Literature
The Devil Within Us
CevvelaLiterature
The Devil Within Us
Sabahattin Ali · Yapı Kredi Yayınları · 1940
7
Cevvela Score
7.8 (1.054 oy)
Reader Score
Summary
A shattering psychological and social novel that, through the love of Ömer and Macide, depicts the hypocrisy of the so-called intellectuals of the time, their lack of will, and the excuse of “the devil within us” that people invent to cover their own cowardice.
Quotes from Cevvela
“The devil within us is a not very clever way of escape. The real devil is our own lack of will.”
“More contemptible than the one who does evil is the one who stays silent before it and finds excuses for it.”
“A person loses their grip on reality most completely at the moment they believe their own lies.”
“Whoever is afraid to use their will always becomes the slave of others.”
“You cannot expect someone who deceives themselves to be honest with others.”
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Reader Score: 7.8 / 10(1.054 votes)
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Sabahattin Ali tears to shreds the pitiful mask of those who run from their own responsibility. The Cevvela manifesto says: we see integrity not as a preference but as a matter of character. Ömer, by contrast, is the typical modern person whose character has worn away, trying to excuse his lack of will, his cowardice and his moral collapse by saying “the devil within me made me do it.” The book throws in our faces that the enemy is neither outside nor some mystical devil; the real devil is the timid part of us that flees responsibility. You become ashamed of the fate, luck or “devil” excuses you invent for your own mistakes. A person without character always looks for evil outside.