Morality in Graham Greene's "I Spy"

Task: Does William Golding present a realistic portrayal of how savage humankind can be? Or does he underestimate the goodness in people? Does Golding’s use of WWII as the backdrop have a significant impact on our understanding of human nature?

Totalitarian governments, by their very nature demand control over the people, encompassing all aspects of their lives, and through the use of surveillance, this control is maintained. Through the works of Anthony Burgess in A Clockwork Orange, Tom Rob Smith in Child 44, and George Orwell in 1984, these authors take a closer look into the necessity of surveillance in the survival of any totalitarian government. To begin with, the motivation for using surveillance over the people stems from the concept of power, maintaining the power of the state is the ultimate goal, and as long as the state is maintained, any measure taken is worth it. In addition, through the use of surveillance, governments create an environment where the family unit itself is broken down, and society drifts towards one devoid of trust, encouraging people to turn on one another in the name of the state. Finally, the use of surveillance allows the government to form the next generations, molding their ideal nation, into one where the truth of the government is absolute, and any thought of revolution is crushed. Through the use of surveillance, totalitarian governments create an environment where secrets and privacy no longer exist, and the state is the dominant and absolute power, at the expense of the people

or sold so they can be used to do someone else’s hard work. These children never chose

I believe that human beings are basically good. When they are first born and grow up as babies and toddlers, humans are innocent. However, with the effects of outside experiences and social expectations, human beings can be prone to evil. Humans want to be recognized within society and this can be seen in the movie, “The Talented Mr. Ripley”. Due to the social environment that Tom Ripley lives in, he feels the need to fit in and be wealthy like the people around him. This causes him to seek for ways, whether the action is moral or immoral, to attain a higher social status.

At its core, is mankind essentially good, or does it use law and order to mask its evil? Through his book The Lord of the Flies, William Golding causes questions concerning the ethicality of humanity to rise to the surface of the mind. The stripping away of distractions and structure he depicts in his all-too-real novel reveals society’s true nature. As a reader studies the settings, characters and plots of Lord of the Flies and how they relate to significant events in recent times, Golding’s message of the evil nature of humanity becomes increasingly clear and impactful.

Spies varied from normal people on the streets to a party members own child. If the television or thought crime did not catch unwilling party members, their own children or spies certainly did. Quote. In the book, Winston’s neighbor Mr. Parsons was caught by the thought police. Mr. Parsons’s own children had exposed him to the thought police. This was a sign that the party had so much power and control with surveillance that even your own child can expose you. The spies in 1984 can be linked to other cell mates in the panopticon. Cell mates have a clear view of every other cell mate which led to many watchful eyes that were ready to expose one another for the hope of a reduced sentence. It shows the constriction that the party had on party members, suffocating every last gasp of freedom out of them. The number one thing in life is family and for the party to turn that into nothing shows the power and the effectiveness the surveillance

In 1914-1919, the assassination of Franz Ferdinand was the cause of World War One, resulting in conflicts between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. In the Great War, No Man’s Land was a dividing field from the opposing trenches located in France. Soldiers were forced to cross the land to push forward their side of the battle, to either take control or defend the territory. Gas was often used in the trenches to wipe out large groups of soldiers at a time. During the battle, soldiers would come across harsh conditions such as disease, treacherous terrain, and the passing of men. Soldiers sent into war experienced hard decisions and tragedies which can change their mentality. In the story, The Wars Timothy Findley develops the idea that when an individual faces dilemmas in life, one’s innocence can vary due to a person’s human nature.

Essentially as human beings, our right to think, act, and speak to our own accord and freedoms comes naturally—allowing us to express individuality, regardless of social class, race, and our gender identity. Privacy creates individuality because it shields the human mind from judgement and prejudice from other opposing individuals. By maintaining confidentiality, Aloneness allows the mind to wander, and expand the train of thought to great heights. However, if almost everything we do can be documented and examined by even the most divided of strangers, the true question is: are we ever really alone? And if not, are we ever able to be individuals to our full potential? Mass surveillance victimizes the innocent and limits them from their right to freedom. George Orwell, in his book 1984, expands on this vividly as he animates a world where the surveillance of Big Brother demoralizes humans, forcing them to become puppets under government control. 1984 warns future generations of the effects of government control, and bring awareness to the issue, proving

After World War II countries were in shambles, overran with fear that was fueled by the abundance of hate and violence that stemmed from Germany. The plentiful amounts of evil William Golding was witnessing drove him to write Lord of the Flies. Form this, we can conclude that aspects of his story are an allegory to what Golding observed throughout the war. In his story, William Golding expresses the importance of a civilization’s nature to be ethically correct and explains that without the precise guidance, the natural savageness of humans can prevent society from thriving. Golding’s statement is correct because without society’s moral compass humans would revert to their savage nature, pray on the weak, and would be driven toward aggression.

