There is no such thing as selflessness. Even if someone truly does believe that what they are doing will only help some other thing, there is always a positive benefit in the infinite array of consequences that result from an infinitely insignificant action. For the sake of discussion, however, selflessness will be defined not as an action that exactly only helps someone else, but an action that results in helping someone else more than one's self. Such an idea is not pure selflessness as the self is still being taken care of, but it will be more accurate to the actual human experience, which is always optimal.
" Ma said, 'You won't be no burden. Each'll help each, an' we'll all git to California. Sairy Wilson he'ped lay Grampa out,' and she stopped. The relationship was plain" (Steinbeck 100).
The Wilsons and the Joads, two strangers on the road, meet together and realize they have the same goals. This leads they to work together and attempt to accomplish their goals under a new faction. Doing so not only helps themselves, but helps everyone around them.
In this time, it was extremely necessary for you to help other people. When there were so many people in dire situations, a small contribution would be making a huge difference to these people. For example, the following quote.
"Al said snarlingly, 'Goddamn it, Mae. Give 'em the loaf." (Steinbeck 107).
Al gives the shitheels bread, because even though he is going to lose money, he knows that what it will cost him is nothing to the starvation the family would go through without it. When a person really understands how greed and selfishness hurt people, they will be inclined to help these people. It is when people are desensitized by the Machine that they can deliberately hurt people. The Machine tells them its okay, and the Machine tells them that they HAVE to do it otherwise bad things happen.
Steinbeck wants us to see that no one is really selfless, because all these actions can be seen as selfish. Steinbeck is showing us the cutthroat world that we live in, and how in the blink of an eye the nicest person will stab your back for your stuff if they have to. Steinbeck is revealing to us the dark side of human nature. That side that will put everything forward to continue it existence, because what is the cause of existence? EXISTENCE!
Good point about the nature of "selflessness" - nothing is every truly selfless.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the "machine" you refer to in the second section?