Two of the greatest pieces of classic literature are The Monkey’s Paw and The Elephant Man. One thing that they have in common is that they teach us that human nature has a dark and bright side. Human nature is what dictates our behaviors and discussing it is important because people can learn about what might be wrong about their personalities and improve themselves. In The Monkey’s Paw, Mr. White was greedy and quickly accepted his friend's offer of the monkey’s paw, which granted three wishes. Mr. White quickly learned that the paw would cause much mischief, so he tried to stop his wife when she tried to wish their dead son alive. In The Elephant Man, Ross took advantage of Merrick’s misery and human’s hatred for ugliness to make money. Luckily, Dr. Treves tried to help Merrick’s situation.
The good thing about humans is that they can be honest, sympathetic, and caring. Some people are able to avoid greed and selfishness and become good people. In The Elephant Man, Dr. Treves noticed what Merrick was going through and decided to help him so that he would not be as miserable. Though Treves did not succeed in helping Merrick became a normal person, what mattered was that he tried his best to help. Meanwhile, in The Monkey’s Paw, Mr. White wished for some money, but unfortunately, the wish killed his son. Thankfully, he realized that the paw would pair evil things together with your wish. So, when his wife begged him to wish their dead son alive again, he initially tried to resist her. However, he eventually had to give in to his wife’s demands, as enormous grief would come over her if she would never get to see her son again. Mr. White realized the darkness of the Monkey’s Paw. Humans can have a good side at times.
Unfortunately, human nature has a dark side as well. Humans can sometimes be greedy, selfish, and curious, and take advantage of others. In The Elephant Man, Merrick’s “manager”, Ross, treated him like a slave. He didn’t care about his living conditions and even exploited humans’ hatred for ugliness. He also used the fact that people are curious to get others to pay him money in exchange for ownership of Merrick. Ross treated Merrick cruelly and took advantage of human nature. In The Monkey’s Paw, Morris was vague about what the paw does, so he managed to convince Mr. White to use the paw to see its true powers. Mr. White was also greedy for money and he had a mortgage to pay off, adding to the trap. Mr. White didn’t see what was about to happen, and everything went down. People have a dark side and it's very hard to overcome it.
There are several reasons humans came to have a side in which there is much evil. People have bad traits such as self-interest, laziness, and high ambitions. When people are selfish, they forget about others and care only about themselves, so they might harm others to get their own way. Meanwhile, laziness along with the hope of receiving gains without having to work or make sacrifices promotes passive behavior, something which is terrible. It is okay to have some ambitions, but too much of anything is always bad. When we do have too many ambitions, again, we would probably forget about others and work only for personal gains and money. A mixture of bad traits led to the darkness of human nature.
Most people think to themselves: “Wouldn’t it be great if the world could turn away from evil and greed?” The answer to this question would be yes, but it is impossible for everybody to overcome the dark side of human nature. You could try to be a good person and succeed in doing so, but you can’t exactly change everyone else’s opinions. So, while we can’t completely move away from darkness, we should at least try to for our long term benefit and the world.
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