Essay "Cruelty"

Essay “Cruelty”

I recently had to watch a boy kick a small kitten on the street. It was a terrible sight. Why is there so much cruelty in the world? Of course, it was enough at all times: wars, slavery, political pressure. But it seems to me that now people are especially angry, have lost some kind of mutual understanding, and perceive any conflicts sharply and negatively. I wanted to understand the issue, and here are the thoughts I had on this matter.

Cruelty is the rudeness and ruthlessness of one person in relation to another person or animal. It is not only through physical force that one can inflict suffering. Verbal humiliation and insults are a form of cruel treatment, also called mental abuse. Cruelty begins with name-calling and ends with murder or violence.

Nobody is born cruel. This is how a person becomes with age, when faced with rudeness and misunderstanding towards himself. It turns out to be a very sad vicious circle: cruelty begets cruelty. Difficult relationships in the family, bullying by classmates or a yard company can lead to various sad consequences, one of which is the emergence of cruelty in the victim herself. Parents who punish a child for misbehavior with physical force rarely think about the fact that he will grow up and most likely begin to do the same with his children, and maybe with them themselves.

Another important reason for the emergence of cruelty in children is television and the Internet. Not all parents pay attention to what their child is watching or playing. And many children from an early age have free access to seeing cruelty on screen. They get used to it and perceive it as a completely normal phenomenon. It seems to me that people became cruel because they stopped reading good books and started watching pointlessly evil films.

Cruelty is the lot of weak-spirited people. It takes courage to remain kind in life's most difficult situations. It’s not at all difficult to be cruel; it happens somehow by itself. It is always easier to hit the offender than to try to explain to him your condition. Forgiveness, understanding, and regret are much more difficult than holding a grudge and becoming embittered at everyone around you. Therefore, it seems to me that a cruel person is simply a coward who is unable to control himself and his emotions.

The extreme manifestation of cruelty is war. During such periods, people completely lose all humanity and become forcedly cruel, just to somehow survive. When there is a lot of pain and grief around, it is extremely difficult to remain kind and understanding; moral principles and conscience themselves become dull, giving way to the instinct of self-preservation. At least that's what I think.

I don't really understand why people enjoy being cruel and causing pain so much. I can’t imagine how one can get pleasure from this and how a person develops such qualities in himself. Just thinking about it makes me sad and disgusted. Perhaps psychology has already studied this problem and learned how to solve it. I would like our school psychologist to raise the issue of cruelty more often, conduct conversations and tests, and show useful films on this topic. I know for sure that many children simply lack information, they do not think about their aggressive behavior and do not understand the pain they can cause to others. On the other hand, it is important to teach some children how to defend themselves from insults and help them cope with the offender, because not everyone is able to do this on their own.

Cruelty is an integral part of our lives. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to get rid of it completely. But each of us is quite capable of doing at least something to make this phenomenon in our lives as small as possible. The main thing is the desire to be kind and merciful. It is better to cultivate the qualities of a strong personality in yourself than to cultivate evil within yourself.

The future and consequences of cruelty

Abuse of a person can lead to negative physiological consequences:

The likelihood of developing depression, anxiety disorder, disorganization in the emotional sphere. Abuse also provokes a person to use alcohol and illegal substances.
Reduction in the diameters of nerve processes.
Thinning of the areas of the brain that are responsible for the human “I” and mood centers.
Borderline personality disorders.
Reduced volume of the visual cortex.
Decreased activity of cognitive functions (speech, memory, attention, thinking, imagination).
Choosing a partner who has violent tendencies.

Cruelty in relation to the worldview can provoke an increase in the number of terrorist attacks, wars, incitement of national hatred, etc.

The video talks about submission to authority and the bystander effect, about psychological experiments and their criticism, about the connection between indifference and cruelty.

