Keys and Locks: The Greatest Illusion of Our Humanity by Emma LeMasters

Keys and Locks: The Greatest Illusion of Our Humanity

            It’s 10 PM. Do you know where your keys are? Maybe you know exactly where they are because you have a designated spot in your home–a decorated key rack, an old dish for miscellaneous items, or a simple table by the door–to ensure you’ll never misplace them. Or, possibly you’re the type who loses keys frequently and just might be better off with things that can’t be locked at all. Perhaps you have secret hiding places for spare keys outside your home, maybe underneath a doormat or flowerpot. Each of us likely possesses at least one or more keys, and our day would come to a quick halt if we lost them. Then again, how is it possible that something so essential to our daily lives gets misplaced or forgotten so easily? Without keys, how would we be able to manage, access and secure our homes, cars, and other items? 

            What about all the intangible keys in our lives–the keys to success, they key to your lover’s heart, the keys of heaven? Why are humans fascinated with the idea of a key giving us an avenue to all things important or indispensable? Certainly, these are not things we simply walk into, but it does seem a little suspicious to label them as if they are locked away. Does there exist a true key to grant admittance to pillars like success, love, and eternal life? Perhaps those things just make humans feel a sense of security or convenience. More importantly, though, it’s puzzling to think that a plain key could be used to describe the prerequisites for achieving such things in life when each individual’s life can be completely different from the next. What happens to us if we never find those keys? Who or what is the holder of these dire keys?

The history of the lock and key is somewhat impressive in that it dates back to six thousand years ago. The earliest known device was discovered in the ruins of Nineveh, the capital of ancient Assyria (modern day Iraq and Syria). This lock, created out of wooden pins, could be opened when the correct key was inserted, lifting the pins out of the holes within the bolt and allowing the lock fixtures to move. Then, when the key was removed from the lock, the pins fell back into their places, preventing movement of the lock.

This key and lock, like the many others that have succeeded it, was used for the security and protection of personal property and belongings. Without the invention of the lock and key, human guards were the only way to protect one’s personal belongings. Thus, due to their convenience and security, locks and keys have been an integral part of human society for many years now. 

After the invention of the wooden pin lock, improvements on the lock and key device were made in Ancient Rome and began to resemble wealth and prominence as more expensive materials were used. During these ancient times, only very rich people could afford doors with locking mechanisms or other means of locking up their personal items. In order to have a human guard, a person must have been important in some way if they needed physical protection. Then, in order to afford the locks and keys made from expensive materials such as iron, bronze, silver, or gold, a person must have had a great deal of wealth. As a way of publicly showing one’s wealth, owners of fancy lock devices would often wear their keys, also made of iron, bronze, silver, or gold, on a necklace. By wearing their keys around their neck, people were able to show both their wealth and their access to property that others could not access, giving them authority over their personal belongings. Therefore, not only do keys give owners protection over their belongings, but they give them the authority to permit or prohibit another person’s access to those belongings; it gives them privacy.

When considering the idea of privacy, there can be a broad range of circumstances that come to mind. Humans tend to separate their “private life” from their “work life.” We hide secrets or possessions for the sake of others learning about them and wrecking the privacy of that particular situation. We also have personal or private space that is supposed to indicate our very existence in a specific area. When these private parts of our lives are violated or intruded upon, we naturally experience some extent of discomfort. Thus, if an intruder were to come into our homes or access our personal belongings without our permission, we would feel an invasion of privacy. A remedy for this possible intrusion? Locks and keys. The sole reasoning behind the invention of locks was to keep items away from anyone other than the owner, therefore, making those items private and not public. However, since people who possessed locks and keys were somewhat of an anomaly at the time of their invention, it seems odd that almost everyone in the Western world now possesses a multitude of such devices. Are our lives becoming more private? Have break-ins become more common than they were in the past? Or, are we just consuming more personal objects and items than imaginable in the past? 

