Power In Patricia Mccormick's 'Never Fall Down'
Lord Acton, an English historian, once said, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Power brings out the worst in people. There have been several instances in the past where power was misused and lead to horrible periods in history. When given power, people may misuse it “because they can.” Their followers feel that it must be okay because someone at such a high status is doing it, even though it is not. In the dystopian novel, Never Fall Down, a group by the name of the Khmer Rouge invades Cambodia and takes all of their people. They have all of the power at the time, and force the people to work against their will. This turned out to be one of most devastating periods in history. Others may claim that power brings
…show more content…
out the best in people.
They may claim that people can do great things with power, and use it to change things for the better based on their opinions. They are wrong, and this is never the case. Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick demonstrates how one group of people can make a negative impact on the world if given too much power.
The book Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick tells the story of a boy named Arn during the Cambodian Genocide. This was a period in history when a group called the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia and its people. In just four years, over 1.7 million of Cambodia’s people were executed, starved, or overworked to death. The sleeping conditions were inhumane, and anyone was lucky if they were allowed three hours of sleep. For most, the rest of the day consisted of forced labor out in the fields or disposing of dead bodies. They were fed the bare minimum, and lived off of grains of rice. Relationships were discouraged and families were split apart, and even young children had to suffer on their own. This made for one of the worst mass killings in the 20th Century. A BBC News article, “Cambodia’s brutal Khmer Rouge Regime”, states, “Declaring the nation would start again at ‘Year Zero’, Pol Pot isolated his people from the rest of the world and set about emptying the cities, abolishing money, private property and
religion, and setting up rural collectives”. Pol Pot, the man who led the Khmer Rouge in the genocide, thought that everything needed to be reevaluated. He wanted everything to begin again and things to be changed so they could be the way that he thought they should be. The Khmer Rouge felt that they could conquer the world. They overthrew the government, took over Cambodia and its people, and renamed it Kampuchea. This all happened because the amount of power that they had was so large, they could do anything and get away with it without anyone stopping them. Nobody had more power over them, and therefore did not have the authority to question them or do anything about it. The Khmer Rouge did not want anyone to ever rise up over them so they prevented it by taking over and killing innocent people. The wealthy, people that had an education, or people that knew other languages were murdered, for the sole reason that the Khmer Rouge did not want anyone alive that could possibly turn everyone against them. These people were thought to be more powerful and privileged than the rest. A quote from Never Fall Down states, “You show you care, you die. You show fear, you die. You show nothing, maybe you live” (McCormick 53). In order to survive, you could not act like you were afraid or show any emotion. If the Khmer Rouge knew that you cared about anything other than Angka, who was symbolized as a god, you would be murdered. All of the Khmer Rouge’s actions were a result of Angka’s influence. They never wanted to be in the position that they put all of these innocent people in, and this resulted in the murder of millions of people. All of these events were the turnout of one group having a colossal amount of power. The Cambodian Genocide was an obvious example of how power can corrupt.
When power begins to corrupt, there is a large chance that things will not get better again. This means that power needs to be carefully distributed and possible outcomes need to be thought about before one group is assigned all of the power. If people are just handed power left and right, there are many possible dangers and consequences. When one has too much power, they may misuse it. Power can “intoxicate” people. They may feel that they can get away with things and may have the excuse, “because I can.” A recent experiment was conducted to find out how power impacts the actions of somebody. In a recent study, Katherine DeCelles, a professor of management at the University of Toronto, and her co-authors gathered a group of people and had some participants write about a time where they felt powerful. They then had others write about an ordinary day, and all of these participants then took part in an experiment. They were told that they shared a pool of 500 points. They had the opportunity to take from 0 to 10 points for themselves, and the more points they took, the better chance they had of winning the 100 dollar lottery. If they took too many, the lottery would be called off - but there was no way of knowing what “too many” meant. The participants who had just written about an ordinary day each took about 6.5 points, while the others who wrote about a time where they had power chose roughly 7.5 points. The people who were given the opportunity to write about a time where they had power felt more empowered and better than the others who had just written about an ordinary day. With this power, they felt that they could take more points because they are powerful and “they can.” Also, studies have shown that people of authority are more likely to judge based on stereotypes. It is also proven that people with more power make eye contact less than an average person, especially when it is someone with less power than themselves. This proves that power can make one unaware of the concerns and emotions of others. This directly connects to the novel Never Fall Down because the Khmer Rouge had such a great amount of power, they did not think at all about the people that were suffering because of them. The needs of these people were not considered, and they were barely even treated as if they were human.
