Dehumanization

Dehumanization occurs when one tries to take the human
qualities out of another and treats them in non-human ways. This can be
verbally or physically. In class we read the novel The Strange Case of Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Stevenson brings up the idea of good versus evil
or monster versus humanity. How do you classify someone as completely good or
completely evil? Dr. Jekyll wants to develop a chemical that can completely rid
him of evil. He ends up creating another person of Mr. Hyde. Hyde does all of
the evil crimes, but when he turns back into Jekyll there is no consequences.
Ultimately Dr. Jekyll develops a split personality. Mr. Hyde was pure evil in
my eyes, he didn’t just commit small crimes like stealing or anything minor he
physically hurt people and never seemed to be in any trouble for it. “He had in his hand a heavy cane, with which he
was trifling; but he answered never a word, and seemed to listen with an
ill-contained impatience. And then all of a sudden he broke out in a great
flame of anger, stamping with his foot, brandishing the cane, and carrying on
(as the maid described it) like a madman. The old gentleman took a step back, with the air of one very much
surprised and a trifle hurt; and at that Mr. Hyde broke out of all bounds and
clubbed him to the earth. And next moment, with ape-like fury, he was trampling
his victim under foot and hailing down a storm of blows, under which the bones
were audibly shattered and the body jumped upon the roadway.”

It was almost as if Hyde was not human, and definitely didn’t look
as others as though they were human. This reminds me of war, because in war
soldiers are trained to dehumanize the enemy. A normal person could not just
kill someone because they are told to they have to mentally prepare themselves.
They take themselves out of the violence. Dr. Jekyll wanted to be a good person
and the only way for him to do that was to get rid of the evil, which happened
by creating Mr. Hyde. Matt Baker wrote an article “Dehumanizing Eliminates the
Guilt.” He speaks of how people here in America have the nerve to criticize the
soldiers for what they are doing, and it makes us feel a little less guilty
because we are just as much a part of it. The only reason soldiers kill people
during war because they do not think of them as people. The soldiers are unable
to feel the emotions anymore from what they are doing because they don’t take
time and think about it. They just do as they are told. Then, after war they
deal with the consequences, such as PTSD and drug problems. Some even say that
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is about a drug addiction which allows for Jekyll to
feel as though he is a different person. For many a way of coping is splitting
from the issue, which is exactly what Jekyll did and what soldiers do every day.
I’m not saying it is something I agree with, but I don’t think it makes Jekyll
a monster, I think evil is just part of the human condition.