Reaction

In class, we talked about humanity’s current deviation from Darwin’s theory of evolution and our innate behavior to make ourselves more important than others. The story about the 8 year old boy who saved several people from a burning building and died while attempting to save more people was really bittersweet. It supports the idea that our perspectives become tainted as we become more experienced and we lose clarity yet it contrasts Dostoyevsky’s idea that we favor ourselves over others. Maybe this boy is like the men who choose a path rather than consider both sides of a conflict. He devotes his life to a threatening decision while there were safer options available. Where would society be without the men of purpose and action who the narrator seems to despise? I think that the narrator lacks bravery and respect for individual differences because he is so obsessed with what he thinks, which in turn returns us to the idea that we consider ourselves more important than others.