POST IN PROGRESS!!!
-Current events, article from newspapers, magazines, blogs, etc., summarize AND REFLECT, movies, television shows, songs, best-selling books, u-tube videos, etc.
-Offer specific examples AND REFLECTS how they relate to my big question.
Current events - good deeds for community v war
Movies - (Reality movies? Or just usual Hollywood type movies?)
Songs - Gospel v Eminem
Books -
Friday, February 6, 2009
How do the books "East of Eden", "The Stranger", and "The Magus" relate to my BIG QUESTION, are humans inherintly good or evil?
East of Eden by John Steinbeck - (See paragraph in first post about my big question. More symbols and themes to follow, but I read it over the summer and my books begin to run together! :D )
The Stranger by Albert Camus - In the book The Stranger, the reader struggles in determining not whether the main character is good or evil, but whether he has a conscience! Does he have a moral compass that tell him what are and are not acceptable actions in life. And although this may seem to argue that humans are evil by nature, he is "the stranger", a mutant from the norm of society and the what most people are like. Also, if this poor man is born without a conscience (which I do not believe because by the end he begins to realize what a good life he had and how he would have began to live it had he not been sentenced to death) than that would not make him evil; a child born deaf does not make them rude when they don't answer you when you call to them.
(Notes and annotations in my composition book and novel will also help with elaborating more on this paragraph for the paper.)
The Magus by John Fowles - In the book The Magus, the end of the novel proves good intentions from the "teacher" Maurice Conchis, but a good intention may or may not justify the means; that would be the argument for this paragraph because his actions, and those he forces his actors to perform, are sometimes very controversial and cause the reader to ask if he is a morally good person under all his facades and lies. Also, it questions the morality (does morality = good?) of the actors and even of the main character Nicholas because of his reactions to what is happening to him and his decision at the end when he is finally asked to judge them for all his humiliation.
(And again, MANY MANY annotations in my novel about this question.)
(Thinking about adding Crime and Punishment instead of The Magus with obvious good v bad debates.)
The Stranger by Albert Camus - In the book The Stranger, the reader struggles in determining not whether the main character is good or evil, but whether he has a conscience! Does he have a moral compass that tell him what are and are not acceptable actions in life. And although this may seem to argue that humans are evil by nature, he is "the stranger", a mutant from the norm of society and the what most people are like. Also, if this poor man is born without a conscience (which I do not believe because by the end he begins to realize what a good life he had and how he would have began to live it had he not been sentenced to death) than that would not make him evil; a child born deaf does not make them rude when they don't answer you when you call to them.
(Notes and annotations in my composition book and novel will also help with elaborating more on this paragraph for the paper.)
The Magus by John Fowles - In the book The Magus, the end of the novel proves good intentions from the "teacher" Maurice Conchis, but a good intention may or may not justify the means; that would be the argument for this paragraph because his actions, and those he forces his actors to perform, are sometimes very controversial and cause the reader to ask if he is a morally good person under all his facades and lies. Also, it questions the morality (does morality = good?) of the actors and even of the main character Nicholas because of his reactions to what is happening to him and his decision at the end when he is finally asked to judge them for all his humiliation.
(And again, MANY MANY annotations in my novel about this question.)
(Thinking about adding Crime and Punishment instead of The Magus with obvious good v bad debates.)
Is humankind inherintly good or evil? - New Reflections
I can't remember when the first time is that I ever asked myself this question, if ever...actually, I can't recollect having ever wondered about it. It's an interesting question and one that I don't believe we as humans could ever come to a definite answer about, but I think my answer will always be the same. The battle between good and evil within our bodies is a great one, and I would like the chance, through literature, to prove that humans are neither. As I stated in my first post about the good and evil within us, I don't believe there can be a force of nature that forces us to be good or evil, but rather we all have a little of both...there is a large grey area that better describes the inherent nature of humans.
Ironically, through no pre-planning, most of the books I have read this year have dealt with the question of whether people are good or evil (East of Eden, The Stranger...twice, Crime and Punishment, The Magus, Oedipus Rex...) and I believe it's a huge question that many author's are simultaneously attempting to answer.
Ironically, through no pre-planning, most of the books I have read this year have dealt with the question of whether people are good or evil (East of Eden, The Stranger...twice, Crime and Punishment, The Magus, Oedipus Rex...) and I believe it's a huge question that many author's are simultaneously attempting to answer.
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