Introduction
The world of social affairs is full of barriers in terms of understanding within people. In this respect behavior and primordial attitudes toward the dialogue between individuals differing according to various features matter. With the flow of the historical changes people went through times of wars and enslavement; expansion and elaboration. All in all, today we have some rests of previous historical approaches between people. In other words, the point of social stability in relations between people is still unsteady today. On the other hand, people have a lack of mercy and compassion toward those individuals who are for some reason limited in physical opportunities. Egoism is the prior feeling to which an individual falls for easily. It happens that no one understands the effects of suchlike bad intentions. People reject realizing this because in this cruel world everyone is driven only by my interest. It is when some other individuals representing the minority are suffering from misunderstanding and hatred overwhelming peoples’ minds. One more objective concerns the desires of individuals. Positive, as they may think, intentions toward perfection hide the nature of real outcomes for closest people. This is also the wrong way which is generally used among individuals today.
All in all, the points stated above disclose the reality of human relations in three literature works by eminent United States authors. They are Tennessee Williams and TheGlass Menagerie; Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Birthmark; and Langston Hughes’s poem Harlem in performance of play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. All three authors with their three works relate the essence of human intentions to the domain of their real implementation. These works demonstrate that the darkest side of people is easier to irritate when it touches upon personal concerns.
Evaluation of three works as of contemporary society
The reason for many cases of misunderstanding in these works is enclosed in the fact of human biases. All prejudices which people tend to implement are the result of previous motivation in society through the persuasion of parents and concerning the time prospects. Three themes are discovered in these literary works. First of all, it is the point of racial discrimination in the United States. Its urge was greatly felt since the formation of the country and until the 1960s when it achieved its apogee. Langston Hughes in his poem does not try to struggle, but to state the danger of his time. Second, it is the theme of sexual relations that may overgrow into an obsession to fatally change something in the look. Nathaniel Hawthorne masterly describes the fact of the psychological background of a man, as the stimulus for both positive and negative outcomes. Third, the theme of the fragile nature of sincere and naïve people whose physical invalidity became the ground for someone’s play. Tennessee Williams underlines the idea stated in the proverb, namely: can good ever come out of evil?
The first argument for the thesis above is that all biases in the three works consider the physical outlook. At this point, there is a major drawback to human relationships. A human being cannot be categorically judged just by appearance. It is a superficial feature. No one thinks of the attainments of humanity and that it is not the result of peoples’ identity. There is soul and mind in a man which makes him/her individual from others. This point is omitted in terms of contemporary society. The primitiveness of individuals today touches upon their narrow-mindedness. It is so notwithstanding the time when each of the underlined works was written. The human factor is entire for all times. The good and bad sides of a man are the point for the discussion. They were and they are essential since the time of the creation of humanity.
Langston Hughes and his approach
For instance, the problem of racial discrimination takes its roots from the times when people conquered and fought for their territories seeing in other people’s potential enemies. This approach is not surprising for the land of primordially puritan settlers. The paradox is in the fact that the good intentions of the Founding Fathers turn into the enslavement policy and struggle between White and Black parts of the American society. Langston Hughes described the desire of a Black man (a raisin in the sun) to find freedom within total racial helplessness and hatred.
Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.
Or does it explode (Ebony 57)?
This approach is fair not only for the United States but for all nations where the multicultural approach is blamed by some groups or communities of people. What is more, the idea of patience and tolerance is discredited today, as the wrong way for making justice. Identity and belonging to some definite ethnical, racial, cultural group determine today the financial and economical stability of those who are in minority. Thus they need to adapt to such circumstances or conditions just to survive. Surviving, therefore, is the only way nowadays to make the effects of race developing in an irrational direction. Unfortunately, in the United States, this problem is striking. It has no way out at the moment even with the African American President.
Nathaniel Hawthorne and urge for perfection
Another approach concerns the way people communicate when living together. Nathaniel Hawthorne got closer in his time toward this idea. The reasons for writing this short story were in the nineteenth century, and they remain the same in the twenty-first century. Sexual relationships and intimacy in marriage can go behind the control when such relations are not based on the ground of highest values. People again forget about the real prospects of morality. On the other hand, they are not aware of the significance of love and devotion. The loss of higher motivations determines the death of precious features of life. Society may transform into a total absurd due to peoples’ more concernment about things of the earth earthy. Thereupon, Hawthorne describes Aylmer’s attitude, as “the birthmark was a frightful object, causing him more trouble and horror than ever Georgiana’s beauty, whether of souls or sense, had given him delight” (Hawthorne 345). In other words, the degradation of feelings and emotions among individuals acquires more points of selfishness and obsession by insane desires. Nonetheless, this leads to the social tragedy being constant for all times. Judging upon the case described in Hawthorne’s story is solely half of the global task. Designating appropriate conclusions for further behavior is the most significant. To say more, an individual should study how to approach marriage and object of great love on the examples of the everlasting literature.
