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Influential Surroundings in Human Nature
An overview in George Orwell and Ernest Hemingway ideology.
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Human nature can be defined as “the general psychological characteristics, feelings, and behavioral traits of humankind, regarded as shared by all humans” (Oxford Dictionary). Psychological analysis is a prediction on why people act the way they do, based on their past experiences. Homage to Catalonia and “Shooting an Elephant”, by George Orwell, and For Whom the Bell Tolls as well as “The Sling and the Pebble”, by Ernest Hemingway, present various cases that allow a contemplation on behavioral executions, where the reader can observe how the environment and surroundings of a person can influence their actions by pressure, undercurrent drives, and conformity.
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Behavioral Patterns
Humans adopt behavioral patterns depending on their environments. Their reactions to challenging environmental conditions tend to be predictable. The author Ernest Hemingway in the book For Whom the Bell Tolls demonstrates how surroundings affect behavior and actions. The author does this by showing how the protagonist approached the situation with a strong mindset, determined to pursue his objective despite the challenges that came along. Meanwhile, he did not know how his emotions would interfere with his goal, as well as the circumstances, perspectives, and opinions of other characters in relation to their own inner conflicts. At the beginning of the book, Robert Jordan, the main character, is told to be only focused on blowing up the bridge, and is asked if he has “many girls on the other side of the line” as to which he replies, “No, there is no time for girls.” (p.7) This foreshadows an encounter in following chapters with Maria, the woman who becomes Robert Jordan’s love interest. When asked about how much he cared for Maria and says: “Yes. Suddenly and very much.” (p.91) Around the last chapters of the book, Robert Jordan seems to grow fonder for Maria. He makes her a priority, and is the only person he wants safe after his mission is completed.
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Robert Jordan looked down through the pines to the sentry box again. He would like to have the squirrel with him in his pocket. He would like to have had anything that he could touch. He rubbed his elbows against the pine needles but it was not the same. Nobody knows how lonely you can be when you do this. Me, thought, I know. I hope that Rabbit will get out of this all right. Stop that now. Yes, sure. But I can hope that and I do. That I will blow it well and that she gets out all right. Good. Sure. Just that. That is all I want now.
Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls, 1940, p.434
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Biases
Psychology has shown that everyone has biases that form not only due the values and preferences, but to the given circumstances, opponents, time and context, etc. A common belief is that a person’s choice will be based on what they consider the right option; yet, they might lean on what people around expect otherwise; “The Rules of Expectations uses expectations to influence reality and create results. Individuals tend to make decisions based on how others expect them to perform.”(John Maxwell, Becoming a Person of Influence, 1997, p.64)
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“But even then, I was not thinking particularly of my own skin, only of the watchful yellow faces behind. For at that moment, with the crowd watching me, I was not afraid in the ordinary sense, as I would have been if I had been alone. A white man mustn't be frightened in front of ‘natives’; and so, in general, he isn't frightened.
George Orwell, “Shooting an Elephant”, 1936
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Unconscious Drives
Orwell expresses how his surroundings affect his standpoint and his actions. Despite what he truly wanted, he proceeds to shoot the elephant because of what he believes his followers expect from him. Our unconscious drive might alter the way we think, because the factors in our circumferential affect our objectivity. Although, this may be used to justify actions and focus more on people’s opinions.
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Manipulation
Truman’s Capote’s In Cold Blood gives a description on how pressure is involved in one’s self and one’s peers. Manipulation of a friend, or a lover (as Capote’s characters were, in fact, rumored to be), clearly receives a reaction when it’s well played. After the murder of the Clutter family, Dick receives a description of “smooth” and “smart” followed by, “Yes, you had to hand it to him. Christ, it was incredible how he could ‘con a guy’.” When Perry, in the other hand, is a man who “never tried to ‘pass a check’”, meaning he would never involve others in his business, despite the help he might need. Accordingly, the act of violence needs confidence and bravery to be developed. The result of winning war, or getting away with murder, should bring “pleasure”, yet it may not be the acquired feeling, despite the person’s attitude. Winning the tough act justifies the cause for it.
