Evil!

Walt Whitman in all of his poetry refers to emotions that potentially have a different connotation to the American of the present day and age. The belief that everybody has evil inside themselves is not an idea that Whitman came up with by himself in Crossing Brooklyn Ferry 6. The fact that we are all “Actors and Actresses” to hide the emotional “Evil,” Things such as guile, anger, lust, and greed are all things that all humans posses as Whitman stated in his poem. As in “The Killer Inside Me,” depicting evil in the career of the character Ford. The templates that we have for good and evil are templates that we have come up with through an American identity of right and wrong. “The Killer Inside Me illustrates Kant’s notion of the inscrutability of the ground from which we will actions of good or evil and the ultimate insufficiency of reason” (pg 5 Dorthy G. Clark). Everyone has the propensity to be either good or evil, both of these aspects are in all of us as human beings. This is because we have defined what is good and what is evil. We have defined good and evil as emotions that are used in combination such as anger, greed, and envy these emotions not being hidden from the public. These emotions when not hidden grow in intensity and continue on to action. These actions are truly evil, with the intent of the emotions behind them. Whitman's proclamation that he is as evil as anybody else is slightly different coming from an American point of view. Most Americans do not see themselves as evil because of their belief that they are special snowflake. Special snowflake meaning “ There is something unique about everybody and they should be appreciated for their uniqueness... especially me,” This belief along with American patriotism creates an attitude amongst many Americans that they themselves are good and can do little wrong. In reality human beings are not as simple as being totally good or totally bad. The admittance to Whitman's own evil and everyone's evil will is very progressive in human development for Whitman. “Lived the same life with the rest, the same old laughing, gnawing, sleeping, play'd the part that still looks back on the actor or actress,” (pg 136 Whitman.) This is the continued knowledge that people are all actors because they must hide what they are. All people have this evil inside of them, and those that are truly truthful are those that are evil because they are not trying to hide the animal inside. With the paradox being that truth is one thing that people hold in high regards, but those that are really truthful are those that society sees as evil.


Academic Search Premier. December 6 2009 .

Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. New York: Bantam Dell,