Essay/Term paper: Cruelty in literature

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Essays

There are many examples of cruelty

in literary works. Literary works

such as plays, novels, films, short

stories, and poetry. One may believe

that cruelty is a way of life. Cruelty

is included in great works of

literature such as The Crucible, The

Scarlet Letter, Bartleby, The Red

Badge of Courage, The Last of the

Mohicans, Lottery, Dr. Heidigger"s

Experiment, Redburn, Angel of

Death, Gold Bug, The Tell-tale

Heart, and Night. The following is an

explanation of the cruelty and the

result of it.



In the Last of the Mohicans, there

are many acts of cruelty displayed.

For example, The bad Huron Indian

Magma makes the English troops

walk right into a war party trap. As a

result of this action, The English

troops fought every Indian in the war

party, but three Mohicans killed

most of the Huron. Another example

would be when Monroe won"t let the

militia go back to the frontier to

defend their families. As a result,

Nathaniel helped the people who

wanted to leave, escape. Another

example would be when the Huron

Indians killed Uncas. In turn, Alice

threw herself off a cliff because she

loved him so much. Another

example would be when the French

told the Huron not to attack the

American troops again. As a result,

the Huron attack the American

troops anyway. Theses various

counts of cruelty show that the

Huron Indians are a cruel people.



In The Red Badge of Courage there

also are many acts of cruelty

displayed. For example, Henry runs

away from battle. In turn, Jim and

the rest of the company got wounded

and some died. Another example

would be when the red coats

attacked the Americans. As a result,

Henry ran away again. Another

example would be when the generals

were laughing about the win. In turn,

Henry overheard them and thought

he was celebrating about something

he didn"t help in and was treating the

entire war as a game. Another

example would be War itself. As a

result, Henry gets war fever and runs

in front of the line, in a suicide

attempt. Another example would be

when Henry was asking for help

from a running solider, the solider hit

Henry with the butt of his rifle. In

turn, Henry was knocked out and

left for dead. Unlike the Huron, the

red coats and their own men are the

cruel ones. One of the solider on his

side actually strikes Henry, which

knocks him out. This movie also

illustrates cruelty from a 3rd party,

the generals are not involved directly

yet cause cruelty.



In Bartleby, there are many

occurrences of cruelty. For example,

Bartleby wouldn"t leave the office.

As a result, many people get mad.

Another example would be when

Bartleby"s old boss moved out of the

office. In turn, the new owner came

back to his old boss and said get rid

of him. Another example would be

when Bartlteby is told to leave the

office again. As a result, he refuses

to leave and is thrown in jail.

Another example would be when no

one in society understands Bartleby.

In turn, he is thrown in jail to die.

Another example would be while he

is in jail the food man asked him if

he wanted to eat. As a result,

Bartleby said, "I prefer not to," and

starves to death. Bartleby was trying

to survive when society came into

his life, which cause him to get put in

jail. For the sole reason that they

didn"t understand him.



In the Lottery there are many

examples of cruelty. For example,

the town made each male of the

family pull a ballot out of the box. In

turn, whoever had the ballot with the

black dot was the selected family.

Then the lottery decided which

family member was to die. Another

example would be when the town

required every family to draw from

the lottery to decide who was to be

sacrificed. As a result, the town"s

people killed Tessy. The town as a

whole committed this cruelty simple

because they thought that it would

help their harvest. Which shows how

barbaric the town"s people actually

are.



In Dr. Heidigger"s Experiment there

is an example of cruelty. The act of

cruelty is Dr. Heidigger offers them

water from the fountain of youth. In

turn, all four people went back to

their old and cruel ways. By offering

them the water from the fountain of

youth Dr. Heidigger is being cruel

towards the four. Since they didn"t

know any better.



In the poem Angel of Death by

SLAYER there are many events of

cruelty described from the holocaust.

For example, Auchwitz is where all

the Jews that were unsuitable for

working. As a result, they used

showers that were airtight to trick

the Jews into going into the shower,

but instead of water they spurted

poisonous gas. Another example

would be when the Jews were

treated as if they were cattle. In turn,

they were stripped out of their life"s

worth. Another example would be

when the Nazi preformed tests on

the Jews to test the limits of a

human. As a result, they preformed

surgery with no anesthesia. Another

example would be when the Nazis

strapped down the Jews while they

screamed out to die. In turn, the

Nazis were the "Infamous Butcher of

Death." Another example would be

when the Nazis killed many Jews. As

a result, the Nazis buried them in

millions laid out in their crowded

tombs. This poem shows that the

Nazi"s committed various types of

cruelty.