Second argument

The theme of cruelty is also raised in the novel “Dubrovsky” by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. The plot begins with a quarrel between old friends Kirila Petrovich Troekurov and Andrei Gavrilovich Dubrovsky. After Troekurov’s servant insulted the dignity of Dubrovsky Sr., Kirila Petrovich refused to apologize to his friend. On the contrary, he began to take revenge on him and show real cruelty. With the help of his connections, Troekurov manages to deprive the impoverished Dubrovsky of his last - his estate. Kiril Petrovich is not at all concerned about how his former friend will live next; he wants to show his superiority over him. Andrei Gavrilovich cannot survive what Troekurov did to him, so soon the hero falls ill and dies. A.S. Pushkin demonstrates what cruelty leads to.

Option 2

The world we live in is very cruel. Everything around us testifies to this. It's worth just looking at the people. Why are people sometimes angry? Why are they often so cruel? Cruelty is the ruthlessness and indifference of a person towards another person. At the same time, the person enjoys it.

People harm each other, nature and all living things in general. This is already a habit of people, which has been developed over years and millennia. Such a person is most often considered selfish, he is envious, anger and hatred speaks in him. Cruelty is dreams that could not come true. Goals that are not achieved.

In the end, ruthlessness makes a person unhappy, destroys him, and prevents him from loving himself and others and fully enjoying life. Why do people become ruthless? Psychologists say that there are several reasons: the first is dissatisfaction with life. Such people are constantly depressed and stressed. At such moments, you can see a mother yelling at a child, a driver yelling at a pedestrian, a salesperson responding rudely to a customer. The second reason is indifference. The third reason is the suppression of emotions. People who are forced to suppress their emotions in everyday life may become aggressive in other places.

You can hear more and more often in the news about violence among teenagers. Several teenagers beat their classmate and film the whole process. Not only boys, but also girls participate in this. This is a way of self-affirmation for weak children who have experienced psychological violence. Many famous writers have said that cruelty begets even greater cruelty. That is why it turns out that the child passes on to his classmate the cruelty that he himself received. Ruthlessness destroys a person from the inside.

I want the world to consist only of good people. Kindness and love can change the world for the better. This is a wonderful feeling, a person shines from the inside. Kindness and cruelty are eternal concepts. They will exist as long as man exists.

First argument

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol in his story “The Overcoat” was able to demonstrate the cruelty of people. Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin, being a “little man,” constantly suffers humiliation and bullying from his colleagues. They like the fact that Bashmachkin does not rebuff them, that he does not react in any way to their stupid jokes. The attitude of his colleagues towards Akaki Akakievich is the first stage of cruelty. When Bashmachkin receives his overcoat, which he had been saving for so long and persistently, the overcoat is stolen by unknown persons. The main character of the story was not ready for such a cruel reality, but he fights for his overcoat. The situation in Bashmachkin’s life is aggravated by the fact that everyone to whom the hero turns refuses to help him and does not try to find the stolen overcoat. This becomes the most cruel phenomenon; it is not for nothing that there is a statement that indifference is the highest cruelty. The attitude of others towards Bashmachkin leads to the hero falling ill and dying.

Ways to protect yourself

To protect yourself from moral and physical cruelty from other people, you need to:

Learn at least 2-3 self-defense techniques and be able to use them when there is a threat to life or health.
Remember basic safety rules (do not get into cars with strangers, try not to walk along dark streets alone, carry pepper spray or other means of protection).
Develop self-confidence and the ability not to succumb to provocations from others.
Increase your own self-esteem, do not be an overly soft and pliable person. Such people most often become victims of cruel people.
Don't lose your composure. More often than not, it is the confused and panicked people who become victims of abuse.
There is no need to appeal to a cruel person’s conscience, this will provoke him even more.
Do not try to correct the aggressor or pacify his behavior.
Do not be afraid to ask for help from loved ones or contact law enforcement agencies.

In literature

The theme of cruelty is touched upon everywhere in literature. It takes different forms, can be presented as the main idea or present only for the sake of the psychological characteristics of one character, but, one way or another, can be traced in different works.

