Evil drives certain people to the extent of committing awful crimes. What leads these individuals to do such things? One is not born good or bad. It is not in one's genes to murder. It is the environment which a person is surrounded by that influences character. A child who is raised in an abusive, dangerous environment is likely to be influenced by this. Take the same child at birth and put him/her in a loving, nurturing environment. What happens? The child grows to understand the importance of goodness. However, this change can occur much later. In fact, a grown man is capable of confronting evil. It is a matter of choice and circumstance. Will he be able to overcome evil-- or will he fall into the trap of wickedness, illustrated in Conrad's novella, Heart of Darkness. This novella informs the reader that every man has the potential to be led to darkness and evil.
While you may be sitting there, in the comfort of your swivel chair and fleece robe, thinking that you are an all around good person--I will not doubt it. What I do most definitely doubt is that you are incapable of surrendering to evil. Until you have watched evil stare you in the eyes and have been able to walk away from it, I will not lessen my belief. You most definitely could be the next savage to stick some heads on some stakes. No offense.
You're still not convinced? Mr. Kurtz was not an evil individual upon entering the Congo. He was talked about as holding great promise. A fiancee awaited his return at home. After his death, he was described positively by many people for different reasons. Although these descriptions did not necessarily match up, it was true that he was viewed positively by many. Only after spending an extended period of time in the heart of darkness, through traveling deeper and deeper into these depths, did Kurtz become affected. Marlow, on the other hand, was able to glance into darkness, come close enough to touching it, and then turn away. If Marlow was not able to escape his position he may have met a similar fate as Kurtz.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
After reading Lord of the Flies in my freshman year english class, we had to write a major paper on the nature of good and evil, whether or not we were born good and were capable of being evil, or born evil, and were trained to be good. Of course we could not chose to stand in the middle, so we had to pick one side. If we were able to stand undecided, however, I would have said something very similar to this. I don't think there is any certain amount of good or evil in a human being, but that they evolve and are molded from their experiences and the environment around them. Kurtz and Marlow make good examples, for if this level of good and evil in a person was preset when they were born, these two men wouldn't have had to make this journey to find who they truly are.
Post a Comment