According to his article “The Lowest Animal”, Mark Twain raises the idea that “humans are declining from the Higher Animals” by researching and illustrating evidences. He refutes the idea taken by Darwinian that “humans are rising from the Lowest Animals”. In his article, he offers the idea that most animals have a lot of features which do not belong to human beings. He uses the cats and roosters as examples to contrast them with the traits and dispositions of man, to notice the dark side of human’s nature, and criticize cruel and greedy humans. He wants to distinguish the specific habits and behavior of both animals and humans, and to indicate “the lowest animal”. Twain uses religious shocks and unlimited accumulation as examples to demonstrate …show more content…
For animals like bees and squirrels, they understand how much they need. They do not want to save a little bit more even by tricking or encouraging. Even though ants seem to behave like a specie which have unlimited desire to save food, they just want to” bolster up a tottering reputation”. In comparison, Mark Twain contrast humans with those. In his research, he finds that “I was aware that many men who have accumulated more millions of money than they can ever use have shown a rabid hunger for more, and have not scrupled to cheat the ignorant and the helpless out of their poor servings in order to partially appease that appetite.” This phenomenon always appears in social class. Most people in upper social class always have limitless desire of wealth, thus what they would like to do is to press the value of middle- and lower- social class people. Even though they understand that their income can afford their expense, they do not realize how much they still need to earn; which means they have unlimited desire. Humans are selfish, they cannot stop earning money, snatching wealth, or plundering resources. They do not have the ability to be moderated, and they do not care about the consequence. It is obvious that animals need food for energy during their hibernation. However, they do not want to collect one more nuts when they realize there are enough food. They have the ability of
(Hook). Mark Twains comparison of human and animal behavior in "The Damned Human Race" can be identified with by a wide audience. His notoriety as one of the most famous American writers makes his opinion valuable to readers. Twains presentation of the material leads the reader to make factual assumptions on the actions a mankind. He appeals to the reader by focusing on basic ideas and using emotional charged vocabulary to invoke a strong response. Logically comparing conflicting behavior aids Twains argument that humans actions are substandard in comparison to animals. The overall argument of mankind's degradation from animals is successfully argued through the use of emotional appeal and logical reasoning.
In Mark Twain’s essay, “The Damned Human Race,” he uses a sarcastic tone in order to show that humans are the lowest kinds of animals and ar not as socially evolved as they think they are, making his readers want to change. In order to inspire his audience, Twain motivates them by providing specific comparisons between animals and humans. These satiric examples emphasize the deficiencies of the human race and entice them to change for the better.
...I never had been bor-r-r-r-rn!” (Thoreau 117). His unequal reverence for men and beasts are indicative of a religion that still needs to be reworked, and adapted to the central characters- for one individual it may work, but for a society a religion that cannot account for people with the regard it gives to other animals will almost certainly fail.
“Men are dogs.” “Don’t be a chicken.” “She is sneaky like a snake.” These are common idioms that are spoken today among our society, but one question is comes to mind. Are humans and animals more similar than we think? Some would declare the only difference between human and animals is that animals lack verbal communication. According to Jill McCorkle’s book, Creatures of Habit, she explains the variations of similar characteristics between both, humans and animals. McCorkle uses sociobiology to develop her story titles in connection with the animal counterparts. According to the Gale Encyclopedia of Science, “sociobiology” is defined as “the study of the evolution of social behavior in all organisms, including human beings.” By using sociobiology, this gives the reader a better insight on the connection between humans and animals. Throughout my essay, I will select several short stories and illustrate the similar characteristic between humans and animals.
This can be answered in Frans. B.W. de Waal’s essay, “The Pitfalls of not Knowing the Whole Animal,” where Waal emphasizes on why humans should connect with animals emotionally in order to truly understand the animal. He compares the ridiculous claims that some scientists made about an animal based on what they know about other animals in general, but they never once tried to connect with the animal. Scientists that had worked with animals for a while understands that “care of their subjects is a round-the-clock business,” and not something that can be done half-heartedly (247). Waal acknowledges that, “only those scientists who try to learn everything there is to know about a particular animal have any chance of unlocking its secrets” (252).