In Gold Bug by Edgar Allan Poe

there is an example of cruelty. This

cruelty happens when the bug bites

Jonathan. In turn, Jonathan is

changed to gold. By Jonathan

aggravating the gold bug, it bites him

and he is slowly turned into gold.



In The Telltale Heart also by Edgar

Allan Poe there are many

occurrences of cruelty. For example,

when he kills the guy. As a result, of

this murder he buries him in the floor

under the floorboards. Also In turn,

the heart of the dead man starts to

beat from under the floorboards.

Another example would be when he

hears the beating that is actually not

there. As a result, he is driven crazy

from the beating in his head. In turn

of becoming crazy he confesses. The

short story shows how cruelty can

cause excess amounts of guilt. My

committing the murder he becomes

so guilty that he starts hearing the

dead man"s heart beat. In actuality

he is actually hearing a noise derived

from his mind.



In Redburn by Herman Melville

there are some acts of cruelty. For

example, there are people in a vault

in the ground dying. In turn the

people in the vault die. Another

example would be when he gets

them bread to help them but in

actuality he is just extending their

miserable lives. As a result, they die

the next day. These short stories

showed two different types of

cruelty. One being, cruelty from

aggravation and the other is the one

cause through guilt.



In Night by Elie Wiesel there are

many examples of cruelty. For

example, the Nazis came to the

Wiesel"s house door. In turn, they

were told to get all the valuables you

can carry. Another example would

be they were forced to live in a

ghetto just on the basis that they

were Jewish. As a result, they

eventually moved to the trains.

Another example would be when the

Nazis forced them into cattle cars for

transportation. In turn, the trains

were on route to Auschwitz. Another

example would be when they were

taken off the train and were forced

to be inspected for working ability.

As a result, the older boys and young

men were sent to work camps. This

novel shows many similar types of

cruelty committed by the Nazi"s as

shown in the poem "Angel of

Death."



In Arthur Miller"s Crucible there are

many examples of cruelty. For

example Parris was questioning

Tituba and hitting her because he

thought she was lying. In turn, Hale

and Parris come to the conclusion

that she must be a witch. Another

example of cruelty would be when

Abigail stabs herself with the pin. As

a result, Elizabeth Proctor is accused

of being a witch. Another example

would be when the girls pretended to

be attacked by spirit. In turn, many

people were accused of witchcraft

and sentenced to death. Another

example would be that suspected

witches could be forgiven if the

accuse others of consorting with the

devil. As a result, most people got

set free by accusing people and Mr.

Putnam accused others just so he

could by the foreclosed properties of

his neighbors. Another example

would be that the crucible is a test

that boils over on to the town of

Salem. This novel shows many types

of cruelty including guilt and

jealousy.



In Nathaniel Hawthorne"s Scarlet

Letter there are many acts of

cruelty. For example, Hester

committed adultery with

Dimmesdale. In turn, Hester got

pregnant and was caught red-handed

and was forced to wear an "A" on

her chest. Another example would

be how Dimmesdale felt bad about

having committed adultery and

carves an "A" on his chest using only

a piece of glass. As a result,

Dimmesdale"s "A" got infected and

he was slowly dying for the physical

and emotional pain. Another

example would be that Pearl has no

father figure. In turn, Dimmesdales

finally confesses. Another example

would be that Hester has no husband

to father her child. As a result,

Dimmesdale confesses to committing

adultery with Hester. This in turn

gives Pearl the father she never had.

This novel shows many types of

cruelty also including adultery and

perjury.



Inclusion, cruelty has been in all

forms of literature. This paper has

shown many types of cruelty, but all

cruelty boils down to one basic

emotion, hate. Hate is what all

cruelty is based through; every

example in this paper can be linked

to hate. The Nazi"s hated the Jews,

the Huron hated the Americans, and

the French hated the American. All

the cruelty in literature and in the

world is derived from hate.



Bibliography



Last of Mohicans, Cooper, James,

Film



The Red Badge of Courage, Crane,

Stephen, Film



"Bartleby," Melville, Herman, Short

Film



"Lottery," Jackson, Shirley, Short

Film



"Dr. Heidigger"s Experiment,"

Hawthorne, Short Film







Angel of Death, Slayer, Poem



"Gold Bug," Poe, Edgar Allan, Short

Story



"The Tell-tale Heart," Poe, Edgar

Allan, Short Story



"Redburn," Melville, Herman, Short

Story







Night, Weisel, Elie, Novel







The Crucible, Miller, Arthur, Novel







Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne,

Nathaniel, Novel