"Fictual" Flaws in Human Nature

          Humans, whether factual or fictional, are often defined by their flaws. As a result of these flaws, fictional characters, regardless of how unrealistic they may seem, are relatable to readers. The flaws seen in most fictional characters are founded upon imperfections in human nature. This is present in the literary genres of Dark Romanticism and Realism; specifically, in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat,” Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark,” and Jack London’s “To Build a Fire.” As seen in the works of Poe, Hawthorne, and London, the flaws of many characters in literature are founded upon shortcomings in human nature.      

           In “The Black Cat,” by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator is driven by perverseness and wrath, which causes him to lose his sanity and perform monstrosities; similarly, countless real people have been impelled by rage and perverseness to commit crimes. At the outset of the story, Poe’s narrator describes his love of animals and his gentle nature. As the story continues, the narrator claims to feel an inexplicable feeling of perverseness that leads him to harm his pet cat. The narrator’s comments on the sentiment of perverseness, however, are not solely applicable to his actions in the story. The narrator accentuates the presence of perverseness in human nature when he states, “Yet I am not more sure that my soul lives, than I am that perverseness is one of the primitive impulses of the human heart--one of the indivisible primary faculties, or sentiments, which give direction to the character of Man” (http://goo.gl/4U2su). After succumbing to perverseness and gouging his cat’s eyes out, his discontent with the cat develops into a feeling of wrath. The narrator’s rage causes a complete deterioration of his mental state. His insanity and loathing of the cat cause him to murder the pet, only to take in another, and attempt to murder the new cat as well. During the narrator’s attempt to kill the second cat, his wife intervenes, and “Goaded, by the interference, into a rage more than demoniacal, [he] withdrew [his] arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain” (http://goo.gl/4U2su). The narrator’s rage forces him to commit an act that he never would have committed were he not defined by his human imperfections. The flaws of perverseness and rage are seen in countless people. In 2008, a seven-year-old boy stole his grandmother’s car and drove it on the streets, damaging mailboxes and two cars. When interviewed after the event, the boy claimed that he stole the car because he “got mad at [his] mom” and “because it’s fun, it’s fun to do bad things.” The interviewer then highlighted the danger the young boy placed other people’s lives in by stealing the car, to which the boy responded, “I wanted to do hoodrat stuff with my friends” (http://goo.gl/tKuWSk). This young boy was driven primarily by his anger towards his mom, and his innate propensity towards perverseness. Evidently, he succumbed to flaws in human nature, just like the narrator of “The Black Cat.” Through the presence of common human imperfections in the narrator, Poe bases a fictional story on actual sentiments. As seen in fiction and actual life, despite the fact that imperfections make people human, it is natural to attempt to fix flaws that define oneself.    

         Human nature can cause men and women, whether fictional or real, to make an effort to rid themselves of defining imperfections, regardless of risks. Every individual has an idea of at least one thing they would like to change about themselves. Often people do not realize that to unnaturally fix their imperfections is to succumb to innate impulses and to strip themselves of their defining characteristics. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Dark Romantic short story “The Birthmark,” Aylmer and his wife, Georgiana, both succumb to their natural longings for Georgiana’s perfect physical appearance. In order to bless his wife with a flawless appearance, Aylmer believes that Georgiana’s birthmark must be removed. Georgiana, who desires her husband’s approval, agrees to drink a liquid prepared by her husband that will remove her birthmark at high risk. After drinking the liquid, the birthmark does disappear, but it costs Georgiana her life. Georgiana succumbs to a flaw in human nature by removing her birthmark and desiring to rid herself of the imperfections that define her as a person. As Hawthorne explains, “The fatal hand had grappled with the mystery of life, and was the bond by which an angelic spirit kept itself in union with a mortal frame” (http://goo.gl/KPXqN). Although Georgiana is a fictional character, her longing to fix her human imperfections is founded upon the same desire present in all men and women. An article published by USA Today describes a woman in Miami who decided to have “minimally invasive” liposuction to lose weight and improve her physical appearance. The woman, named Kelly Lee-Howard, risked her wellbeing by using an unqualified doctor to strip herself of her natural identity and lose weight through surgery (http://goo.gl/bYC7Uk).  Kelly Lee-Howard’s desire to unnaturally better her physical appearance led to her death. Similarly to Georgiana, she succumbed to her human impulse to unnaturally fix an imperfection that was defining her. In contrast to the human desire to perfect oneself, overconfidence, or hubris, is also a popular character flaw that bridges fiction and factual life.    

             The defining characteristic of hubris can draw a bridge between fiction and fact, as seen in Jack London’s “To Build a Fire.” London’s story details an unnamed man’s trek through the Yukon territory, towards camp, at seventy-five degrees below zero. Despite a warning from a native of the area, which cautioned the man against travelling without another person at such frigid temperatures, he seems confident in his ability to make it to camp safely. With only the companionship of a reluctant dog, the man undergoes the journey. At one point in the story, the man stops to build a fire and dry his feet after breaking through the snow. After successfully building the fire, the man’s hubris is apparent when London writes:The old-timer had been very serious in laying down the law that no man must travel alone in the Klondike after fifty below. Well, here he was; he had had the accident; he was alone; and he had saved himself. Those old-timers were rather womanish...he thought...Any man who was a man could travel alone. (http://goo.gl/SXmZfd)Following an unfortunate series of events, largely caused by the man’s own mistake, he is left freezing to death, without any chance of survival. After accepting his fate, the man realizes his overconfidence and contemplates that, “The old-timer on Sulphur Creek was right...after fifty below, a man should travel with a partner” (http://goo.gl/Dbm7xX). The main character’s fatal flaw in “To Build a Fire,” however, is not exclusive to fictional writing; but rather, it is seen innumerable times in the real world. A 2013 Daily News article details the freezing deaths of a man from Illinois and his two sons while hiking in the cold. The man, a veteran of the Air Force, was leading his two sons back to the family’s lodge when they missed a turn and became lost in the dark (http://goo.gl/o83jOn). While this story is extremely tragic, the man had actually denied an offer for a ride back to the lodge from a passerby because of his overconfidence in his abilities. The fatalities of the man in “To Build a Fire” and the family in Illinois are similarly tragic, but the presence of hubris in both stories profoundly bridges London’s fictional writing to factual life. 

          The fictional short stories “The Black Cat,” “The Birthmark,” and “To Build a Fire” are connected to real life through the characters’ defining human flaws. However, the works of Poe, Hawthorne, and London are not the only fictional stories founded upon reality. The accentuation of shortcomings in human nature can be seen throughout Dark Romanticism and Realism, as well as nearly every other genre of literature. The flaws of these characters are often dramatized in stories to teach readers a moral lesson. In “The Black Cat,” “The Birthmark,” and “To Build a Fire,” in addition to the three highlighted articles, the inadequacies of the characters result in either death or serious legal troubles. While the effects of these flaws are not typically as extreme, the stories serve as a warning to readers, by cautioning them to limit the influence the imperfections of human nature have on their lives. The shortcomings of the fictional characters not only bridge fact and fiction, but they also deliver applicable moral lessons to readers.