(379 words) What are the causes of human cruelty? This question was asked by many philosophers, authors of journalistic works and fiction. Personally, I believe that the main reason is the eternal struggle of people with each other. Being the highest manifestation of cruelty, war exposes the worst qualities of human nature. Consider literary examples to verify the correctness of this point of view.
Leo Tolstoy in the epic novel "War and Peace" described the war as the epicenter and root cause of cruelty. The protagonists of the work are undergoing tremendous upheaval, becoming participants in hostilities. The most terrible changes we observe in the young prince Andrei Bolkonsky. Having unusually romantic ideas about battles full of heroism and honor, he meets with the true face of war - with ruthless, almost animal cruelty on the battlefield. Caught on the verge of death, the prince changes dramatically and there is almost nothing in common with the dreamy young man whom we meet at the beginning of the novel. For example, he cannot forgive Natasha’s betrayal by expressing his intransigence in a conversation with Pierre. Bezukhov asks his friend not to be too strict, but the hero is no longer capable of mercy: he is poisoned by war. Therefore, the author ends his life, hinting that Andrei will no longer be able to build a happy family. A person who has been on the battlefield at least once can no longer be cured of hardheartedness.
Similar examples can be found in foreign prose. Ernest Hammingway, being a participant in the First World War, left behind one of the greatest monuments of world literature - the novel "Farewell to Arms!" The protagonist of the work, an American officer Frederick Henry, an employee in the sanitary unit, is experiencing the severity of the war, witnessing terrible events. Having fallen in love with nurse Katherine, he, having deserted from the army, moved to Switzerland with his lover. On their way there, an inexorable fate cuts them: Henry is threatened with execution, and everywhere he feels the pursuit, as if a fugitive is on the hunt. Even civilians become hardened and denounce each other, not sparing those whom they doom to death. The war and its cruelty drive crazy a tormented society, ready to tear to pieces any, even innocent person.
The works cited as an example are characteristic in that they were written by direct participants in the wars, who saw their consequences. Not only soldiers became hardened, the struggle for a long time poisoned entire nations, entire generations of people with their poisonous bloody juice. It only seems to us that war does not concern us if it is in another country. She penetrates our consciousness through the media and teaches us to think about the inevitability of violence. Such a worldview sooner or later leads a person to his small or great cruelty.