Thinking of all the items in our lives that have locks, being able to keep track of keys should be a skill added to resumes or even online dating profiles. There are house and apartment keys, car keys, keys to safes, keys to drawers or file cabinets, keys to storage units, work buildings, and more. What exactly do we have to store behind all these locks, especially if they can still be broken into? Even in the biggest cities in America, there are still people who could care less to lock away any of their personal belongings, including their homes. They’re called “the no lock people.” According to The New York Times’ 2010 article, “The No Lock People,” many of these no-lockers feel that if someone wants to break in, they are going to do so regardless of locks or even alarm systems. Whether lock people agree with this argument or not, the no lock people do make an interesting point: does a simple lock really keep all of our personal and private belongings safe or is it just the idea of the lock that makes us feel safe?

As locks and keys have been modernized over time, newer systems are marketed as though they provide better privacy and security. Take a vintage 1950s Yale lock advertisement for example, which reads, “Keep Him Out! You’re always on the safe side with Yale locks on your doors, front and back. Here are just two of the many Yale locks that will bring all round security to your home.”

This advertisement suggests the lock’s guaranteed protection from intruders. Then, compare this advertisement with the 2002 Kaba lock advertisement which says, “Built strong enough to protect your reputation.”

Apparently, with the turn of the century, locks no longer protected just your personal belongings, but other people’s opinions of your character as well. This change in advertisement within fifty years’ time suggests a shift in the consumer expectations and preferences of lock and key device systems. It’s obvious that we now own more personal items than many years ago, but all of the unnecessary lock and key devices indicate a touch of consumerism that has also grown with the rise of these new systems. 

Furthermore, along with the modernization of locks and keys is the transition to purely electronic devices. Again, consider the Yale locks that were previously advertised. Yale’s newest Linus lock is a fully electronic device that takes away the physical key and instead requires a digital key to permit access. Users simply type their key code in on the touch-sensitive panel that can be mounted next to the door for entry. On top of the security of this lock, different key codes can be given to different users, allowing the owner to have surveillance of who is coming and going. The rapid growth of technology has allowed consumers to upgrade their security systems for their own privacy and convenience, even if the new systems provide the same function as the conventional lock and key.

Nevertheless, one thing remains the same for all locks and keys: they can be broken into. Whether it be a burglary or some other reason for breaking into someone’s personal space or belongings, all owners know that even with a lock and key, their security is not guaranteed. Keeping this in mind might make you wonder why humans even bother with locks and keys. While they may provide a sense of security, the idea of their failure to keep someone or something from entering that space still lingers. However, the sense of security also provides a sense of privacy, which has proven to be of great importance to humans. Without privacy, without our own space, it is difficult for humans to form an identity of self. When humans are able to control their space and privacy, they are able to control what is or isn’t exposed about themselves. In this way, a lock is like another guard that humans can use to shield themselves and protect their privacy. They likely wouldn’t give their keys to a complete stranger, much like they wouldn’t tell that stranger all about the depths of their life story. A lock and key provide the sense of privacy that is necessary for a person to feel autonomous in their being. The more control they have over their space or belongings, the greater their sense of control over their life might be.

Similar to physical locks and keys, do intangible locks and keys give humans a sense of control over their lives as well? Take for example, the love lock. If you are familiar with the term, your first thought is probably of the bridge of love locks in Paris, France. However, the history of love padlocks can be traced back 100 years to a tragic tale of World War I. The tale is one of a Serbian officer, Relja, who left for war in Greece shortly after falling in love with a local school teacher, Nada, in Vrnjačka Banja, Serbia. While in Greece, the officer met another woman and broke off his engagement with Nada, leaving her devastated and heartbroken. Nada never recovered and eventually died from a broken heart. After learning about this tragic tale, young women from Vrnjačka Banja began writing theirs and their lover’s names on padlocks and locking them to the bridge where Relja and Nada used to meet. Many of these women believed that by affixing their love padlock onto the bridge, they could protect their own relationships. Despite these efforts to ‘protect’ a romantic relationship, the idea that a padlock on a bridge could do such a thing is nothing but a mere fantasy. Hence, this use for locks and keys provides only the sense of protection and security. 