There were also other events in history that were similar to the Cambodian Genocide. One of the most comparable crises was the Holocaust. The 20th Century was responsible for tens of millions of deaths. Although the Cambodian Genocide resulted in fewer deaths than the Holocaust, they were both very similar gruesome instances that were both caused by one group that had too much power. During the Cambodian Genocide, the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia and its people and forced them to work until death. The Holocaust on the other hand started with just a boycott of Jewish shops and ended in extermination camps, execution sights, and ghettos. In a speech that Hitler gave, he says, “Our war aim, is not to attain a particular line, but the physical destruction of the enemy”. Adolf Hitler and the Nazis attempted to exterminate the whole Jewish population of Europe. Hitler believed that the Jewish caused all of Germany’s problems. In both of these mass murders, the groups in power had no mercy. If someone was caught doing something that was not approved of, they were killed on the spot. There was no moment to explain or to try and defend yourself. The turnouts of these genocides were very similar. There was a vast amount of innocent people that were murdered, and those that did survive will never be able to recover. Both the Cambodian Genocide and the Holocaust are extreme examples of how too much power can take a toll on a bad situation and make it worse.
When people claim that power can bring out the best in people, they are completely wrong in their opinion. Power will corrupt no matter the case, and it cannot be prevented. Leaders feel the need to have all of the power because it is too stressful to be in power when they do not have total control. Ian H. Robertson, a Professor of Psychology, states that, “Powers effects on the brain acts as a sort of anti-depressant. But like all addictive drugs, too much for too long causes dangerous changes in the brain, which include reckless disinhibition, risk-blindness and difficulty in seeing things from other’s perspective”. This is just saying that if someone is given too much power for too much time, it has an impact on your brain that is not healthy for the way you think. If you think about it, this makes a lot of sense. In Never Fall Down, the Khmer Rouge have so much power for such an extended amount of time, they become unaware of what they are doing. They are brutally murdering people without any mercy, and do not care what anyone has to say about it except for themselves. This proves that power cannot bring out the best in people, but can ruin them and the way that they think. After a long time, power may also cause leaders to refuse to give up their position. Their brains are so focused and out of line that they feel that nobody else can do the job as well as they did, and for that reason refuse to hand it over. They may believe that they are crucial and everything would fail without them. This all just proves that power does not bring out the best in people or benefit anyone, but in fact brings out the worst in people, and can destroy the way that people use their minds.
Overall, power brings out the worst in people. Too much power will eventually cause corruption, and people will get away with things that they should not be able to “because they can” and because of the excessive amount of power they have. People with an excessive amount of power also can become oblivious to the concerns of others around them. This would lead to a world of carelessness and hatred. Also, too much power can even impact your brain in a way that is unhealthy for the way that you think. This would cause poor decisions to be made. Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge, as well as Adolf Hitler and the Nazis demonstrated some of the worst cases of power corruption in history. With this knowledge of how power can corrupt, think about the impact that it could have if nothing is done about it. Patricia McCormick wrote Never Fall Down to show how one group with too much power can make a negative impact. People need to first realize what the consequences could be if one group is allowed too much power and then need to make an effort to stop people from getting away with things because of the extensive amount of power that they have.
out the best in people.
They may claim that people can do great things with power, and use it to change things for the better based on their opinions. They are wrong, and this is never the case. Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick demonstrates how one group of people can make a negative impact on the world if given too much power.
The book Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick tells the story of a boy named Arn during the Cambodian Genocide. This was a period in history when a group called the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia and its people. In just four years, over 1.7 million of Cambodia’s people were executed, starved, or overworked to death. The sleeping conditions were inhumane, and anyone was lucky if they were allowed three hours of sleep. For most, the rest of the day consisted of forced labor out in the fields or disposing of dead bodies. They were fed the bare minimum, and lived off of grains of rice. Relationships were discouraged and families were split apart, and even young children had to suffer on their own. This made for one of the worst mass killings in the 20th Century. A BBC News article, “Cambodia’s brutal Khmer Rouge Regime”, states, “Declaring the nation would start again at ‘Year Zero’, Pol Pot isolated his people from the rest of the world and set about emptying the cities, abolishing money, private property and
religion, and setting up rural collectives”. Pol Pot, the man who led the Khmer Rouge in the genocide, thought that everything needed to be reevaluated. He wanted everything to begin again and things to be changed so they could be the way that he thought they should be. The Khmer Rouge felt that they could conquer the world. They overthrew the government, took over Cambodia and its people, and renamed it Kampuchea. This all happened because the amount of power that they had was so large, they could do anything and get away with it without anyone stopping them. Nobody had more power over them, and therefore did not have the authority to question them or do anything about it. The Khmer Rouge did not want anyone to ever rise up over them so they prevented it by taking over and killing innocent people. The wealthy, people that had an education, or people that knew other languages were murdered, for the sole reason that the Khmer Rouge did not want anyone alive that could possibly turn everyone against them. These people were thought to be more powerful and privileged than the rest. A quote from Never Fall Down states, “You show you care, you die. You show fear, you die. You show nothing, maybe you live” (McCormick 53). In order to survive, you could not act like you were afraid or show any emotion. If the Khmer Rouge knew that you cared about anything other than Angka, who was symbolized as a god, you would be murdered. All of the Khmer Rouge’s actions were a result of Angka’s influence. They never wanted to be in the position that they put all of these innocent people in, and this resulted in the murder of millions of people. All of these events were the turnout of one group having a colossal amount of power. The Cambodian Genocide was an obvious example of how power can corrupt.