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Comformity
This justification may also be supported by conformity. According to Lumen’s “Boundless psychology”, “in psychology, conformity is defined as the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to group norms.” (2014) Since conformity acts as an “unconscious influence or direct and overt social pressure” many act towards what they know or believe society expects from them.
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Preoccupation
Preoccupation on what others anticipate can interfere with how one approaches inner conflicts. The natural deflection and view on others’ personalities influence self-perception. In “The Sling and the Pebble”, Hemingway speaks as former American soldier, as he describes America as the most powerful nation when winning the war, yet emphasizes how the title has to carefully kept whilst avoiding hatred from other nations.
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It has been necessary to fight. It has been necessary to kill, to maim, to burn and to destroy. Certainly for a country whose continent has never been bombed we have done our share of bombing. We have possibly killed more civilians of other countries than all our enemies did in all the famous massacres we so deplore. There is really very little favorable difference to a man or a woman between being burned alive or stood against a wall and shot.
Ernest Hemingway, “The Sling and the Pebble”, 1946
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Projection
The author intents to open the eyes of a nationalist country, which was involved in a war that didn’t even have to do with its own conflicts. A clear explanation can be taken from the Bible, when he is deflecting his own country, “Why, then, do you look at the straw in your brother’s eye but do not notice the rafter in your own eye?” Ernest Hemingway demonstrates a common human trait: projection. Good Therapy defines it as “a psychological defense mechanism in which individuals attribute characteristics they find unacceptable in themselves to another person.” (2016)
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Contradictions
As for George Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia, he points out how he got to Spain just to write newspaper articles but had joined the militia “because at the time and in that atmosphere it seemed the only conceivable thing to do.” (p. 6) After joining, he started noticing behaviors that, as an Englishman, he was not used to and would criticize them all. He would be against fascists, and during war he would criticize the side he was fighting for because of the way it was defending itself. But he’d write, “Individual deserters could be shot – were shot, occasionally – but if a thousand men decided to walk out of the line together there was no force to stop them.” Orwell would point out the lack of control and organization, which isn’t surprising, coming from an imperialist country himself. It brings curiosity because his behavior towards a situation that doesn’t even concern him makes the reader question why he makes this types of decisions.
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Belongingness
“Much of what human beings do is done in the service of belongingness.” (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). George Orwell’s experiences were the influence of his writings, especially his war adventures in different countries and the nonexistent approval of his parents in his early life. It is believed that Orwell’s participation in important historical events, as well as his comments and opinion in his writing, give him a sense of belonging. Not only did he form part of it, but he gave controversial opinions. It catches the reader’s eye; it makes them question, which makes George Orwell a memorable person, not just writer, even after his death.
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Actions are influenced by the people and the situations surrounding us, which is part of human nature. As observed in the works of Hemingway, Orwell and Capote, humans tend to follow the path that their environmental conditions conduct them. Characteristics and traits, such as undercurrent drives, pressure, deflection, and conformity are the ones that reflect on our setting, which, by definition, are the ones who influence our actions.
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Reference List
Capote, T. (1994). In cold blood: A true account of a multiple murder and its consequences. New York: Vintage Books.
George Orwell. (2016, August 11). Retrieved September 27, 2017, from https://www.biography.com/people/george-orwell-9429833
Hemingway, E. (2016). For whom the bell tolls. London: Macmillan Collectors Library.
Hemingway, E. (1946). The Sling and The Pebble. https://www.biography.com/people/george-orwell-9429833
Human nature | Definition of human nature in English by Oxford Dictionaries. (n.d.). Retrieved September 27, 2017, from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/human_nature
Orwell, George, and Jeremy Paxman. Shooting an elephant. London, Penguin Classics, 2009.
Orwell, G., & Trilling, L. (1980). Homage to Catalonia. San Diego: Harcourt Brace & Co.
Projection. (2016, February 16). Retrieved September 27, 2017, from https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/psychpedia/projection
The Need to Belong (NTB): Belongingness and Human Performance [PDF]. (n.d.).
Westside Toastmasters. Retrieved September 27, 2017, from http://westsidetoastmasters.com/resources/laws_persuasion/chap10.html
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