Human nature comprises the ways of behaving, thinking, and feelings that are shared by most people and are considered to be normal. Human nurture in literature is vital because it leads readers to explore the human experiences from different perspectives, fostering emotional connections to the characters, reflecting on their own values, beliefs, and behaviors, and getting a deeper understanding of themselves. Two well-written stories, The Elephant Man and The Monkey’s Paw, present dual aspects of being humans. The Elephant Man, written by Bernard Pomerance, talks about Ross, the exploitative show manager, taking advantage of Merrick’s disfigurement as well as manipulating paying customers’ curiosity to make money, while Dr. Treves shows his sympathy toward Merrick, hoping to cure his abnormal body figure by giving him a thorough medical examination. The Monkey’s Paw, written by W.W. Jacobs, talks about Morris lying to the White family about the monkey’s paw because he knows the bad consequence of having it and wants to pass the devil to them by manipulating the White’s curiosity and taking advantage of the White’s weakness of needing money. The White cannot resist temptation about the magic power of monkey’s paw, so they let the greediness and overly curiosity play out and make the wishes, which ends up a tragedy of losing loved one, his son Herbert. Let’s have a deep discussion about the bright side and dark sides of human nature as well as the causes of human nature through the characters of these two stories.
The brightness of human nature reflects positive aspects and potentials in human beings, inviting individuals to grow socially and mentally. The brightness of human nature is evident in the acts of having professional and scientific attitudes, showing sympathy and empathy, and realizing mistakes and trying to correct them. Specifically, Dr. Treves in The Elephant Man could not believe there exists a half-elephant half-man person in the world; therefore, he hopes to find the truth of science. Dr. Treves holds a scientific spirit. All he wants is to find nothing but the truth of science. He gives the comments” The sign is absurd! Half-Elephant, Half-Man?” suggesting he does not believe there exists this kind of person in the world. When he in person meets Merrick, the elephant man, his scientific curiosity pushes himself to find out what causes Merrick’s disfigurement by giving Merrick a complete medical examination, based on his previous professional learning in the medical field, hoping to find answers. Moreover, through more and more interactions with Merick, Dr. Treves in The Elephant Man evolves his relationship with Merrick, showing much empathy and sympathy toward Merrick. Initially, Dr. Treves’ encounter with Merrick is rooted in scientific interests. With more contact with Merrick, Dr. Treves has shown sympathy for Merrick and understands him. He empathizes with his physical pain and what he has suffered. He takes his time to make sure that Merrick is well cared for through the whole-body medical examination, wanting to find the cure through the whole-body examination in order to ease the pain that Merrick had suffered. Dr. Treves’s kindness and calmness helped Merrick into fitting into the environment. Furthermore, Mr. White in The Monkey’s Paw makes the first wish though the monkey’s paw and this costs the life of his beloved son, Herbert. He finally realizes this is a huge mistake of using the monkey’s paw. So when Mrs. White wants to make the second wish through the monkey’s paw in bringing Herbert to life, Mr. White immediately stops and corrects her by making the third wish of not letting Herbert back to life. Witnessing the evil side of the monkey’s paw, he realizes what he did with the monkey’s paw is so wrong. Mr. White knows what would happen if the monkey’s paw grants Mrs. White the second wish of making Hurbert alive. He did not want to make the same mistake again or lose anyone or anything he cares about. So he does his very best to correct the mistake by stopping Mrs. White. The behaviors and attitudes of characters described in both stories not only encourage readers to maintain the capacity of caring for others but also offer readers a chance to promote personal growth.
