In Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil Hannah Arendt uses the word “banal” as meaning pervasive or normal instead of dull and unoriginal. While she does not directly provide an explicit definition of banal, she implies it through her descriptions of Adolf Eichmann. Based on his lack of motive and reasoning of simply following commands, he is thought to be an example of how casually evil becomes perpetuated in society (how it permeates it) when individuals refuse to acknowledge and challenge it. Banality is then given a negative connotation as it is associated with the creation and perpetration of malevolence.
William Cheng expands on this concept that banality is a method of enabling the development of cruel ideologies through his description of Michael David Dunn’s letters to his family from prison. In the Jordan Russell Davis chapter of Loving Music Till It Hurts, Dunn’s letters are littered with racist implications such as “they all act like thugs” (p.209) or “sounds like he has marbles in his mouth” (p.208) when referring to black inmates. Cheng states that “Dunn’s racism bubbled to the surface in fits and starts一pervasive yet casual, blatant yet banal” (p.209). Dunn does not see how the language he uses is racist and has even attempted to label himself as “colorblind” and “non-racist.” He had never thought to change the language he used to describe black youth or culture until his trial. When he is challenged, a disruption of the banality of racism is disrupted.
Works Cited
Arendt, Hannah. Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. Penguin Books, 2006.
Cheng, William. “Jordan Russell Davis.” Oxford University Press, Oxford University Press, New York, NY, 2020, pp. 173–226.
