Humanity Essay 

Humanity extends beyond simple biology. Many people who have a human body 

are technically human, but are separated from other people due to their lack of a deeper 

“humanity.” Humanity is a complex philosophical idea, which some people exhibit 

through their ability to empathize with and show respect to others. Because of this, 

Humanity allows people to learn from other people and from themselves. Lessons of 

empathy can be seen throughout literature. such Franknstein by Mary Shelly, One Flew

Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, and “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by 

Samuel Taylor-Coleridge. These authors address the complexity of humanity through 

their characters and the worlds they interact in. Humanness is the idea that people can 

see the value in other people, their surroundings, and their own mistakes and learn from 

them. 

Humanity can easily be seen when somebody acknowledges the value in another 

person, or another life. For example, in Frankenstein, Despite being rejected by much of 

society, Shelley’s monster, who never gets a name, is able to see the value of other 

human’s lives. Tthe monster had had very fewlittle encounters with humans, but then he 

met, or eavesdropped on the Delacey family. He felt a connection to that family because 

he shared sentience with them, and that made him connect to that family without them 

even knowing of his existence. The fact that he could see the value in their life without 

even talking to them shows that he valued other life, and he wanted to connect with it. 

Add an explanation of your quote. 

Another example is in the “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. In the rime, the 

mariner was sailing along with his crew when they spotted the albatross. Instead of 

respecting this life and connecting to it, he instead shot it down impulsively. Because he 
chose to impulsively take that life, his crew was taken from him. He had not shown the 

respect for life that was needed to classify as humanity. Due to the death of his crew, he 

was lonely at the sea, and he spent days and nights thinking about what he had done. 

Eventually, there are two sea serpents that begin frolicking in the water in front of him. 

Where he once would look at these creatures with disgust and horror, he looked at them 

and viewed them as beautiful creatures, seeing the value of their life. Because of this, the 

Albatross that was hung around his neck as a symbol of his inhumanity, fell into the 

water, relieving him of his inhumanity. Many times, the mark of one’s humanity can be 

seen in their acceptance of other life. People who change are often portrayed as being 

even more human than those who don't, since a person’s change is often paired with 

embracing life.  

Aside from other life, sentient beings can be classified as human if they can learn 

from their surroundings and adapt to it. In literature, one of the greatest marks of 

humanity is the ability to overcome a big challenge by adapting to give them the upper 

hand. Resilient people are a great example of this, because they can learn from their 

surroundings such as an oppressive society, and then break free by adapting to the 

hardships. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the characters have been dehumanized 

by the nurses. However, the way that they demonstrate humanity is by joining with 

McMurphy. McMurphy sparked the patients’ hatred and rebelliousness by appealing to 

their humanity. Despite being in a mental institution, the patients were still human, and 

they were still valuable. A lot of times, they lacked the ability or the freedom to rebel in a 

big way, so instead, they adapted to their situations and made the best of it, and this 

would strip more and more power away from the nurses. For example, the patients were 

planning to watch a sports game on the tv. However, Nurse Ratched, the most 
dehumanizing nurse, told them that she would not let them turn on the tv, and she 

ensured that it was not on when the sports game was to take place. Because of this, the 

patients adapted to their situation and pretended to watch the game. Even though the 

TV was black, the patients still adapted to that situation and found a way to rebel. 

Because they thought more creatively, this caused Ratched to lash out, causing her to be 

placed in a room by herself where she was unable to further dehumanize the patients. If 

people don’t adapt when adaptation is needed, they could be further dehumanized or 

put down. However, fighting against this is exactly what makes them human.  

Perhaps the most human thing that something or someone could do is to learn 

from their own mistakes, and see the faults in their own humanity. Many times, a 

person’s greatest challenge is overcoming a challenge that they created for themselves, 

whether on purpose or by accident. Somebody’s mistakes could cause their downfall, or 

significantly impact their life. It is these mistakes that, when overcome, can cause a 

person to grow. For example, Frankenstein made a lot of mistakes throughout his life. 

Although he believes that his greatest adversary is the monster, his greatest adversary is 

actually himself. He was the person who created the monster. His arrogance and his 

endless lust for knowledge were his greatest flaws. Although the monster is his enemy, 

the monster symbolizes Frankenstein’s flaws. The monster is the product of 

Frankenstein’s foolishness. For most of the book, Frankenstein tries to run away from 

the monster, or hunt it down. However, there is a part in the book where the Monster 

orders Frankenstein to create a female companion for him. Although Frankenstein has 

his doubts, the Monster eventually promises to go live far away with the female 

companion, because he was just lonely. Frankenstein is convinced, but he pauses right 

before bringing the female monster to life, and realizes that his own arrogance and 
stupidity has brought this upon him. He then destroys the female monster so that there 

would be no possibility for more monsters to be created. He learned from his mistake of 

making the first monster, and stopped a possible future of a new dominant race of 

monsters. People can prove their humanity by overcoming their own demons because 

this shows their learning. If they didn’t learn, they wouldn’t be able to overcome their 

own mistakes. Because people are so fixated on their own greatness, seeing their flaws 

and their shortcomings is often one of the most human feats of all, because they can 

grow from it.  

Humanity is shown through people’s interaction with others and their own self 

reflection. It is the combination of both that allows people to truly become human, 

because in order to be a human, people have to understand why they are human, which 

is only achieved through reflection.  

(1114) 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cRq9iem1mSkvXsD4TcuzyBnoeGh_h1Z

CwKozU21OSQg/edit