Mistry's Such a Long Journey: the Struggle Within Essay

Good v. Evil, it’s way more than just a concept, it’s more of a lifelong struggle inside of you. What more could you do when evil is shown all around you? Many of us may see the struggle between good and evil in the people we come across everyday. Flawed individuals may be perceived as good but are bad in the eyes of someone else; it all comes down to how you see it. The exposure to things and memories you make help impact the good in you. In order to further evaluate the argument of how good can come out of evil and good can show up even when it’s not right in front of you, can be shown in both William Golding’s novel Lord of the flies and the Anonymous Anglo-Saxon poem of Beowulf. This essay asserts that,

Good and evil have existed since the beginning of mankind. Good defends the righteous, as evil has been bent on destruction. In today’s society, many people believe that good will always triumph over evil. The murderer will eventually be caught by the police; the carjacker will one day meet his doom; the superhero will defeat the evil villain. Simply, in some circumstances, this is not entirely true. Good does not always prevail over evil. This is exceptionally true in the movie No Country for Old Men by the Coen brothers. The dominant theme in the Coen brother’s movie is evil.

Most stories, movies, and myths have the simple archetype of Good vs. Evil. This particular archetype can often be confusing, because in stories the reader is often lead to believe that something or someone represents good or evil, but it does not. More often than not the evil character is either crazy or was raised wrongly. Evil characters in Good vs. Evil stories are often not truly evil but either mental unstable or not taught right from wrong.

Robert Louis Stevenson’s Novella “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, good vs. evil is the biggest theme. This story is seen as a metaphor about the good and evil in everyone, and the struggle of the two sides in everyone’s personality. Since Hyde starts to take over, I could argue that evil is stronger than good. But, Mr. Hyde ends up dying in the end of the story, so I could claim that the good of someone can overcome the evil in you. Overall, Stevenson is trying to communicate with the reader about the balance of good and evil in humans, also that your balance of good and evil has different results/effects in your life.

Whether you are arguing with your siblings, with a stranger at a baseball game, during a debate, with your parents or children, you are fighting for what you believe is right. You perceive yourself as the “victim” in the situation by trying to justify your reasoning behind the argument. Some people may perceive you as the good or as the evil because they believe that you have done nothing wrong, you were being perverse or fighting for the wrong reason. The epic poem Beowulf, is a super-eminent literary example that represents the good and evil in the characters and what they are fighting for. In this fictional poem, in which the author is unknown, the protagonist Beowulf encounters three major battles with a monster named Grendel, Grendel’s Mother, and a dragon. Each character is fighting for a certain reason and believe their reason is more dominant. The two audiences that view the characters as good or evil is the Danes and the narrator. Since the characters in the poem believe they're justified in their actions, they prove to not be all evil or all good. In fact, they should be judged based on the rationale behind their actions to fight.

Good versus Evil is an important concept. Evil sometimes overcomes our good but never exceeds good. The difference between evil and good is that good is an ability to have empathy and compassion towards other people. Evil is people who are selfish, self-absorbed and don’t have empathy towards others. Literature plays a vital role in developing concepts of good and evil and effectively portrays the morals of its time period. In the novels Dracula and The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the authors explore the human nature of good and evil in men from different perspectives of Dracula, Mr. Hyde and Dr. Jekyll.

In the Novel “Something Wicked This Way Comes” by Ray Bradbury, the characters support the Universal Theme of “Good Vs Evil”. The characters are divided into two groups; those who act morally right and are good-hearted, and those who just do not seem to have any sense of empathy and are blinded by selfishness and greed and choose to do harm for no other reason than the thrill of it. The protagonists face a series of battles with themselves and their sense of who they are, as well as against the evil forces. This evilness is reflected on the carnival freaks who constantly use fear and manipulation as a weapon to make all people egotistical and greedy, whereas our good characters utilize laughter, love and friendship to defeat the evil that is acting upon them.

What do your neighbors, your coworkers, your family all have in common? A powerful evil that lays deep within all humans, only to be released under the most heinous circumstances. This fact is clearly articulated in the works of world renowned authors Shakespeare and William Golding in their novels Macbeth and Lord of the Flies. Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth and Golding's Jack share many similar qualities in their path to success proving that if good people who begin with positive intentions become provoked by the lust for power, then ambition can get in the way of their moral compass and capability for making good decisions because of the evil which lays inside all mankind.

There are a lot of good in the world, but there may also be a lot of evil that exists. This story written by Rudolfo Anaya discusses about a young man and an elderly lady attempting to end the battle amongst good and evil that is happening through their town during World War II. In the novel Bless Me, Ultima Anaya uses characters to explore the true meanings of good and evil by comparing those that believe and those who don’t believe, death of Lupito and Narciso, and including characters that are both good and bad.

“Personal honor is the one thing valued more than life itself by the majority of men” (McPherson 77). The reoccurring theme of brotherhood in the story plays a major role as to why a soldier has come to war and why he performs on the battlefield. Brotherhood would be the best explanation for a soldier’s fight to protect one’s self and his comrades.

THEME: The line between good and evil is sometimes unclear, and as a result, people often think that they are doing the right thing when it is actually the wrong action, and vice versa.

For countless generations, a single aspect of life has been the center of major controversy and dispute among many and may never eventually be settled. The question remains: good or evil? This one inquiry has led to a variety of religions and cultures, as well as a great divide among the entire human civilization. However, in many circumstances which are shown in many novels and movies, good always conquers. In Something Wicked This Way Comes, Bradbury proposes the idea that good always prevails over evil by utilizing the characters as examples of vice and virtue, providing a reason as to how evil could influence one’s actions, and introducing the idea that one could outweigh the obstacles of immorality with the power of integrity.

Evil and Good are two opposite entities. Similar to Ying and Yang, evil and good are often cohesive and usually alternate within one's choices in a person's life. Evil and good exist in every human being and everyone is given free will to choose their option. Evil is the action of someone to cause harm to others maliciously while good is performing an action for the benefit of someone else without harmful intent. A major cause of evil is immoral temptation, which the main characters of The Devil and Miss Prym, The Crucible and Ethan Frome experience with the archetype the temptress; The temptress encompasses all three stories as the protagonists weave their way through troubling vices such as infidelity or greed which may ruin their life as

turn out to be evil, evil things may seem to be good; just like some

Throughout many works of literature, a prominent theme has been “Good vs. Evil';. Many authors base the plot of their novels around “good guys'; fighting the “villain';.Robert Louis Stevenson contrasts good and evil through many of the characters thathe creates.