Humanity In Me And Earl And The Dying Girl

“The most identifying trait of humanity is our ability to be inhumane.” This is a quote from Dean Koontz, an American author. As Koontz stated, humans often times act inhumane, lack the kindness or compassion for the things around them. This meaning that humans sometimes turn to other traits or abilities in order to live on with their life such as judgment or hatred. But just as humans share the ability to be inhumane, other characteristics of humanity can play a role in their lives as well. Morality, relationships, survival, loss, emotions, and choice are all characteristics that define humanity. These characteristics are shown in the novels Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and in How I Live Now. Characters in the novel How I Live Now by

A young boy named Joe met Daisy while they were picking apples for the army during the war. After working all day, five-seven people would ride home in an Army truck with active Army men. Joe began to get extremely frustrated with situations caused by the war and he took his anger out on the checkpoint guy. The man was getting frustrated with Joe. “And then, in almost a lazy kind of way, the checkpoint guy who’d been looking at him, raised his gun and pulled the trigger and there was a loud crack and part of Joe’s face exploded”(Rosoff 104). Not only is the action of the guard immoral, but how the author portrays his activity shows that his morals are unsubstantial. The guard has witnessed one on one how the war has progressed. The effects of this are harmful to the human mind. His morals have slowly changed to

The author of the story introduces a young girl named Rachel who was diagnosed with Leukemia, a cancer of the blood. She immediately starts chemotherapy in hopes of surviving this deadly disease but is soon faced with the harsh reality that she will soon die. Rachel made the hard choice to stop treatment and let her body run its course. “By the way, when someone stops cancer treatment and you point out that this is a decision to die, everyone freaks out at you”(Andrews 244). Rachel’s choice to allow death is a choice that the audience can’t begin to understand. Rachel chose this because she wants to be able to live the last of her time on earth to the fullest. This choice has a tremendous impact on the other characters because they are faced with the reality that they will have to live without her. This choice makes us sympathize with the character because we can only imagine what she is going through and how hard living with treatment