A World Full of Cruelty
A World Full of Cruelty
Different aspects of human nature have always been a part of literary works written by writers of every era. Human beings are portrayed as compassionate, loving, caring, empathetic and concerned about society and the people around them. However, literature is also filled with the abundance of negative facets of human nature such as hatred, discrimination and cruelty. This very form of cruelty is shown in the “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” by Mark Twain in which Huck remarks “human beings can be awful cruel to one another”. With the help of his portrayal of cruelty, this facet of human nature is further analyzed in two thought provoking literary works, “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Human nature allows people to be especially cruel to one another, regardless of time, gender, and even economic status. Human beings at one time or another have always shown acts of heartlessness and unkindness to the people around them. Sometimes this brutality is shown with the use of harsh words and at times with negative actions. Since the beginning of time as far back as the stone ages, cruelty has been in day to day life. For example, cavemen were known as the absolute rulers of their dwelling and showed this with a form of dominance via the cruel method of dragging their women by their hair. The cavewomen were submissive and complied with every unrealistic demand that their ruler placed on them. This self- fulfilling prophecy has been fed to us mostly through cartoons for generations now. Most of the time peoples actions for the cruel acts that they perform stem from the very examples that they see on television or read about. Who exactly was it that decided that a woman was to be treated like an object and not a human being with feelings? Man or society?
William Faulkner shows a similar method of cruelty in “A Rose for Emily” when the main character Emily
Different aspects of human nature have always been a part of literary works written by writers of every era. Human beings are portrayed as compassionate, loving, caring, empathetic and concerned about society and the people around them. However, literature is also filled with the abundance of negative facets of human nature such as hatred, discrimination and cruelty. This very form of cruelty is shown in the “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” by Mark Twain in which Huck remarks “human beings can be awful cruel to one another”. With the help of his portrayal of cruelty, this facet of human nature is further analyzed in two thought provoking literary works, “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Human nature allows people to be especially cruel to one another, regardless of time, gender, and even economic status. Human beings at one time or another have always shown acts of heartlessness and unkindness to the people around them. Sometimes this brutality is shown with the use of harsh words and at times with negative actions. Since the beginning of time as far back as the stone ages, cruelty has been in day to day life. For example, cavemen were known as the absolute rulers of their dwelling and showed this with a form of dominance via the cruel method of dragging their women by their hair. The cavewomen were submissive and complied with every unrealistic demand that their ruler placed on them. This self- fulfilling prophecy has been fed to us mostly through cartoons for generations now. Most of the time peoples actions for the cruel acts that they perform stem from the very examples that they see on television or read about. Who exactly was it that decided that a woman was to be treated like an object and not a human being with feelings? Man or society?
William Faulkner shows a similar method of cruelty in “A Rose for Emily” when the main character Emily
Cited: Burduck, M. L. “Another View of Faulkner’s Narrator in ‘A Rose for Emily.’” UMSE 8 (1990), pp. 209–11. Available from ecmd.nju.edu.cn/UploadFile/17/8235/anotherrose.doc. Date Accessed July 20, 2013 Faulkner, W. “A Rose for Emily”, The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W. Norton, 2003. 2160-2166. Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”. Kennedy and Gioia. 417-421 Twain, M. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Chatto & Windus / Charles L. Webster And Company. (1884), pp. 233. Available from http://contentserver.adobe.com/store/books/HuckFinn.pdf. Date Accessed July 20, 2013