The smoke billows into the sky, the plumes staining the clear blue backdrop a sickening, lingering grey. You hear the stories of the polar bears’ shrinking land while the scent of gasoline burns your nose as a constant reminder of the impact us humans are having on our helpless planet. You stumble over the garbage strewn over the ground with cars horns blaring in your ears and cement beasts towering over you, blocking out the sunlight and suffocating you. Not only does the setting disgust you, but the behavior of the ones responsible for it is repulsive. To me, the Griffin’s opinion on human nature in The Griffin and the Minor Canon by Frank R. Stockton is spot on. And no, it’s not a good one.

                The Griffin’s opinion on our behavior is exactly right. He thinks we’re greedy, ignorant creatures. And he’s dead right. On page 142, he says, “I have had a very low opinion about you ever since I discovered what cowards you are, but I had no idea that you were so ungrateful, selfish, and cruel as I now find you to be.” The Griffin thinks that people care for no one but themselves, and in most cases, that’s painfully true. As embarassing as it is, the first concerns that go through any person’s mind are about the well being of themselves. On page 143, he says, “There were only two good things in this town: the Minor Canon and the stone image of myself over your church door. One of these you have sent away, and the other I shall carry away myself.” The Minor Canon bends over backwards for the people of the town, and they take him for granted and even take advantage of him. I could never admire an opinion about human nature as much as I admire the Griffin’s.

The Griffin is by far my favorite character in The Griffin and the Minor Canon, mainly because of how insightful he is. He sees how shameful our behavior is – which only someone from another species could point out, as we’re too ignorant to take a step back and see for ourselves what we’re doing to the people and world around us. We destroy the planet, and think nothing of it until it starts to backfire. It’s well deserved if you ask me; we had it coming ever since…well, the beginning. Sure, the cavemen were harmless, but come on, they were half monkey. I’ve never seen a monkey liter. And don’t get me wrong, I’m guilty too. I think mine and the Griffin’s opinion of human nature go hand in hand – our ignorance to each other leads to our impact on the planet. And the sad thing is that we’re too far gone to clean up our act. But we’ll have wiped ourselves out of existence by time the blackhole that the sun will become swollows our whole solar system, so it’s okay.