When power begins to corrupt, there is a large chance that things will not get better again. This means that power needs to be carefully distributed and possible outcomes need to be thought about before one group is assigned all of the power. If people are just handed power left and right, there are many possible dangers and consequences. When one has too much power, they may misuse it. Power can “intoxicate” people. They may feel that they can get away with things and may have the excuse, “because I can.” A recent experiment was conducted to find out how power impacts the actions of somebody. In a recent study, Katherine DeCelles, a professor of management at the University of Toronto, and her co-authors gathered a group of people and had some participants write about a time where they felt powerful. They then had others write about an ordinary day, and all of these participants then took part in an experiment. They were told that they shared a pool of 500 points. They had the opportunity to take from 0 to 10 points for themselves, and the more points they took, the better chance they had of winning the 100 dollar lottery. If they took too many, the lottery would be called off - but there was no way of knowing what “too many” meant. The participants who had just written about an ordinary day each took about 6.5 points, while the others who wrote about a time where they had power chose roughly 7.5 points. The people who were given the opportunity to write about a time where they had power felt more empowered and better than the others who had just written about an ordinary day. With this power, they felt that they could take more points because they are powerful and “they can.” Also, studies have shown that people of authority are more likely to judge based on stereotypes. It is also proven that people with more power make eye contact less than an average person, especially when it is someone with less power than themselves. This proves that power can make one unaware of the concerns and emotions of others. This directly connects to the novel Never Fall Down because the Khmer Rouge had such a great amount of power, they did not think at all about the people that were suffering because of them. The needs of these people were not considered, and they were barely even treated as if they were human.
There were also other events in history that were similar to the Cambodian Genocide. One of the most comparable crises was the Holocaust. The 20th Century was responsible for tens of millions of deaths. Although the Cambodian Genocide resulted in fewer deaths than the Holocaust, they were both very similar gruesome instances that were both caused by one group that had too much power. During the Cambodian Genocide, the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia and its people and forced them to work until death. The Holocaust on the other hand started with just a boycott of Jewish shops and ended in extermination camps, execution sights, and ghettos. In a speech that Hitler gave, he says, “Our war aim, is not to attain a particular line, but the physical destruction of the enemy”. Adolf Hitler and the Nazis attempted to exterminate the whole Jewish population of Europe. Hitler believed that the Jewish caused all of Germany’s problems. In both of these mass murders, the groups in power had no mercy. If someone was caught doing something that was not approved of, they were killed on the spot. There was no moment to explain or to try and defend yourself. The turnouts of these genocides were very similar. There was a vast amount of innocent people that were murdered, and those that did survive will never be able to recover. Both the Cambodian Genocide and the Holocaust are extreme examples of how too much power can take a toll on a bad situation and make it worse.
When people claim that power can bring out the best in people, they are completely wrong in their opinion. Power will corrupt no matter the case, and it cannot be prevented. Leaders feel the need to have all of the power because it is too stressful to be in power when they do not have total control. Ian H. Robertson, a Professor of Psychology, states that, “Powers effects on the brain acts as a sort of anti-depressant. But like all addictive drugs, too much for too long causes dangerous changes in the brain, which include reckless disinhibition, risk-blindness and difficulty in seeing things from other’s perspective”. This is just saying that if someone is given too much power for too much time, it has an impact on your brain that is not healthy for the way you think. If you think about it, this makes a lot of sense. In Never Fall Down, the Khmer Rouge have so much power for such an extended amount of time, they become unaware of what they are doing. They are brutally murdering people without any mercy, and do not care what anyone has to say about it except for themselves. This proves that power cannot bring out the best in people, but can ruin them and the way that they think. After a long time, power may also cause leaders to refuse to give up their position. Their brains are so focused and out of line that they feel that nobody else can do the job as well as they did, and for that reason refuse to hand it over. They may believe that they are crucial and everything would fail without them. This all just proves that power does not bring out the best in people or benefit anyone, but in fact brings out the worst in people, and can destroy the way that people use their minds.
Overall, power brings out the worst in people. Too much power will eventually cause corruption, and people will get away with things that they should not be able to “because they can” and because of the excessive amount of power they have. People with an excessive amount of power also can become oblivious to the concerns of others around them. This would lead to a world of carelessness and hatred. Also, too much power can even impact your brain in a way that is unhealthy for the way that you think. This would cause poor decisions to be made. Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge, as well as Adolf Hitler and the Nazis demonstrated some of the worst cases of power corruption in history. With this knowledge of how power can corrupt, think about the impact that it could have if nothing is done about it. Patricia McCormick wrote Never Fall Down to show how one group with too much power can make a negative impact. People need to first realize what the consequences could be if one group is allowed too much power and then need to make an effort to stop people from getting away with things because of the extensive amount of power that they have.