Tennessee Williams and clash of hopes
This line of discussion would not be full unless mentioning the need for having a little bit of respect and understanding of current problems in the lives of other people. Tennessee Williams is a great observer of the human essence from the inside. The way people behave is in the vast majority based on mercenary motives. People are trying to find out the reason or the intention so that to attract somebody worth of it. It is right in some respects. However, stating the fact when healthy people do not mind the inner world of those who lack some physical advantages is the matter of this kind of discussion. Cripples tend to find understanding and acceptance in the community, as they are. The fragile nature of these people needs more attention. Such attention can be provided only owing to initial solace and humane. However, the bad intentions of society do not mind such points in everyday life. It is worth mentioning that the majority of human beings are biased. This huge barrier makes crashes in the lives of those who seek kindness and love in this world. This controversy between major and minor parts shows the pre-eminence of the bad intentions of people. Moreover, since ancient times people are apt more to follow the outstanding phrase of N. Machiavelli: the end justifies the means. In this respect, people do not mind the helplessness of other individuals and their disability to hurt somebody.
Outline of general vision concerned with society
The issue of the human factor is a complex theme. It needs more observation, but the predicted effects which one may suppose are almost the same. This is why there is a place for psychology in this case. To save the goodness which is enclosed in every human being there should be an optimal awareness of the causative-consecutive relation of every single deed. Hughes admits that intentional oppression from one party will reflect suchlike a push from the oppressed side. In this respect, there is no guarantee whether it will appear soon or late. Another fact states that it is not good to pour gasoline on ablaze. Fire will not stop blaming. It is reasonable to approach toward the “inner” significance of people. It is because all people differ in their appearance, but are indeed united in their similarities to feel, to think, and to understand. This is why the importance of rational dialogue between cultures should touch upon equality in rights and social position. A genocide begins from the point of racial discrimination. It is a weapon of foolishness, as one may call it. The weapon of the reason is to pay more attention to the inner state of mind and soul of a man. In other words, human relationships as of racial approach are at risk of total collapse until human beings grow wiser.
Rationality inactions and attitudes are the core need for society. The human factor, as strange as it may seem, stops people from being humane in most cases. People are blind in their judgments about other people. In this respect even the extent of soulful kinship odes, not a barrier to making more glimpses at superficial flaws of significant others. Hence, it is no need to tell about the attitudes among ordinary people who are strange to each other. In the world of people today it seems that there are no divisions of people into healthy and ill; into sound and problematic. Everything points out the principle of “sink or swim”. Human relations provide a scope of assertions as of the real dressing of them. In most cases, it is the result of the previous struggle for survival. The rest of the cases promote the personal experience of human beings and their disappointment. The world is not so bright and easy-going. It is a quest for weak people to find help in it or to be fallen by the cruelty. In addition, the proverb that a good dress is a card of invitation, a good mind is a letter of recommendation is the most applicable explanation.
Three authors recommend readers being on the right pathway of mind when attempting to judge people. This paramount peculiarity in each of the works makes the discussion in the paper a look at the further continuation of this theme. Such recommendation is vital until the problem will decrease. In other words, it can diminish only with the increase of sound-minded people. This community of the new generation is supposedly able to find out proper solutions to this subtle issue. This is why the entire nature of peoples’ relations provided in the example of three works leaves much to be desired. Outrageous essence of how individuals live and how they disturb by their selfish actions living of others is the process of not merely social but precisely moral losses in upbringing and attitude toward life. Hughes, Hawthorne, and Williams describe it from different sides of genre peculiarities. There is hardly a man who can object to such truth of life. The remark of the character of Laura in Williams’ play restates this fact in conversation with Jim only from the naïve point of view: “It wasn’t – the truth” (Williams 61)?
Conclusion
To sum up, the idea of human relationships in three works by famous writers, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Langston Hughes, and Tennessee Williams, represents a hot discussion of today. The point is that most individuals living in society intentionally ignore the good intentions hidden in them. The main reason is the previous claims for such doing in the society. Facts of numerous cases of struggle and discrimination are also generated by the primordial huge attention of individuals on the sphere of appearance. The biased character of peoples’ souls is the troublesome feature that can result in the total collapse of morals. In each epoch the idea of personal superiority dominated in some groups or communities of individuals. On the other hand, at all times people had a lack of tolerance when seeking personal perfection sacrificing the lives of other ones. This approach points out the juncture at which the ideas of the three authors encounter.
Furthermore, the reliability and validity of the hypothesis which is outlined in all works are appropriate for the contemporary fast-growing world. The situation of moral drawbacks in society is vital. Its outcomes were felt for the writers when they were creating their works. They are felt as well in the modern world. In some points on the strength of amoral attitudes in society seem to be even greater. Thus, humanity needs more attention on peoples’ inner world and peculiarity concerned with soulful and mental abilities. This approach will serve as the intention for valuing the human essence of people more than just their appearance.
Works cited
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Birthmak” in Fantastic worlds: myths, tales, and stories Vol. 572 by Rabkin, Eric S. Oxford: Oxford University Press US, 1979: 343-359.
“Raisin celebrates its 25th Anniversary.” Ebony 39(5), March, 1984: 57-60.
Williams, Tennessee. The glass menagerie. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1996.