Literature and Human Condition

Nipun Dhanraj

Mr. Newell

AP Eng.12, period 2

May 2nd, 2008

Literature and Human Condition

God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

- (Genesis 1, 26-27).

God’s command to Adam was:

You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die"

- (Genesis 2, 16-17)

Adam ignored God’s command and thus begins our nature. Human nature is characterized by ignorance, selfish desire and craving, desire to do good and evil, and greed. Human condition is characterized mostly by suffering, war, oppression, poverty, vain striving, and disappointment. Humans have free will and determination. The determination of humans is why we have achieved our many goals.

In Candide, by Voltaire, Candide succeeds in finding Lady Cunegonde only because of his shear determination. He was prepared to do anything and he did everything he could do to get her back. He sold all his jewels, traveled long and hazardous journeys, and even risked his life. His determination makes him do whatever he has to do. His mind was prepared to get to his goal: his motivation evolved from his determination to find his love, and he succeeds in it also. Determination is also seen in athletes and adventurers. Its there determined mindвЂ"the decision that they have to winвЂ"that takes them to their success. Without determination humans cannot succeed. Determination and ideas play a crucial role in our human condition.

According to God, man was made, in likeness to God, to rule over the whole earth. Now , that is what man is doing. Man has taken over the whole earth, and making all other living beings as its slaves. Our ruling over all the living beings has even brought many animals to extinction. The recent domination has been through cyber space and video games. Man has even expanded his domination into outer space. After the first space walk, that took place on March 18, 1965, man has developed ingenious technologies and machines that have taken human experience to more-than-half of the Milky Way Galaxy. Humans now have the technology to bring outer space matter back to earth. This could lead to finding of aliens, and then man would have aliens under their control also. There have been attempts to rule of each other among man, for example the atomic bombing. Man has always fought, from his birth, for domination over others. From the time of Alexander the Great to the present, there have been wars around the world for the domination. This has lead to nuclear technology and warfare. Now destroying even the whole earth is possible with a press of a button. Even though the united Nations have attempted to promote peace, they have had little effect on competing nations. More nations are now turning to nuclear products: either for power, or weapons. If this trend continues each and every country will be prompted to make nuclear weapons and plants, because of fear of destruction.

What is the human condition? The current humans do not have peace or health: people in the past enjoyed more of these luxuries. Today energy crisis, pollution, poverty, and war has competed and won over peace and health. War continues to take place around the world, water and air are polluted, soil is depleted and human existence is at steak, because human actions are causing destruction to our planet. Teenagers are committing suicide at an alarming level and unemployment is as high. Developed nations are suffering from widespread alcoholism and obesity. There is a vicious cycle between junk foods, obesity, and hospitals or pharmaceutical companies. People are now following the ancient diets and method of living. Herbs and medicinal plants are now valued more than that of during anytime, because their values have been found to be far more beneficial than man-made drugs. Even though people are conscious that they are getting obese, they still do not put time into exercising. They use their automobiles to go to the nearby shop, and then jog for their healthвЂ" wasting more valuable time, and thus making people busier. Burning of fossil fuels have sky rocketed. When the Earth took billions of years to make them, man has depleted them within centuries. Our condition is getting worse each and everyday. Today we live by rules and regulation, in contrast to the freedom of the ancient civilization.

The level of freedom we experience today is very punitive compared to that the Mayans and Indians had enjoyed earlier. The Unknown Citizen, written by W.H. Auden, focuses on the whether a citizen is getting enough freedom. The citizen’s conditionвЂ"whether he was happy or sadвЂ"was not known to the authority whose every rule was followed by this citizen. Even though people lead a good life they are not assured a happy life, and the leaders think everyone is satisfied because if everyone are not, then the authorities should have known it. This is a satire of modern government whose rules are followed by the citizens but the citizens’ happiness and peace is not guaranteed by the government.

Our very important nature is building ideas. Humans sometimes get ideas out of nowhere. These ideas help shape our human condition. Ideas of scientists and researches are the main reason why humans enjoy the most leisure and luxury compared to other animals. Waiting for Godot, by Samuel Beckett, supports our nature of ideas. Vladimir and Estragon get ideas on how to pass timeвЂ"hanging and insulting each other. The human nature of ruling is also depicted in this drama. The relationship between Pozzo and Lucky is a master-and-slave relation. A master owns everything of a slave. Humans, even though hate to be ruled, finds pleasure in ruling others. Pozzo rules Lucky. Humans rule over all other living-beings.

To be human is to have consciousnessвЂ"the ability to understand the relationship of events sufficiently well to be able to effectively or successfully manage and manipulate those events. “Consciousness is when the mind becomes effective, able to understand how experiences are related. It’s the point at which the confusion of incoming information clears, starts to fit together, or make sense, and the mind becomes master of change. For example, chimpanzees