The Gentle Rain Analysis

The law exists to protect the people and their rights. Laws are also made to provide security to the people, but what happens when that same law grants you the right to kill? The same law that protects can also become your enemy that plays with human morality. In today’s society, we can clearly see the laws affecting and changing human morality regarding the killing of other human beings in war. In the story, The Gentle Rain, the story evolves a pilot who claimed he had the right to kill because he was a soldier at war. He felt inferior to the others because of this. As he flew over a town that was labeled an enemy, his ego altered. He even compared himself to God. He had the ability to either be merciless and kill anyone at sight, or have compassion and have spare lives. The pilot felt that he was doing nothing wrong when feeling superior to others. To him, he was just a soldier following orders.

Why does the law grant the right to kill in some circumstances? Ervin Staub discussed the roots of evil as actions that have consequences. He makes a statement that humanity lives by the morality that in order to create a better world, one must have to do certain doings that are not

necessarily considered humane to attain a better future. At war, it is the government's duty to order and for soldiers to follow that order. “But any group of violence has evil potential.” (Staub) To beat violence, one must beat it by using harsher violence. This is the basic moral of war. Is there any difference? No. Violence is violence, and this is the reason why many people oppose war. “The perpetrators’ own insecurity and suffering cause them to turn against others and begin a process of increasing destructiveness.” (Staub) This relates back to the story, The Gentle Rain. The soldier gained the high ego that he could decide the fates of others because he belonged to a group that supported the actions he was committing. The story never really expresses the character as an individual, but just as a soldier who was part of a larger community that followed the same orders as himself. When facing war, soldiers face many insecurities, such as facing enemies. Many soldiers become traumatized by this insecurity, and turn to violence to protect themselves without knowing the harms they are causing. The pilot from the story had insecurities with his role. He came to the conclusion that in order to gain security, he must complete certain tasks, in which might include the killing of innocent people.
The soldier given the grant to kill by the law will blindly follow orders.

This is because of the fear in oneself. War imposes a lot of fear, and anyone would become protective of oneself if their life was in the line. In this circumstance, much of individual morality is lost, and one becomes part of a crowd. The soldier was just a member of something grand. A force so powerful, that it is able to erase individual morality for the sake of security.

The story The Gentle Rain, ended by the pilot finding out that he indeed did spare the lives of the townspeople by burning the crops, but finding out that he infact had killed. Most of the children were hidden in the fields and had died. According to Nietzsche, there are two types of morality, slave and master. The slave is described as

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