The Question of Humanity

As we seek to resolve the question of what defines humanity, that is, what does it mean to be human, literature is used as a playground to allow our imaginations to explore and delve into the topic. Students of literature can look into various stories for ways to help them answer this question for themselves. One group of students, whom I had the pleasure of listening in on, found similarities in the treatment of this topic in the two stories they had recently read, The Cookie Lady by Philip Dick and The Monk by Matthew Lewis.

In The Cookie Lady, a kindly-faced grandmother lures a young neighborhood child into her home with delectable baked goods. Once inside her home, the young child is murdered by the elderly woman in an effort to regain her youth and beauty. In The Monk, a well respected priest succumbs to temptation and lust, murdering his mother and raping his sister. He ends the story as a man disgraced, in direct opposition to the exalted nature of his position at the start.

It is through literature that we are able to experience the thrill of going down the dark and sinister paths of the two main characters of the stories presented. As the presentations continued, the professor commented about The Cookie Lady, saying that many of the students were expecting a sweet story about a sweet lady and her sweet cookies. The unexpected turn, with the murder of an innocent, took many of the students, the presenters included, by surprise. Many of the students discussing the topic of humanity were hard pressed to give a single clear definition of humanity. They each saw something slightly different in the treatment and showing of the various facets of human nature. Only literature gives us this luxury.