Martin Luther King once said: “Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.” Altruism is the devotion to the welfare of others, regard for others, as a principle of action; opposed to egoism or selfishness. Everyone experiences the obligation of a devotion to something or someone, the devotion to family, a pet or a memory. But is this a selfless act or is it powered by the expectation of faithfulness in return? When one thinks of devotion, one thinks of egoism. The need to treat self-interest as the foundation of morality. However, the altruistic foundation of the characters in the novels read this year, The Scarlet Letter, The Things they Carried, and The Road have a certain devotion to someone or something presenting selfless intentions, indicating the innate altruism of the human race.
The incriminating story of Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter, a woman who had to bear the weight of a bold, red letter on her chest is an illustration of altruistic devotion. Despite the shunning of her name and the egoism of others around her she remained a committed mother and lover because of the deep love for her child, Pearl. She births the child in harsh conditions in a jail cell on the basis of her heretic crime: adultery. Nonetheless, Hester “…stepped into the open air, as if by her own free will. She bore in her arms a child, a baby of some three months old, who winked and turned aside its little face from the too vivid light of day; because its existence, heretofore, had brought it acquainted only with the gray twilight of a dungeon, or other darksome apartment of the prison,” (Hawthorne 47). Hester stands up as a powerful woman for a crime that she has committed; she bears the shame, the harassment and the stares of other Puritans for the love of her child: a product of heresy. The reasons for which she bears the child are far from egoistic, the pride that she has as she walks the child out of the prison is all for her little girl. Had she wanted to be included in her community, she would have gotten rid of her daughter, or acted more vulnerable to her punishment.
Her devotion to this child is altruistic as she does not hide nor shelter her but instead honors her life on earth through the scarification of hers, and naming her after a treasure: Pearl. Her own public ignominy becomes her motive for the devotion to her daughter. “The very law that condemned her — a giant stern of her features, but with vigor to support, as well as annihilate, in his iron arm — had held her up, through the terrible ordeal of her ignominy,” (Hawthorne 70). Hester often thinks of leaving her sentence, the large crimson branding on her chest. That is what she would have done had she been selfish and unfaithful to her Puritan home; instead, she is overcome by a selfless devotion and pursues a fruitful life for herself and her daughter. By the end of the novel Hester refuses to peel the red “A” off her chest and bears the weight by having lived “[with] no selfish ends, nor lived in any measure for her own profit and enjoyment, people brought all their sorrows and perplexities, and besought her counsel, as one who had herself gone through a mighty trouble,” (Hawthorne 240). This lack of selfishness and in a way a commitment to her sentencing by bearing other people’s concerns is in no way egoistic, but instead, a true act of altruistic faithfulness to her life and her daughter’s.
A novel fully based on selfless devotion is one of the greatest love stories that could be written in a war setting. In the rough paysage of Vietnam emerges a story of true altruism honoring every name that fought in this wretched war against communism; ironically, a public theory derived from selflessness. O’Brien describes the hardships of the war through an amicable love for his fellow soldiers. He describes each name by illustrating their hardships and the weight they carried. In the chapter “Love” he uses metafiction to create a powerful name for his platoon leader, Jimmy Cross. As Cross states “‘Make me out to be a good guy, okay? Brave and handsome, all that stuff. Best platoon leader ever,’” (O’Brien 29). Instead of focusing on himself and reminiscing on his war efforts, he instead focuses on the efforts of his platoon. He does make out Jimmy Cross to be a good guy through his altruistic action and the dwelling of his actions after the harsh deaths of Kiowa, Lavender and Lemon; a soldier whose remains he has to peel off a tree like a rotten fruit. Nonetheless, the members of the Alpha company vow for his selflessness and care for others: “Kiowa admired Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’s capacity for grief. He wanted to share the man’s pain, he wanted to care as Jimmy Cross cared,” (O’Brien 17). The pain that the whole platoon carried depicts their great devotion to each other and what this novel is truly about: Love and Devotion to one another, a truly selfless act.
