Can someone be entirely evil or be purely good? In the autobiography An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusesabagina, Paul tells his story of being an ordinary man who becomes a hero during the Rwandan genocide and how he just did his job and saved countless lives. Within the story, Paul explains how human nature truly is. Man is neither inherently good nor evil.
People are not purely good or evil, human nature is the combination of both, and better seen not in terms of black and white. “He had a soft side and a hard side and neither was in absolute control of his actions,” (121). Paul explains his way of seeing people isn’t in black and white it’s in degrees of soft and hard. Black and white are only two sides, whereas soft and hard has a bigger spectrum …show more content…
The colonel went around ordering people to murder and he himself murdering people, but he could still be persuaded not kill specific individuals. Another example is “It was like those Nazi concentration camp guards who could come home from a day manning the gas chambers and be able to play games with their children, put a Bach record on the turntable and make love to their wives before getting up to kill more innocents,” (121) In comparison to the colonel, the Nazi guards are also show that people are capable of committing atrocious things such as genocide to wipe out the Jews or the massacring the Tutsis in Rwanda, but are able to go back to normal …show more content…
Paul says that “Gentle, humorous, seemingly normal people-turn into a killer in the space of two days,” (193). The people who had seemed like rational good people could become killers. They are not truly evil nor are they truly evil. They have a gentle, rational side yet, can become animalistic killers. People are all capable of evil and good and we are a mix of both. Paul mentions what happens when he sees a killer from the genocide again “I saw a familiar face in the crowd. It was a man I hadn’t seen in years, a Hutu neighbor of mine from the Kabeza neighborhood where my family and I had lived . I had seen him in the opening days of the genocide wearing an Army uniform and carrying a machete. It seems likely that he participated in some murders, or at a minimum did nothing to stop them. And here he was, free and healthy and wearing a business suit,” (183) Paul’s account shows that people can go on after being evil murderers to regular adept business people.That man can live a good life even after the horrid genocide because man is not purely evil or good. Even after the horrible results we as humans can produce we are not inherently evil or
People are not purely good or evil, human nature is the combination of both, and better seen not in terms of black and white. “He had a soft side and a hard side and neither was in absolute control of his actions,” (121). Paul explains his way of seeing people isn’t in black and white it’s in degrees of soft and hard. Black and white are only two sides, whereas soft and hard has a bigger spectrum …show more content…
The colonel went around ordering people to murder and he himself murdering people, but he could still be persuaded not kill specific individuals. Another example is “It was like those Nazi concentration camp guards who could come home from a day manning the gas chambers and be able to play games with their children, put a Bach record on the turntable and make love to their wives before getting up to kill more innocents,” (121) In comparison to the colonel, the Nazi guards are also show that people are capable of committing atrocious things such as genocide to wipe out the Jews or the massacring the Tutsis in Rwanda, but are able to go back to normal …show more content…
Paul says that “Gentle, humorous, seemingly normal people-turn into a killer in the space of two days,” (193). The people who had seemed like rational good people could become killers. They are not truly evil nor are they truly evil. They have a gentle, rational side yet, can become animalistic killers. People are all capable of evil and good and we are a mix of both. Paul mentions what happens when he sees a killer from the genocide again “I saw a familiar face in the crowd. It was a man I hadn’t seen in years, a Hutu neighbor of mine from the Kabeza neighborhood where my family and I had lived . I had seen him in the opening days of the genocide wearing an Army uniform and carrying a machete. It seems likely that he participated in some murders, or at a minimum did nothing to stop them. And here he was, free and healthy and wearing a business suit,” (183) Paul’s account shows that people can go on after being evil murderers to regular adept business people.That man can live a good life even after the horrid genocide because man is not purely evil or good. Even after the horrible results we as humans can produce we are not inherently evil or