Degrees of Cruelty

The Conflict in People between their personal morality and conscience

as seen in from Phillip Hallie and Jonathan Bennett’s eyes

In “The Conscience of Huckleberry Finn” by Jonathan Bennett, we are introduced to three individuals presented with an inner struggle in the understanding of the moral culture of their time, and the supposedly ethical persona that presumably exists within each of us. Mr. Bennett choses Calvinist preacher Jonathan Edwards, Henrich Himmler, a Nazi commander during Hitler’s regime, and Huckleberry Finn, a fictional character from the writings of Mark Twain. Each of these individuals is presented with a rational and emotional decision in their lives, that lets the reader understand the inner struggles each of us faces depending upon our societal culture, our moral upbringing, and what “feels” right within our own minds.

Phillip Hallie, who penned “From Cruelty to Goodness” addresses this same issue, in a different manner. He defines cruelty as being created by an imbalance of power, citing a particular incident that occurred during wartime in the French village of Le Chambon. Here an entire population is faced with deciding what is a greater need: saving those who are being persecuted, or their own safety. A community of people who collectively realize in order to save innocent lives, they must devise a plan to save others, despite the “moral” culture they are caught in the middle of.

Bennett states that when people allow their ethical motives to overrule one’s own ethical understanding of good vs. bad morality, they have made an incorrect decision. In fact, he considers morality a bad thing when it goes against his own morals or inner rules. Hallie, on the other hand argues that “cruelty is created by an imbalance of power.” Bennett uses three individuals in three unique situations, yet only one is clearly not having an inner struggle with either a moral ethical dilemma. Himmler is what we would consider a sociopath, who found a vocation wherein he could give in to his personal beliefs and desire, at the expense of innocent people. And was rewarded for his personal ingenuity of creating better methods of torture, better and more productive ways to exterminate a race of people. And had no qualms about destroying lives. Huck Finn was faced with an inner struggle between what was morally accepted in his time, i.e., slavery, and what was morally acceptable within his own self. And then we have the Christian theologian, Jonathan Edwards who indicates that following God’s doctrine of what is morally acceptable to God, was worse than the horrors that Himmler and the Nazi regime perpetuated upon people.

I can somewhat agree with Hallie’s hypothesis that the victim begins to become a part of the morality issue. When the victim begins to be comfortable with his/role, never seeing relief or rescue, it has in the past given those in authority more power to continue to victimize. However, to view Edwards as being evil in his thinking because of his understanding of God on his terms, is not on the same par of being evil. The question that needs to be answered is when does evil take shape…is in the thoughts of man, or in our actions? Hallie’s argument that the opposite of institutionalized cruelty is freedom from the cruel relationship and not just kindness. Institutional cruelty appears to demote individuality. When a collective group of people have a common goal, whether it is good or bad, it should have a struggle, an inner turmoil for what is ethically right.

Throughout his article Bennett goes to great lengths to provide illustrations to what he feels is the struggle. Huck questioned his own ethical motives for helping Jim, a slave, get freedom, despite the moral culture he was a part of. He questioned what was right according to the law, and what was right for his friend, and he began to see Jim as a person, such as himself. Himmler murdered thousands of men, women, and children. Whether he had a moral dilemma, we do not know, because he gave into the permission to not just murder a race of people, but apparently took great satisfaction in his ability to do so. Edwards appears to have no understanding of what he was saying to the people he was “ministering” to and may have “killed” the spirit of people, but he did not struggle with whether he was an evil man pursuing an evil God.

I agree that Bennett assessment and understanding of Huckleberry Finn in his actions were right, as he truly examined all aspects of what he was doing, how it would affect others, and himself, and still, he choose to do what was ethically right. However, I would not put Edwards in the same category, because it was only his words, and his misinterpretation of God that he harshly and vocally attacked people. Himmler is a perfect picture of evil.

Institutionalized cruelty is the subtlest kind of cruelty. It is a persistent pattern where humiliation of someone exists. We could narrow it down to our prisons, but it exists as we are seeing in our law enforcement and their treatment of minorities. The cruel manner in which we have observed police handle situations has become a focal point for our nation in the past few years, and we have become aware of how our entire nation seemed to look the other way. A distrust became a way a way of life for many African Americans, and the police became the enemy. A few evil men in a position of power were able to influence a collective group of people in such a manner, that for a “minute” there seemed to be no justice for any person of color.