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Examples Of Shared Humanity In Literature

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Shared humanity in literature
Hermann Hesse once stated that “Without words, without writing and without books there would be no history, there could be no concept of humanity.” Hermann implied that humans express their humanity through speaking and literature and if they did not, there would be no humanity. Humanity is something all humans share to express ourselves to one another. Shared humanity is what inspires literature and is reflected in “How I Live Now” by Meg Rosoff, “I Am Legend” by Richard Matheson and “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst.
In the novel “How I Live Now,” the author, Meg Rosoff, exhibits shared humanity through the form of relationship and survival. Throughout the novel, the main character, Daisy, is forced …show more content…

Yet another example of shared humanity shines through the “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst. This novel demonstrates shared humanity through choice and morality. “The Scarlet Ibis” is a short story about a boy who is born with deformities and unable to do many things other little boys could do. He is named Doodle because of the way he crawls backwards like a doodle bug. His brother looks down at him because of his deformities, but does not want to look bad because of him so he teaches him to walk. “Shut up. I’m not going to hurt you. I’m going to teach you to walk” (Hurst). This is an example of choice, because Doodle’s older brother chose to teach him to walk. All humans at some point have to make choices for themselves as did Doodle’s brother when he taught him to walk. This shows his older brother is willing to teach Doodle even when he thinks he a liability. This makes his older brother seem somewhat compassionate towards Doodle, even when later in the story we find out he only helped Doodle so he did not look bad because Doodle could not walk. This makes Doodle’s older brother’s choice seem less generous and more selfish. Doodle’s older brother’s choice can also be looked at from a morality standpoint. Doodle’s older brother chose to help Doodle instead of just letting him crawl his whole life. This becomes a moral decision to help someone in need, regardless of his motivation. This choice had a big impact, as Doodle was able to walk like other kids as a result of his brother help. Morality is something humans have that helps them make choices and see the good from bad. This morality between Doodle’s older brother and Doodle show that they care for each other in a sense. This morality in the older brother ultimately is the enabler for Doodle to

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