What Literature Has Taught Me About the Human Condition

Out of all the poems, short stories, and the novel we had read as a class, I have learned that humanity possesses three main traits. Humanity can be cruel, it can be beautiful, and it can be forgiving. First, it can be cruel because of discrimination and racism towards minorities. The book Indian Horse, and “What do you remember about the evacuation?” are insightful stories that explains the effects of racism and its negativity to everyone. Saul from Indian Horse tells his story about residential schools, and Joy from “What do you remember about the evacuation?” shares her story about the Japanese Internment Camps in 1941-1949. Both stories show the cruelty inflicted on the protagonist’s ethnicity. Second, humanity can find beauty in stories like The Book Thief, and Indian Horse. Saul finds beauty in hockey to remove him from the horrors of school, and Liesel reads books with her family to turn away from the hardships in WWII Germany. Thirdly, humanity can be forgiving. Examples can be found in “The Watch”, and Indian Horse. In Elie Wiesel’s “The Watch,” he tells the story of him recovering his childhood, forgiving, then finding reconciliation. In Indian Horse, Saul tries to forgive his violent actions on the rink, and his depressing period of drinking after he almost dies from his addiction. By playing hockey again with his old teammates, he experiences the joy of the game again, and finds reconciliation. All of these stories show the main traits of humanity that I have learned about.