In Document E, a German propaganda poster is shown displaying an octopus like creature representing Britain wrapping its tentacles around the world. The poster is labeled with “England is the bloodsucker of the world”. Also, an American propaganda poster is depicted by a man with red hair who has just thrown down a newspaper article with the headline, “HUNS KILL WOMEN AND CHILDREN”. Propaganda is information with biased nature presented to the public. By demonizing the Germans as devils who “KILL WOMEN AND CHILDREN” it forces the emotion of hate and the urge for the protection of the women and children. Also with the Germans, by portraying the British as “bloodsucker[s] of the world” if plays on Germany’s fear of closeness as they are surrounded by the Allied powers hence the Central power. Similar to this, in “All Quiet On the Western Front” by Erich Remarque, a German World War I veteran who started writing after suffering from PTSD, the main character Paul Baumer, a German soldier, has just killed a French soldier in a artillery crater. Paul is obviously conflicted with his actions for he says, “...But you were only an idea to me before, an abstraction that lived in my mind and called forth its appropriate response. It was that abstraction I stabbed. But now, for the first time, I see you are a man like me. Why do they never tell us that you

America’s first spy ring, better known as the Cupler ring, was Washington’s carefully thought out solution to gain intelligence on the overpowering British troops. The revolution was happening; there was no turning back and no denying that America was going to gain independence from Great Britain. Washington needed a plan, a way to foresee what the British planned to do next. Washington’s only solution was to resort to spying.

Although humankind attempts its best at preventing evil actions, eventually evil rises above all else. While humans are living ordinary lives and living in ignorance, evil is always scheming and waiting to slide up behind the turned backs of society as depicted in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. One could argue that this is not the case and that good deeds always overshadow evil and that evil is just an occasional blip. However, what one’s opinion of society does not outshine the cold hard facts of humankind’s natural tendencies; specifically, how things are never as they seem, how easily humans can betray their emotions and how humans choose to ignore difficult situations in the search for an easy

In The Reader, Hanna Schmitz is a representative figure whose capacity for moral judgement is much influenced by her illiteracy. Hanna has a great secret that she would risk her life to hide--her illiteracy, which she tries to hide by continuously switching jobs. One of her jobs is a concentration camp guard, which is considered to be an immoral and unethical position except in the Nazis’s biased perspective. Another considerably immoral behavior is her controversial sexual relationship with Michael, a young teenager who is weak and vulnerable. However, Hanna’s behavior has changed after she learns how to read because she understands what is considered to be right and wrong. Schlink presents the direct relationship between literacy and morality through Hanna’s story.

In order to fully understand how Britain’s decision to go to war against Germany is best explained one must engage into the debate revolving around the question of the extent to which Britain and other countries were responsible for causing war. This helps explain the intention Britain had for war which is vital in understanding their decision making process to cause war in the first place. Some schools of thought have come to the conclusion that it was everybody or nobody- the continent “slithered over the brink into the boiling cauldron of war without any trace of apprehension or dismay.”1 That analysis will be considered in this essay as will the widespread thesis that it was Germany’s aggression which not only created the preconditions for war, but also triggered Britain into war with the political imbalance of power being created from the growing naval and colonial expansion of Germany. Other factors that help explain why Britain went to war against Germany

The concept of human nature has been questioned numerous times throughout history. Debates on the issue have come and gone, but the underlying question still remains on the mind of societies across the globe: Are humans generally filled with an innate sense of goodness and light or are we debase creatures at heart continuously tainted with the stains of vice? Though some texts in literature would prefer to prattle on about the exclusive and rewarding wonders that being a human provides, others tend to focus on humanity’s capacity for corruption and blatant savagery. The texts Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift, and an A Satire against Reason and Mankind by Rochester are quick to showcase the corruption that plagues the English human nature while displaying society’s role in masking this corruption with a perpetuating sense of nationalism and egotism.