The themes of love and devotion also depict the father-son relationship in The Road. Being on the road is hard, being on the road is saying goodbye to one’s old life and unleashing the ugliest emotions known to humankind. In The Road, a post apocalyptic novel by Cormac McCarthy is another remarkable love story; a love story dedicated to kin, one of a father and a son who scavenge for their survival. A dilemma whether life is worth living or not makes this story overwhelmingly somber and sentimental. One would think that the man’s and the boy’s need to survive would make them egoistic; however the boy reinstates our faith in humanity by showing altruism through his devotion to the care of others. The boy finds himself starved, skinny and a few days from death as his father and him stumble into a multitude of food, shelter and clothing. The boy is automatically overcome with a sense of morality. He wonders whether the people who previously owned the supplies would care if they took them and therefore decides to devote a grace to them: “Dear people, thank you for all this food and stuff. We know that you saved it for yourself and if you were here we wouldnt eat it no matter how hungry we were and we’re sorry that you didnt get to eat it and we hope that you’re safe in heaven with God,” (McCarthy 146). We can tell that the boy is young, and his English, notably his grammar, has begun to erode over the years as he has never grown up in the real world. The boy has lived in an apocalyptic world his whole life, yet he finds a reason within himself to say grace to thank those who have passed and who have blessed them with food. A few passages in the novel, like this one, create a connection between Christianity and the boy, almost leading us to believe that the boy is “the last prophet on earth”. This embodiment of Jesus also furthers our sense of the boys’ altruism connecting it to the deep roots of altruism in religion dating back to the very first early civilizations.
The boy is often also the one who keeps his father in line when he strays away from reason. The pair often encounter others on the road, sometimes very vulnerable individuals. A man who barely seems human due to the dehumanization of his portrayal and condition, and a man who caves into his survival instincts by robbing the man and son of their possessions. The man is very maddened by these instances but the boy grounds him. He expresses a sense of morality for others without giving into the egoism of the lack of basic needs. He gives the starving man a spoon and the robber back his clothes: “Finally he piled the man’s shoes and clothes in the road. He put a rock on top of them. We have to go, he said. We have to go,” (McCarthy 260). The frantic repetition and urgency of the father illustrates the boys and the man’s lack of security yet the boy holds true to his altruistic manners and wants to be good, urging for his good intentions to reflect on his father. The boy, even devastated by his father’s death at the end of the novel, holds true to his morals and covers his father in a blanket that he could get a better use of.
“What about my papa?
What about him.
We cant just leave him here.
Yes we can.
I dont want people to see him.
There’s no one to see him.
Can I cover him with leaves?
The wind will blow them away.
Could we cover him with one of the blankets?
Yes. I’ll do it. Go on now.” (McCarthy 285)
To the very end the boy is selfless to his father and that is because he holds a certain loyalty to him. Out of every opportunity to demonstrate love they have had in this novel, this is the most powerful one. He insists for his father to be covered even though the boy has a small sense of burial and the traditions of mourning after death. Nonetheless, he demonstrates a dedication to the one who raised him and gave a little spark to his life, whether it was with a flare gun or bringing him to the ocean, even though it lacks its multitude of blue that the boy dreamed of. No matter how selfless, no child should have to bury their father. The boy’s unstable conditions truly magnify his remarkable sense of morality.
“Humans do show egoist tendencies, but if one holds a true devotion to something or someone, their actions will innately be altruistic.”
Humans do show egoist tendencies, but if one holds a true devotion to something or someone, their actions will innately be altruistic. Hester Prynne shows an altruistic concern for her daughter as she loves her unconditionally despite her being the “very law that condemned her”. The Things they Carried is another example of putting others’ needs before our own. O’Brien dedicates this entire book to the Alpha company. While some of the passages seem egoistic his overall experiences, and dedications to his friends show a deeper sense of selflessness. Finally, a father-son duo that would make anybody shed at least a few tears accounts for the altruistic means of not only Christianity but also through the boy. The boy serves as a means to reinstate our faith in humanity in a post apocalyptic setting where most morals have slipped humans’ thoughts just like colors no longer paint the Earth. Overall humans display a care for one another that is innately altruistic and that is their devotion to others.
Bibliography
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York, The Modern Library, 2000.
Mccarthy, Cormac. The Road. New York, Vintage Books, 2006.
O’Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. Boston Mariner, 2009.
“Oxford English Dictionary: Altruism.” Oed.com, 2021, www.oed.com/oed2/00006619. Accessed 12 May 2022.
I was surprised in the way I was able to write an essay on an argument that I honestly do not really agree with. Ideally, all humans would show altruism, but this is not realistic; so, in this case a counter argument would really make my point more convincing. I also wish I had stuck to my point at the end instead of slowly leaning to a more midpoint of both arguments.