Still, love padlocks, whether they are used for protection or just for the romantic aesthetic, can be found in different cities all across the world. Paris, also known as the City of Love, has one of the most famous bridges for love padlocks, Pont des Arts. However, after years of tourists visiting the bridge to seal their love via the padlock, the Paris government began removing the locks because a section of the bridge’s metal mesh collapsed under the weight of the locks. Since 2015, though, over a million padlocks have been added to the bridge, equating to approximately 45 tons.

In Italy, love locks can also be found spread across the famous bridge Ponte Milvio. This trend began in response to Italian writer Federico Moccia’s book, I Want You, which featured a couple who placed a padlock on a lamppost on the bridge in Rome. The infatuation with these love padlocks has persisted for nearly a century, symbolizing the locking of a couple’s love for all of eternity. It is a universal action, to have a lock together and throw away the key, that somehow suggests that a romantic bond can never be broken. For some, this gesture may secure their hopes that the love they have with their partner will truly last forever, but for others it is a simple and maybe silly way to show their love and commitment. Nonetheless, this lock and key, too, gives humans a sense of security and protection.

On another note, Catholicism also has traditions with keys that originated with Saint Peter. In the Bible, Jesus promised Peter the keys of the kingdom of Heaven in the Gospel of Matthew. In verse 16:19, Jesus says to Peter, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on Earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on Earth shall be loosed in heaven.” To this day, Saint Peter is illustrated in Catholic and Eastern Orthodox artwork holding a key or set of keys.

Significance of these keys to heaven are also found through each Catholic Pope’s personal coat of arms, known as the papal coats of arms, and the flag of the Vatican City State. On the coats and on the flag are an image of crossed keys to represent the keys to the office of Saint Peter. These keys are a symbol of papal authority, giving the Pope authority and responsibility over the Catholic Church. Then, when the Pope passes away, a symbolic pair of keys are created to be buried with him. This authority and responsibility are great ones, making the idea of a symbolic key seem rather trivial. How could a simple key represent the authority over an entire religion? Instead of literally giving the Pope authority over the Church, the set of keys serves only as a symbolic relation of the Pope to Saint Peter, who was designated by Jesus to bind an earthly life to Heaven. Peter, like the Popes who have held the keys to Heaven after him, was trusted to build the Church–to build the Catholic faith–in such a way that would prepare its people for eternal life in Heaven with God. In this way, the keys to Heaven can represent various things other than marking the authority of the Pope. The keys of the kingdom of God represent a promise that Heaven and God exist, and a promise that there is a pathway to eternal life through the Catholic faith. Again, this lock and key symbolism can give followers of the Catholic faith hope and security in their religious beliefs.

Along with these intangible keys are the so-called keys to success. There are countless articles from famous or wealthy people claiming that the steps in their process towards achieving success can be generalized for others as the true guidelines to such success. However, the keys they believe helped make them successful may not be necessary for another person to be successful. One of the most famous ideas regarding the keys to success is the American Dream. This dream says that in America, if you work hard, you will have the opportunity for prosperity and upward social mobility. Therefore, the one key to success in America is hard work. This idea was sold especially to immigrants and working-class citizens during the American industrial revolution when the economy began to rapidly grow. These citizens soon realized, though, that despite their lifetime of hard work in America, this prosperity and social mobility was still unattainable. With this realization, it seems unjust that hard work is advertised as the only key necessary to achieve the American dream. If keys to success truly exist, then the American Dream leaves some of those keys out because hours of hard work have not made every American citizen successful. Why even sell this idea of a key to success then? One reason might be that many of the immigrants and working-class citizens made up the majority of factory workers during America’s fast progress towards capitalism. Without the incentive that they could one day be as well off as the wealthy factory owners, there was no reason for these citizens to do such laborious jobs all their life. Accordingly, the intangible keys to success serve as motivation for some and deception for others. 

