Violence in

Literature: An
Evolutionary
Perspective
* Joseph Carroll
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 “Murder gives us an X-ray of the inner core of human
nature. It lays bare the things that matter most to
humans everywhere - the necessities of survival, the
attainment of status, the defense of honor, the
acquisition of desirable partners, the loyalty of our
lovers, the bounding of our allies, the vanquishing of
our enemies, the protection of our children, and the
successes of the carriers of our genetic cargo. These
are the things that we humans and our astonishingly
victorious ancestors have always been willing to kill
and die for.”
Qtd. in Carroll
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33
 A working
definition:
❖ “Violence is the flash point at which the tensions
aroused by conflicting interests reach a critical mass”
(Carroll 33);
❖ “Violence reveals the underlying structures of human
motives and passions” (Carroll 33).
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 The
Situation
What do you think the rhetorical
situation for this piece is?

What is the occasion that the author is

writing about?

Hint: Sometimes we can find the

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author’s point very directly stated in

their work.
Photo by Gaby Baldiskaite on Unsplash
 Have we cancelled the urge for
violence in our own evolution?
Let’s look at language…

“Humans have uniquely large brains… vastly more complex that

those of any other species. Those human peculiarities have not
cancelled the constraining force of evolved primate dispositions,
but they have altered the way those dispositions manifest
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themselves in human behavior and human experience” (Carroll

34).
 So, what
shapes the
way violence
manifests?
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 Not your average animal…
Carroll claims that humans, and
human culture, are much different
from other animal species and their
culture.
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“Only humans use signals to
communicate and enforce social
‘norms’... human culture embodies
‘the morality of a social group,’ that
is, ‘rules of behavior’ that are
communicated through ‘rituals’”
(Carroll 24).
 So…
Because, as humans, our culture is shaped
by the values and morality of the social
group… culture shapes and evolves with
time.

Remember: we cannot cancel out violence,

but the ways it is displayed alters based on
the way our dispositions evolve and
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manifest. Photo by Syed Hussaini on Unsplash

 Violence
in
Literatur
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 What literature
can do!
“Epics, novels, stories,
plays, and poems
sometimes affirm
cultural norms but also
sometimes resist those
norms” (Carroll 35).
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 The importance of
literature
“The arts influence behavior not only by transmitting
culturally specific codes of conduct but also by influencing
the way people perceive the world and their own
experiences” (Carroll 35).

Can you think of an example from a movie or a

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text you’ve read?

 Reading as a “social
interaction”
When you read, you are invited into a social interaction between
the story’s characters and the author - a social interaction based
on emotional responses and sharing the author’s feelings and
judgments (Carroll 35).
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 Locating
Meaning
It is through your social
interaction with characters
and authors that you can
decipher meaning from a text
(Carroll 35).
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 A quick breakdown
Grimms’ - “Little Red Riding Angela Carter - “The
Hood” Werewolf” Shakespeare - King Lear

-Captures children’s attention to -”Does not invite simple -Complexity of violence: Shows
identify with its protagonist emotional involvement in the various ways in which violence can
trials and tribulations of the be committed and violate social
- You need to understand how
protagonist” (Carroll 40) morality
this story affects children to
understand the meaning behind
-If readers are clued in enough, -How does this help? Tragedy in
it
they are invited to “feel this play helps “humans organize
-How does Carroll say symbolic indignation at injustice and motives and emotions and, thus,
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meaning in this tale affects wanton cruelty” (Carroll 40). direct behavior in adaptively
children? functional ways.
 Does the
violence in
these texts
have any
significance?
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 “Violence in literature has no inherent…
significance. Violence can be heroic,
triumphant, cruel, vicious, or futile and
ineffectual. The value attached to any
particular instance of violence derives
from occasions and circumstances, the
motives of characters, the author’s
attitude… [and] general outlook on life,
and the response of the readers” (Carroll
36).
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 What about in fairy tales?
The evolution of fairy tales, and violence within them, “function
chiefly by transmitting practical information on such adaptively
important matters as resource acquisition, predator avoidance, and
social interaction” (Carroll 38).

***Think about the Sleeping Beauty tales you read earlier this week.
You were to create a choral reading that highlighted this “practical
information on” an important matter. What did you gain from the
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tales?
 Children’s
needs…
Fairy tales need to arouse a child’s curiosity,
but also enrich their life and stimulate their
imagination; help them “to develop [their]
intellect and to clarify [their] emotions; be
attuned to [their] anxieties and aspirations;
give full recognition to [their] difficulties;
while at the same time suggesting solutions
to the problems”(Carroll 38).
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Photo by Gaby Baldiskaite on Unsplash

 “The story elicits
fear in the child and
then relieves that
fear, returning the
child to emotional
equilibrium.”
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Carroll 39
 For these texts to be successful, violence
has to be an expression to emotional stress,
“and the consequences of violence,
practical and emotional, are carried through
to their necessary conclusions” (Carroll
44).

They must also “provide a sense of

meaning and purpose to behavior” (Carroll
45).
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 Lastly…
Humans “give meaning to violence
now, [and can,] as always, be traced
back to the core concerns of human
life” (Carroll 48).
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Literature tends to reach down below
the surface of traditional beliefs and
“evoke passions embedded in…
human nature. Violence is not
absolutely indispensable for evoking
those passions,” but many works
classified as classics contain lethal
violence (think of King Lear). Thus
“violence can serve as a touchstone
for evaluating literature” (Carroll 48-
49).