In his essay “Religion and Animal Rights," the writer Tom Regan maintains the place that animals are "subjects-of-a-life”, like humans. If we value all beings regardless of the degree of human rationality that are able to act, we must also attribute to animals or as it is called non-human animals as well. All practices involving abuse of animals should be abolished. The animals have an intrinsic value as humans, and stresses that Christian theology has brought unbridled land on the brink of an ecological catastrophe.
For many years, people assumed that humans are significantly different from other species, which made them somewhat superior. However, research on animal behavior, especially our closest relatives, the apes has led to new discoveries that show many similarities between human and animals. Some of these similarities have questioned the uniqueness of humans and have led to debates not only among scientists but in the public as well. Frans de Waal, a renowned primatologist and the author of The Ape and the Sushi Master, is among the scientists that claim animals and humans are quite similar. The main focus of his book is to show that culture is not exclusive to humans. De Waal was not the first scientist to propose the theory that animals have culture nonetheless; it was received with a lot of enmity. He attributes this to the fear of losing the qualities that make humans special. Claims of language in apes became so threating that animal research was almost banned. According to de Waal, “attempts of censorship do reveal just how much insecurity surrounds human uniqueness”. (32) In an attempt to support his argument, he addresses the controversial issue of morality in animals. Morality is considered a cultural aspect and therefore people often use cultural biases in decision making. Dan Kahan, a psychologist, referred to this as cultural cognition, which “refers to the tendency of individuals to conform their beliefs about disputed matters of fact to values that define their cultural identities”. Subsequently, theories on morality depend on the perspective of the scientists who carry out the research. De Waal supports his theory by analyzing aspects of morality in humans and comparing them to animal behavior.
...helter, food, clothing, and fuel for survival. The Market Revolution in the 19th century changed the mindset of copious individuals about their essential needs. With new innovations that make goods cheaper and easily obtainable, people's greed for more possessions grew. However, the incessant growth of one's desires make the individual a "slave" of their desires because they devote their time in earning money to acquire more, thus losing their freedom. Henry David Thoreau agreed that people enslaved themselves to materialistic possessions and often they forget the genuine meaning of living. Faced with the choice of increasing one’s ability to acquire more goods and decreasing one’s needs, Thoreau believed that minimizing one’s desire will lead to favorable account as individuals gain the chance to enjoy the meaning of life and welcome what nature provide them with.
Humans and animals have always coexisted together for as long as man could remember and exist. They would hunt each other for survival, sometimes man would come out as the victor, and sometimes it was the animal. Mankind would feast on them like they would feast on us. With time, this relationship would change. The animals would become our companions as well as being our food. They would become our hunting tools, such as in tracking prey. They would later be used as our means of transport and also as labor tools, such as when humans would need help working on their farmland. Let’s not forget that they also provide us with entertainment, such as in a zoo or as a circus attraction. Although only some cultures still consider some animals as sacred, most of us look down on them, consider them inferior to us. There was however a time when we worshipped them more and even admired them. We will explore this worship and admiration of animals in this essay as we compare and contrast the depictions of animals in the Upper Paleolithic period in cave arts and in Ancient Egypt in order to identify the presence of a shift, if there was one, in our reverence of animals in between both periods.
Men have thought themselves to be the superior species for a long time, but Peter Singer brings a new perspective on the topic in his essay entitled Speciesism and Moral Status. Singer’s new way of thinking of it states that determining morals status requires the comparison between the cognitive abilities of humans and nonhumans. The main points he focusses on in his essay are cognitive capacities between animals and humans with severe mental retardation, religion affecting human’s beliefs of superiority, and finally the ability to suffer and how similar humans and nonhumans are.
...n rabbits, Robert’s sense of protection is perceived in the presence of birds and his wild edge is from the coyote. This is an indication that animals and human beings are essentially one being, struggling for survival within a harsh world.
Kenneth Grahame’s use of personification by having animals represent humans in many of his stories can be interoperated as an analogy for how making selfish and rash choices, can cause humankind to look barbaric and primitive, just as animals.
K. (1995). Feral children and clever animals: Reflections on human nature. New York: Oxford Univ Press.
These two are the reasons why people in the middle and lower class get stuck in the “Rat Race”, which is the continuous cycle of earning money and spending it on expenses. You should ignore these emotions of fear and desire, which control you and your thoughts.
DeMello, Margo. Animals and Society: An Introduction to Human-animal Studies. New York: Columbia UP, 2012. Print.