Keeping the psychological reasons for keys in mind, it is hard to explain why humans use a tangible lock and key to represent these intangible feelings and thoughts. One reason why we use keys to represent things like success and love and faith might be because these intangible concepts, at some point, become an ultimate question that we face in our human lives. Do we believe in success, love, and faith? Are those things important to us? Trying to wrap our minds around these concepts, which are often changing throughout our lives, is difficult to do. Using a tangible object such as a lock and key helps us to visualize and understand these concepts because even as we spend a lifetime trying to understand them, we can never hold them in our hands, indicating that we officially have them. How do we know if we have had success or love, or that we can have faith–and hopefully the right one–if these are not things that we can see in our daily lives? Instead, we can visualize them through metaphorical means, allowing language to come into play. We cannot speak these concepts into existence but using tangible objects to express them allows us to at least draw linguistic comparisons to help us understand them. Like a lock, we often believe that these concepts are not easy to access. Like a key, we often feel that there is secret information, or a combination of some sort that will help us achieve these things, or at least come to peace with them in our lives. Whether that feeling is right or wrong, a concrete object helps us to understand the intricacies of these notions and why they are regularly sought after. 

Altogether, these different types of locks and keys have numerous functions other than simply restricting access. From safeguarding items, or at least indicating whether or not something has been broken into, to providing emotional security, keys and locks seem to do more for humans than meets the eye. They provide a sense of privacy, protection, and security–physically, psychologically, and emotionally. Most importantly, though, keys and locks provide humans with a sense of control. We are brought into this world without our own control and, in most cases, are taken from this world without our own control, too. Many of the circumstances in our lives are completely out of our control, yet we are naturally disappointed when we cannot control them. Both physical and metaphorical keys provide us with a feeling that we control what happens to us. We think these locks and keys give us control over who enters our home, who accesses our belongings, and how we achieve success and find love and faith in our lives. In reality though, all of these instances rely on a matter of chance. We cannot control what will happen in each moment, life changing or not, but the security of having a lock to protect the things we value makes us believe that we have some control over what might happen. It is certainly an illusion, but it has carried humans through life, nonetheless. 

Works Cited

D'Costa, Krystal. “Is There More to Locking up than Personal Safety?” Scientific American Blog Network, Scientific American, 16 Apr. 2015, blogs.scientificamerican.com/anthropology-in-practice/is-there-more-to-locking-up-than-personal-safety/.

“The History and Future of Locks and Keys.” Gizmodo, gizmodo.com/the-history-and-future-of-locks-and-keys-1735694812.

“Lock and Key.” History of Keys and Locks, www.historyofkeys.com/.

“The Love Lock Bridge and Other Famous Bridges in Paris.” The Tour Guy, 1 Mar. 2020, thetourguy.com/travel-blog/the-love-lock-bridge-and-other-famous-bridges-in-paris/.

“Love Padlocks History - Famous Love Padlocks Locations.” History of Love Padlocks - Famous Love Padlocks Locations, www.historyofkeys.com/padlocks-history/history-of-love-padlocks/.

Messages, Teaching and. “What Are the ‘Keys of the Kingdom’?” Christianity.com, Salem Web Network, 8 May 2014, www.christianity.com/jesus/life-of-jesus/teaching-and-messages/what-are-the-keys-of-the-kingdom.html.

Team, Keycafe. “The History of Keys and Locks.” Medium, Keycafe, 1 Aug. 2019, medium.com/keycafe/the-history-of-keys-and-locks-8869bdc0ee7f.

Wadler, Joyce. “The No Lock People.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 Jan. 2010, www.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/garden/14nolock.html.