John Steinbeck Good Vs Evil

Does good really exist or is it evil in disguise?

John Steinbeck, who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1962 "for his keen social perception" wrote in his novel East of Eden “We have only one story. All novels, all poetry, are built on the never-ending contest in ourselves of good and evil.” Steinbeck is saying that most of the conflicts in stories can be boiled down to good versus evil, the same is with Lord of the Flies by William Golding. People are innately good, nevertheless, their experiences can poison their hearts. People hide their darkness because they feel obligated to conform to the morals that are ingrained in them by their parents and teachers. Humans are inherently bad due to the fact they are conditioned by external influences

The boys’ evil is their internalization of the norms and ideals from their home, England, which thrives on war. Jack’s dominance is seen: “Power lay in the brown swell of his forearms: authority sat on his shoulder and chattered in his ear like an ape. “All sit down.”” (page 174) There was an atomic war between England and the Soviet Union during the book, which is why the boys’ plane crashed. Lord of the Flies is an allegory of World War 2, where Jack is Hitler, Piggy is Churchill, and Ralph represents democracy. The boy’s society is a political state, where the littluns are the common folk and the older boys are the ruling class and political leaders. The boys, especially Jack are nationalistic and have a militaristic mindset, just like the Naval Officer. They share the wartime impulses of the period. This is a classic case of “Monkey See Monkey Do.” Golding conveys that even a war for civilization can transform a once well organized, orderly and virtuous state into an uncivilized and crude

He describes the human condition in his book Leviathan by pinpointing basic human concepts and emphasizing why humans are corrupt. The concepts are: good and evil are based on what the person loves and hates, outside of society good and evil do not exist, neither do justices and injustices, so anyone has the right to do whatever benefits them, and individuals have the power to control others. These are parallel to what Golding tried to prove in Lord of the Flies.

Humans are innately bad as their conditions, experiences, and fears can corrupt them, nevertheless they abide by the rules of society; however, if they leave conformity, they will always choose to survive over following the cultural norms and standards. Humans are born with good hearts that can be darkened due to their government failing them or them failing themselves. The virtues that are engraved in people are shielding the world from sadistic psychopaths, like Jack and Roger, who, once isolated from society will break free from their prim and proper image. In a world, where there is at least one school shooting a month and there are terrorist attacks very often, some question whether the human heart is in the right place. Even though people donate their time and money to help others, they may also be doing it to make themselves feel good. There is also bullying, which happens because people are insecure and want to put