Analysis Of The Book ' The Good And Evil '

Good and Evil in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Story, The Possibility of Evil is a truly interesting story that demonstrates the evil of a community that seems almost perfect. This story demonstrates how there is probably no place on Earth that evil has not reached. The story bases itself on a small suburban town and the people that live there. The reader meets Miss Strangeworth who is a sweet little lady that smiles to everyone during the day and starts conversations, but by the time she gets home she starts writing letters revealing secrets and unpleasant facts of her neighbours and fellow townspeople and

The Power Of Good And Evil in Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man is Hard to Find

Flannery O’Connor shows her readers a realistic look at their own mortality in “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” The story is about a family of five, a father, mother, grandmother, and two children, starting out on a vacation to Florida from Georgia. The family, on their way to a routine vacation, takes a detour that will change their lives forever. Through the use of literary elements like symbolism and characterization, O’Connor creates a theme of good vs. evil, which can be felt throughout the story by tapping into the audience’s emotions.

John Cheever was an award winning American author of the twentieth century. His work often possessed 'psychological and religious vision' with central themes of 'sin, deception, and redemption' (Kennedy, 551). Cheever's short story entitled 'The Five-Forty-Eight' portrays a struggle of good vs. evil. Following the themes of sin, deception, and redemption, we read of a young woman (good) seeking revenge for the evil done to her. Through the course of the story the reader can distinguish between the traits of good and evil.

One of the oldest dilemmas in philosophy is also one of the greatest threats to Christian theology. The problem of evil simultaneously perplexes the world’s greatest minds and yet remains palpably close to the hearts of the most common people. If God is good, then why is there evil? The following essay describes the problem of evil in relation to God, examines Christian responses to the problem, and concludes the existence of God and the existence of evil are fully compatible.

In her 1945 article, Woman in the Nineteenth Century, Margaret Fuller illustrates a world in which “there exists in the minds of men a tone of feeling toward women as toward slaves”, and where men hold “the belief that Woman was made for Man”. Two books, Herman Melville’s Moby Dick and Woman in the Nineteenth Century, provide male and female perspective in the 19th century. These separate texts exemplify two sides of the same coin. On the one hand, Woman in the Nineteenth Century provides perspective of the feminine experience in a male dominated world while Moby Dick portrays a society from a male point of view and experiences woman as subservient to himself.

In Herman Melville’s mysterious novella, “Benito Cereno”, Captain Amasa Delano observes, what appears to be, a distressed Spanish slave ship navigating into the harbor of St. Maria. Disregarding the opposition from his crew, Captain Delano leaves his ship, Bachelor's Delight, and approaches the foreign vessel, San Dominick, via a whaleboat. In addition to offering water and provisions to the vessel in distress, Captain Delano encounters—who appears to be in command of the vessel—Don Benito Cereno, and his “faithful” negro servant Babo. Throughout the novella, Captain Delano witnesses many suspicious behaviors from Benito Cereno, Babo, and the other slaves on board. Although Captain Delano has mixed feelings about Benito Cereno, in which he often views him as a “paper captain” who has “little of command but the name”, Captain Delano fails to latch onto his intuition of who is truly in command of the ship until it’s almost too late.

The works of Herman Melville and Frederick Douglass are both centered on the topic of slavery. Although both texts are similar in the sense that they focus directly on the theme of slavery, the functions of each work differ drastically. The differences in the works stem from both the style of the text, and the way that this style functions in accordance with the reader. Although Herman Melville’s Benito Cereno is drawn from an actual event, Melville embellishes and alters the event in the style of prose. The prose style used by Melville invites the reader to question the story while understanding that the majority of the work is fictional. The confusion of Captain Delano is brought onto the reader, and therefore engages the reader because of the limited point of view the story is told in. Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass tells of actual events that occurred using twentieth and twenty-first century plain style. This style of writing does not ask the reader to question what he is saying, but feel his emotions as they read the narrative. Although readers may understand both works to be stories about slavery written differently in terms of style, I argue that the way the texts are written sets up the readers interpretation of them. Melville and Douglass differ because Melville’s work invites the reader to think, whereas Douglass’s work invites the reader to feel.

In his 2004 City Journal article, Theodore Dalrymple expresses his view on the tremendous decline in the quality of life in Great Britain. He believed that society has accepted the notion that people are not responsible for their own problems. Also, that it is the “moral cowardice of the intellectual and political elites” that perpetuates the social dynamics that are responsible for the continuing decline of British society. According to the author, a physician about to retire after a career treating criminal justice offenders and victims, there are several pervasive misconceptions that explain the continuing decline of British society.

Ghostly representations of “the other” imagine a social evil that has not been put to rest. These images reoccur in the Western canon, marking the persistence of slavery long after its abolition. Haunting, ghosts and skeletons in Benito Cereno act as a vehicle through which the suppressed return to the stage with a message. The ghosts carry with them all that the imperialists wanted to control, including emotions, and more precisely, the emotions of the oppressed. I argue that ghosts and skeletons comprise an area of tension in which the appearance of the “other” reveals that the dominant party’s control is incomplete. Yet, the presence is merely ghostly due to the constant policing and lack of respect for the Other. These ghosts also break through the boundaries of the dominant culture’s paradigms and identities (Harpham 17), signaling potential political crisis. This text signals the fear of the retaliation of the Other through ghostly representations by projecting on to the other, their own identities of brutality and irrationality. “Benito Cereno” by Herman Melville overturns the racist images of the colonized by relocating evil in the order of slavery. Hauntings carry the perspectives and powers of the slaves by preserving the dead amidst the living and the past amidst the present, they muddle up the concept of time and therefore defy the Western dream of complete control.

Although the message of Benito Cereno concerning the institution of slavery and racial equality is veiled. Melville does not accentuate Black people as violent by nature but attributes the violence in the story of the institution of slavery. In his personal correspondence he never made any references to slavery or the situation of Black people, or openly commented on this topic, but a consideration of Melville's life and literary oeuvre reveals that the author considered slavery to be a toxic poison negatively affecting both slave and master, and held a surprisingly egalitarian view of race relations. Melville was not blind to America's original sin. There is much material to be found about his family and surroundings, but little about his inward experience.

Recall: In “The Problem of Evil” James Rachel enumerates two major points: 1) Everyone feels pain and suffering at some points of their lives. 2) The arguments of philosophers with theistic views have flaws and does not fully explain why a loving God would permit evil. 3)

“Benito Cereno”, a novel written by Herman Melville, has been the topic of many debates since its publication. This novel is filled with so much symbolism that it makes it very difficult to get a clear and succinct analysis of the novel. As one reads this novel different themes and symbols become apparent. One such theme is good vs. evil. Melville utilizes color symbolism to signify that black was completely evil and white was pure good. The issue of good vs. evil is present throughout “Benito Cereno”, and can be seen through the actions of Captain Delano and the Blacks on board San Dominick. It is also seen through the writing of Herman Melville himself.

The biggest battles in history is, has been, and always will be between good and evil, but where does evil originate? Is it something inherited, or is it something learned? Anthony Burgess attempts to answer this question in his dystopian fiction, A Clockwork Orange. The novel, written during the Cold War, is a reflection of Burgess’s viewpoint on Communism and its overall impact on society. Burgess “was appalled at the degree to which the communist state controlled people's lives” (Galens). He felt that when “a man cannot choose he ceases to be a man” (Burgess 63). Throughout the novel, Burgess tried to decide whether or not it is better to be forced to be good or choose to be evil. A Clockwork Orange shows that humans are inherently evil, but they have the potential to change as demonstrated with diction, use of imagery, and character development.