The darkness of human nature, on the contrary, encompasses the negative and destructive traits of human beings to devalue people who are in weakness as well as exploit the vulnerable people. The darkness of human nature often could be seen through the actions of showing greediness, taking advantage of others, being selfish, and being cruel. To be specific, Mr. White in The Monkey’s Paw already has everything he needs, a lovely family, basic needs for daily life, and a stable job. But Mr. White still makes a wish of $200 pound out of his greediness with the monkey’s paw. Ross in The Elephant Man desires to get more and more money. He lets his greediness lead him to no-stop exploit Merrick’s weakness. Greediness, the ugly side of human nature, could lead to deformation of reality and life, causing irreversible and disappointing consequences. Greediness, caused by one’s desire, has the power to blind his eyes and make regretful decisions. Greediness is often at the expense of others, acting in ways that are harmful to others. One should try not to let greediness control their desires. In addition, Morris in The Monkey’s Paw takes advantage of the trust the White family has in him, skillfully setting a trap to promote their curiosity about the Monkey’s paw. Ross in The Elephant Man takes advantage of the paying customers’ hatred of ugliness to arrange a show in making profit. Taking advantage of others is another dark side of human nature, involving manipulating others for personal gains or exploiting who are vulnerable. People with such traits often show no or less insights of fairness, empathy, sympathy, and respect for others, causing harm or bringing negative outcomes to others. Ross in The Elephant Man is cruel to Merrick. Although he gives basic needs for helping Merrick survive, he shows no empathy toward Merrick’s physical deformity and treats him like an animal rather than a human being. Cruelty is considered a dreadful aspect of human nature because it causes others to suffer or leads harm to them. Cruel people lose their capability of understanding and sharing feelings of others. To be exact, they choose not to care or empathize with others. Cruel people even feel pleasure when seeing others in pain. Also, Morris in The Monkey’s Paw knows the wrongful part of the monkey’s paw, so he wants to get rid of it to protect himself, not letting the bad things happen to him, which is very selfish of him. Selfishness, a common negative feature of human nature, refers to putting one’s own interests above others without considering others’ situations. Although the action of being selfish comes from self-protection, it leads others in harm or exploitation. Recognizing and understanding the dark side of human nature through the characters described in both books invite readers to challenge their current ethical values and raise the readers’ awareness of what kind of thoughts and behaviors a person should or should not have.
Everything happens for a reason! Acting laziness, concerning self-interest, and having desires would be the possible causes for human nature. Those causes intertwine with each other, and no single cause could definitely explain the behaviors of human nature. About laziness, Mr. White in The Monkey’s Paw wants to get quick huge money paying for the mortgage without making an effort, so he used the monkey’s paw to grant him the wish of $200 pounds. Similarly, Ross in The Elephant Man wants to make profit without putting energy and labor but using Merrick’s deformity. Both suggest Mr. white and Ross are in the mindset of being lazy. When people are lazy, they have no intention to do the work. Instead, they want to receive gains or get things done without putting much of their energy or making great efforts. Lazy people expect to have what they need through minimum work or no work so they can rest. Such laziness would lead people to want more and more, leading them to become greedy and selfish. As for self-interest, Morris in The Monkey’s Paw doesn’t want the negative consequence of the monkey’s paw to happen to him so he passes it to the white family. Likewise, Ross in The Elephant Man only cares about making money. He did not concern Merrick’s feelings or body discomforts. Both Morris and Ross only concern their own self-interests. They act like the boss of everyone making the rules. They think they are the center of the world and everyone should spin around them, like the earth revolves around the sun. They only care about their own benefits and interests rather than others’ feelings, emotions, and ideas, not to mention trying to understand others. Such people are very selfish and they show no empathy or sympathy toward others who are in need of help, even being cruel. For desire, Mrs. White in The Monkey’s Paw extremely desires to bring Herbert back to life, she makes the second wish. Ross in The Elephant Man manipulates the audience's overly curiosity and their hatred to ugliness as well as takes advantage of Merrick’s disfigurement to reach his enormous desires of having a lot of money. Both Mrs. White and Ross reveal their strong desires and they would do whatever they take, like take advantage of others weakness or manipulate others, to fulfill their desires and satisfy their needs even though they might use the evil way or hurt others. It is normal for people to have desires. People with appropriate desires would push them to reach their goals. However, if people have too strong desires, way more than they can handle, they would want more power or more money, which feeds their greediness and selfishness. Through understanding the cause of human nature, people have the opportunity to reflect on their thoughts and adjust their behaviors, hoping to develop more of the bright sides of human nature.
In conclusion, human nature is inevitable as long as you are a human being. Human nature could be divided into the bright side or the dark side to be discussed. Sympathy and empathy, realizing mistakes and trying to correct them, and being professional and scientific looking for the truth are considered as positive aspects of human nature, while greediness, taking advantage of others, selfishness, and cruelty are negative aspects of human nature. Those traits happen instinctively and they often integrate with each other. Each individual carries both sides of human nature, and one cannot exist without the other. Human nature is not an academic subject that readers could learn at school, but readers definitely could grasp the deeper understanding of what human nature is through the literature. Reading from the literature engages readers to explore different aspects of being human. Readers get the chance to think about their own positive or negative traits of human nature by connecting the characters shaped by the author. This then invites readers to reflect on their own attitudes, actions, and ideas of human nature, which in turn promote their personal growth.
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