One of the first works devoted exclusively to cruelty is most often called N.V. Gogol’s story “The Overcoat.” Human malice in it leads to the death of the main character. The unfortunate and insignificant “little man” Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin is bullied by his colleagues, becomes a victim of a thief and does not receive any help. Indifference and neglect cause his illness, from which he dies. “Leave me, why are you hurting me?” - asks Bashmachkin and it is impossible not to sympathize with this unfortunate man. The story did not gain fame during the writer’s lifetime, but the theme of “poor officials” was further developed in Dostoevsky’s early works.

In “Matryona’s Yard” by A.I. Solzhenitsyn, a cruel attitude towards a village woman is shown. Matryona is kind and always helped those in need, but she did not receive love from either her family or her fellow villagers. The ex-fiancé took revenge on her and deliberately tried to complicate her life. Just like Bashmachkin, she dies without receiving understanding and help.

Manifestations of cruelty can also be seen in the works of A.S. Pushkin. For example, in “Dubrovsky” it is expressed twice: in Troyekurov’s betrayal of his former friend and his decision, contrary to his daughter’s pleas, to marry her to an unloved person.

In “The Wonderful Doctor” by A.I. Kuprin there is not only cruelty, expressed in indifference to the hard life of the large Mertsalov family. Doctor Pirogov here seems to dispel all the darkness with his kindness. The writer draws a parallel and shows not only evil, but also the other side of the coin. He gets the point across differently. Instead of relying on the reader's pity evoked by the unenviable end of the main characters, he sets a positive example by embodying humanity in the only "wonderful" character.

Thus, the theme of cruelty is very common and beneficial. It is shown both in the example of family relationships, and in neighborly, friendly and simply casual relationships. Writers never tire of reminding us that indifference is also cruelty, sometimes more crippling than real violence. Such works are needed to remind readers of how important it is to be human.

Why are people cruel to each other?

Cruelty is nothing more than a manifestation of anger. Most cruelty occurs in response to cruelty that has already been committed. It is worth noting that in modern society people’s values have completely changed. Changes took place in favor of material rather than moral and spiritual values. Money has begun to completely rule the whole world, and people who do not have it become tougher and begin to take out their anger on those who are weaker, who cannot respond to their offender. A person who has been wronged tries to do the same to that person, thereby increasing the amount of evil. It also happens in the world that people develop cruelty because they were brought up in accordance with certain life attitudes.

There are many works in literature that highlight the theme of cruelty and anger. In V. Bykov’s story “Sotnikov,” the reader meets investigator Portnov. Even before the onset of the war, he walked around the villages in order to agitate local residents against the existence of God. In the eyes of people, he was a well-mannered and very polite person. Perhaps if it weren’t for the circumstances, cruelty would not have manifested itself so clearly and clearly in his character, and he would simply have committed petty meanness towards people. Wartime came, in which all his true nature was completely exposed. Investigator Portnov becomes a traitor, a murderer who subjected his fellow citizens to severe torture.

In V. Zheleznikov’s work “Scarecrow,” the reader is faced with the problem of cruelty among teenagers. The main character of this story is Lena Bessoltseva. The girl voluntarily took upon herself the guilt of a person dear to her. Lena withstands the persecution of her class, does not reveal the name of the “traitor”, because of whom the long-awaited trip to Moscow was disrupted. Analyzing how teenagers behave in the story, we can observe their thirst for self-affirmation through a mercilessly cruel attitude towards someone who, weakening you. It is unfortunate, but the parents of these children did not teach them kindness, responsiveness, mutual assistance, or instill moral values. They received a lesson in morality and humanism, which was taught to them by the girl Lena. Based on the work, we can conclude that violence and cruelty are the lot of people who seek to commit it. I believe that the reasons for the manifestation of cruelty in adolescents lie in the underdevelopment of the individual as such, as well as the lack of moral education.

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