Nature of Human Morality in Classic Literature

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In my opinion people are born neutral. Your behavior can depend on how you were raised. There are people that are very influential to you in a positive or negative way. Our attitude can be changed from being around people who make bad choices. If you are around good people then you will make better choices around others. The books that I will be proving people are born neutral are To Kill A Mockingbird, And Then There Were None, Macbeth and The Boy In The Striped Pajamas. I will be quoting characters from each of these books and how they are not influenced by others. This will prove why John Jacques Rousseau believed we all were born neutral.

In And Then There Were None it is about ten people staying on Soldier island. The characters are Vera Claythorne, Emily Brent, Justice Wargrave, Anthony Marston, Philip Lombard, General MacArthur and, William Blore. Mr. and Mrs. Rodgers are already on the island because they are maids. Later into the book, a record comes on listing that everyone has committed a murder in the past. “Ladies and Gentlemen! Silence, please!” “ Everyone was startled. They looked around at each other, at the walls. Who was speaking?” (Page 42.) After everyone’s crime had been listed everyone was scared, and suspicious. Hearing all the crimes shows us that these people aren’t normal. This goes along with what I’m talking about perfectly. Lot’s of the people in this room have done some tame crimes while the others have done terrible crimes. These people were treated differently, and later in life caused these crimes. They were taught bad things and made them bad people.

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As the story goes on, we hear the causes of the crimes. Some of the people, like William Blore regret what they did. aren’t bad like what we thought.They were all weirded out after hearing all of the crimes. Vera shoots Phillip and she is all that is left. She has shown that she is not a normal woman. They don’t talk about her having a bad childhood in the book, but something in her life triggered her to do wrong.At the end of the book she foundation noose. She goes onto the chair, puts the noose around her neck, and kills herself.This was all caused because of Hugo and how she let him down . She let him down by letting Cyril swim very far at the beach. She was influenced by killing Cyril that made her bad. Vera ends her life just like in the nursery rhyme in the house. “One little soldier boy left all alone, he went and hanged himself and then there were none,” (Page 284).

Macbeth is the next book. The main character Macbeth is in good condition with the current king of Scotland. Later we learn that his wife, Lady Macbeth is the one who gets him into all of the trouble he will later experience. She calls out to demons from hell to help her comment bad things, and is always telling Macbeth that they should kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth causes Macbeth to do lots of evil later on. What I’ve talked about before is that us humans are made out by actions. Lady Macbeth was made out by bad actions. She later gets Macbeth to agree to kill Duncan. “LADY MACBETH: Who dares receive it other,As we shall make our griefs and clamour roar Upon his death?” “MACBETH: I am settled, and bend up. Each corporal agent to this terrible feat,” (Act 1, Scene 7.) That night they kill Duncan, and Macbeth is faltered. He has changed by the action of Lady Macbeth.

As we near the end of the book, it seems as if Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have swapped places. Macbeth’s actions have now shaped him into an evil king while Lady Macbeth witnessing her husbands reign has made her more nice and scared. She can’t stand what she is seeing, and commits suicide. “Seyton: The queen is dead my lord.” “Macbeth: She would have died later anyway,” (Act 5, Scene 5.) Macbeth is sad, but continues with the battle at hand. If he hadn’t changed from his wife's actions, he would have cared more. His actions have made him way too malevolent in which he can’t even mourn for his wife.

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout Finch is affected by Maycomb county and all of its racism. Jem and Scout, the main characters, were born and raised by their dad Atticus. He made the normal kids they should be. We are told about the kids mother and her past, “Four years later I was born, and two years later our mother died from a sudden heart attack. They said it ran in her family. I did not miss her, but I think Jem did,” (Page 3). Scout was born without the love of her mother, making her act more of a man than a women. Jem did know his mother, and was raised by her for awhile. The start of their childhood started the train that shaped them. That was only when Jem was four and Scout was two. Atticus later raised the two into what he essentially was. Scout was man like and tuff, but Jem was more civilized from being raised by his mom.

As they grew older, Jem took Scout to school. Her teacher, Miss Caroline, patronised her, “Now you tell your father not to teach you any more. It’s best to begin reading with a fresh mind. You tell him I’ll take over from here and try to undo the damage,”(Page 9.) This was the first time that scout saw someone differently. Miss Caroline wasn’t born in Alabama, that’s why she isn’t used to the country folk. She was born and raised differently than Scout.

Seeing Scout upset about the teacher calling her out by how she was raised and taught shows something. One thing's for certain, humans are different. The other thing is that some people can’t see that we are different. Miss Caroline doesn’t think that it is appropriate for Scout to be taught to read yet, and this upsets Scout. Miss Caroline was born and raised like a gentle person. She doesn’t know another way, and thinks that Scouts way is bad. “Your father does not know how to teach. You can have a seat now,” (Page 9.) They only know their own way, and how they were born and raised shaped that.

The Boy In The Striped Pajamas is about how Bruno, the child of a Hitler general meets a Jew at a concentration camp named shumel. The kids father put him in the Hitler Youth so he could later on be one of the soldiers. “Some people make all the decisions for us,”(page, 14.) This quote shows how the kids did not have a chance to make their own decisions on what they want to do.

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Nature of Human Morality in Classic Literature. (2022, March 18). Edubirdie. Retrieved December 22, 2024, from https://edubirdie.com/examples/are-people-born-good-bad-or-neutral-analysis-of-and-then-there-were-none-macbeth-to-kill-a-mockingbird/
“Nature of Human Morality in Classic Literature.” Edubirdie, 18 Mar. 2022, edubirdie.com/examples/are-people-born-good-bad-or-neutral-analysis-of-and-then-there-were-none-macbeth-to-kill-a-mockingbird/
Nature of Human Morality in Classic Literature. [online]. Available at: <https://edubirdie.com/examples/are-people-born-good-bad-or-neutral-analysis-of-and-then-there-were-none-macbeth-to-kill-a-mockingbird/> [Accessed 22 Dec. 2024].
Nature of Human Morality in Classic Literature [Internet]. Edubirdie. 2022 Mar 18 [cited 2024 Dec 22]. Available from: https://edubirdie.com/examples/are-people-born-good-bad-or-neutral-analysis-of-and-then-there-were-none-macbeth-to-kill-a-mockingbird/
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