sized Adirondack chairs that dot the stretch of lawn in front of the main hall on campus. The iconic chair even appeared on the Colbert Report.
Several years ago the original chair fell apart and was quietly removed from the lawn. However, the campus community, becoming attached to the Big Chair, clamored to bring the chair back. Jake agreed to return to rebuild the structure, and the chair resumed its place with the others.
I guess I wasn’t the only one beginning to think metaphorically about the Big Chair. Some unnamed inventives would come by during the night leaving the chairs in different arrangements, such as the Big Chair leading a line of the other chairs or the Big Chair in the middle of a circle. One morning the Big Chair stood upright while a semicircle of normal chairs tipped down in front of the Big Chair.
Now I was thinking hard. The chairs assumed the metaphor for power dynamics . . . and not just at Swarthmore! I thought about “Big Chair” people, folks that tell us what to do or think: politicians, pundits, advertisers, bosses, CEOs, presidents, board of directors . . . and I’m sure you can think of many more. Do we perceive these folks as big in influence, power, authority, wealth and get drawn into a mindset that binds us to a deferential attitude? Many normal chairs sit on the lawn–there is strength in numbers when we act collectively. And normal-sized chairs serve a real function. We wouldn’t make 25 more Big Chairs.
On reflection, perhaps we do need the Big Chair–reminding us to keep the right perspective.
Psalmboxkey's Blog 
Comments on: "Scale: The “Big Chair” and the Metaphor" (17)
You only need a few big chairs in life. Great photos
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Right! . . . because the big chairs want to tell me what to do. ; ) Thanks for commenting.
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Godilocks, is that you? 🙂
janet
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Whoops, forgot an important letter! Goldilock. Hee, hee.
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Help, I still go it wrong–Goldilocks. That’s it. I’m done.
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No Godilocks or Goldilocks . . . and no sign of any bears. ; )
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[…] Psalmboxkey’s BlogScale: The “Big Chair” and the Metaphor […]
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great interpretation of the theme Scale
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Thanks for stopping by and the nice comment.
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My pleasure.
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What fun to sneak in at night and arrange the chairs to make one’s statement. That chair is doing a community service.
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Right, who’d ever think you could make a political statement arranging chairs!
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Excellent post. Brilliant take on what the big chair represent and a great look on perspectives.
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Sometimes it is easier to make a statement through a metaphor. : ) Thanks for commenting.
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I’m always on the side of the smaller chairs. Bigger chairs always talk the loudest and take up most of the space. Worst of all bigger chairs always feel not only entitled but that you should feel small.
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Right, but the smaller chairs usually have the advantage of numbers, and if they join together in solidarity, there’s no stopping them!
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