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

such as a lack of civility, structure, and order; therefore, they will always succumb to their savage instincts once released from pre-determined cultural expectations.
To begin, the boys are not bad; their surroundings shaped them to be evil.

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

one.

Connection to Brave New World
The theme “the dangers of an All-Powerful State” is seen in Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. This relates to Lord of the Flies as Jack is the Mustapha Mond of his world. When he is finally driven to kill the pigs he exerts his all-powerful position.

The boys’ fears and paranoia unmasked their natural evil. Children are easily frightened as they are naive: “I was asleep when the twisty things were fighting and when they went away I was awake and, I saw something big and horrid moving in the trees." (page 85) Ralph tries to comfort the child by telling him it is simply a nightmare, but the littlun could not believe that. The boys’ irrational fear of the Beast became paranoia and lead to the fatal split of Jack and Ralph’s tribes. This fear prevents the boys from recognizing their own impulses because they are convinced that they are protecting themselves. Piggy has no savage feelings as he does not think there is a Beast, whereas Roger is sadistic and cannot understand civilization because he is afraid of the Beast.

Connections to the Real World:
Philosopher Adam Smith argued that when someone does something that causes another pain, that someone feels the pain; for this reason, people do not like hurting others. Similarly, people enjoy making others happy and feel fulfilled while volunteering. Philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau felt that “people were born good and cared for the well-being of others. Lord of the Flies could be a lighter book if it portrayed these philosophies.

Everyone is secretly wicked, but they conceal it; people unveil their natural self when they are provoked by social extremes. Societal expectations restrain peoples’ darkness. Initially, Roger purposely missed when aiming to hit one of the littluns as he was conditioned at school and at home: “Roger gathered a handful of stones and began to throw them. Yet there was a space round Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter, into which he dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong was the taboo of the old life. (page 62)” Further in the book, Roger shows he is sadistic as he does not restrain himself and hurts the other boys on the island.

Analysis: Likewise, Jack initially could not kill the pig because of the morals that were ingrained in him. Later on, Jack goes on a pig killing spree. The boys come from a prep school, so they are habituated to structure and being disciplined. The situation eliminates Jack and the boys’ human virtues. Ralph and Piggy demand for the return of Piggy’s glasses because “it’s the right thing to do.” They went from righteous boys to murderers. Moral behaviour is forced by civilization on individuals rather than the natural human expression.

Connections to Othello:
Iago wants to kill Othello, but he knows that that is not virtuous and would ruin his reputation, so he created an elaborate plan. Similarly, Jack is jealous of Ralph because Ralph is the chief, so Jack wants to kill him later on. The littluns were about to kill Ralph, but once the Naval Officer showed up they could not. In both situations, the antagonists and their minions were concerned about social implications.

The boys were alone on the island, so their dark hearts were revealed.
Simon imagines the Beast speaking to him:“There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast. . . . Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! . . . You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are the way they are? There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast. . . .” (page 158) The Beast taunts Simon using the boys’ slang, which makes the Beast appear even more grotesque and hideous to Simon. Simon is the first character to see the Beast as an internal force instead of an external one. Since the Beast is internal, it is incapable of being defeated with violence. When left on their own, people naturally revert to cruelty, savagery, and barbarism. The instinct of savagery is more primal and fundamental to the human psyche than the instinct of civilization. Golding shows how different characters feel the influences of civilization and savagery.
Connections to the Real World
In 1972, there was a plane crash in the Andes. People were desperate for survival, so they reverted to cannibalism. “Each of us came to our own decision in our own time,” Roberto Canessa says “And once we had done so, it was irreversible… It was our final goodbye to innocence.” In survival situations, can one decide what is right and what is wrong? Survival instincts kick in and are culturally viewed as barbarian and savage. The people involved are left torn and confused wondering “whether [they] were going mad even to contemplate such a thing. Had [they] turned into brute savages? Or was this the only sane thing to do? Truly, [they] were pushing the limits of [their own] fear.” The children face the same situation, where the need to survive presents life-shattering controversies.

Further Connections to the Real World
Philosopher Thomas Hobbes believes that humans are evil.

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

others in their position. On the other hand, there are mothers and fathers who love and care for their children and want the best for them, but there are also bad parents who abuse their kid out of narcissism. While writing this essay, I came to terms with myself where I sit on the spectrum of whether people are inherently good or bad: I have come to the conclusion that people are evil.