Life is a series of events controlled by awareness. Depending on what a person has or has not been exposed to influences his/her decisions. Whether good or bad depends on how one interprets the information presented. Throughout the stories “Young Goodman Brown” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne and “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” written by Ursula Le Guin, we tangle with the concepts of good or bad. With the aid of compelling imagery, symbols and metaphors, the stories are brought to life. Both stories depict good and evil, choices, morals and deception, in a way which could be related to our society today. It is safe to say that in some way, moral and immoral behavior exists in all of us, it just depends on which of the two awareness pricks
on. Young Goodman Brown believed that people had the potential to be purely good until he encountered his awakening. Though his journey was thought to be psychological it impacted his life. He changed from being ignorant to knowledgeable. Knowledge is power but surprisingly, it left “gloom” (Hawthorne 16) and a bitterness with Mr. Brown. He went from being a happy newly wed to a suspicious husband. Mankind is depicted as naturally sinful but we all have a choice between right and wrong. We either accept the norms or society or risk becoming an outcast based on our unconventional ideas and/or actions. The city of Omelas on the surface is beautifully depicted as a sort of utopia or fairy tale. But a fairy tale is not complete without its rough edges? Places or people where you are forewarned never to venture or interact with. Many enjoyed the pseudo purity, laughter and abundance except the one, who was paralyzed from unhappiness, deprivation and violence. Their happiness was maintained only through his unhappiness. There were some who walked away from the town carrying shame and guilt because of this, but not doing something about this child’s unhappiness is just as bad as participating in his unhappiness. They walk away because they do not wish to be the kind of people who profit from misery and suffering of another. They are different in a way because they own up to their sin, acknowledging they were wrong. The writer seems to imply some passive resistance.
Are humans naturally good, or evil? Many people argue both ways. It has been argued for centuries, and many authors have written about it. One example of this is Samuel Clemens's, more commonly known as Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The book follows a young boy, named Huckleberry, and a runaway slave, named Jim, as they both run away. Huck runs away to escape being civilized, while Jim runs away from slavery. Together, they talk about life, philosophy, and friends. As they travel down the Mississippi River, both Huck and Jim learn various life lessons. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck witnesses the depravity of human nature on his journey on the Mississippi River.
"Perhaps it would be best if you imagined it as your fancy bids, assuming it will rise to the occasion, for certainly I cannot suit you all." This is an open invitation for you, the reader, in the short story "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas." Ursula K. Le Guin is simply inviting you to become her main character. How might you accept or deny this malicious request? It is quite simple, really. To accept it is to read on, and to deny it is to disembark in the endeavor. The city of joy, your own Omelas, is developing continuously in your head. How sweet it is. The image of the bay surrounded by the mountains with Ursula's white-gold fire enchanting the air. Oh, and one cannot forget the tantalizing orgy custom fit to your most personal delights. Can you even begin to imagine the mere possibility of an association between religion and sexual pleasure without the possible deviance of human authority? It all seems nearly ovenvhelming. The fascination continues with every moment of lustful anticipation. One cannot deny their own perversion long enough to stop engaging in a plot that might encourage it. But there is a catch of course, for there is always a catch. This particular one is quite deviant really, for this city is a complete deception. It is a place of lamentation and punishment. It is a prison that simply provokes the archaic smiles described within the sentences. How best can one describe the goal of such a story? I believe I shall attempt to do so by describing the main character, you of course! You are presented with three stages and then you are given three questions. In the end, it will be your duty to determine the final event.
Is a utopia possible in a human society? The article, “Mimetic Desire and the scapegoat” by Brian Mcdonald describes how humans are intertwined with mimetic desire and scapegoats. Mcdonald gives an example of three children who display both of these features. The short story, “The Ones Who Walked Away From Omelas” by Ursula Le is about a town of which is considered happy and joyful, but at the cost and misery of one child. Then, there are those who leave and never come back to Omelas. Both of these stories are laced into one another. As humans a utopia or a perfect society cannot exist due to the reasons that define us as, “human.”
To begin, “On Morality'; is an essay of a woman who travels to Death Valley on an assignment arranged by The American Scholar. “I have been trying to think, because The American Scholar asked me to, in some abstract way about ‘morality,’ a word I distrust more every day….'; Her task is to generate a piece of work on morality, with which she succeeds notably. She is placed in an area where morality and stories run rampant. Several reports are about; each carried by a beer toting chitchat. More importantly, the region that she is in gains her mind; it allows her to see issues of morality as a certain mindset. The idea she provides says, as human beings, we cannot distinguish “what is ‘good’ and what is ‘evil’';. Morality has been so distorted by television and press that the definition within the human conscience is lost. This being the case, the only way to distinguish between good or bad is: all actions are sound as long as they do not hurt another person or persons. This is similar to a widely known essay called “Utilitarianism'; [Morality and the Good Life] by J.S. Mills with which he quotes “… actions are right in the proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.';
Most situations regarding moral rightness, such as those for preserving life and dignity, are very human and easily agreed upon within the environment in which they are born. Greg Koukl’s idea morality and evil is disguised by the sentiment that his ideas are also humanistic and easily agreed upon, but if one were to disagree, he claims it would do nothing more than “put a rock in [the] shoe” of the one who was in disagreement. Seeming to have no idea of sociological deviance, he presents that any deviant behavior away from his personal moral code, and those like it, is “evil” and in “aversion to God”. Even Koukl’s use of usually weak circular logic arguments are weakened by the constant contradictions to his own statements.
Many people have different views on the moral subject of good and evil or human nature. It is the contention of this paper that humans are born neutral, and if we are raised to be good, we will mature into good human beings. Once the element of evil is introduced into our minds, through socialization and the media, we then have the potential to do bad things. As a person grows up, they are ideally taught to be good and to do good things, but it is possible that the concept of evil can be presented to us. When this happens, we subconsciously choose whether or not to accept this evil. This where the theories of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke become interesting as both men differed in the way they believed human nature to be. Hobbes and Locke both picture a different scene when they express human nature.
At a time where the future has never looked brighter, it is baffling how some people have become more pessimistic than ever. Why do people who are faced with traumatizing situations always seem to focus on the negatives? Why is it that when people are faced with despair, they always seem to rely on how the situation looks repugnant? Science fiction stories have a tendence to show all these questioning thoughts. There are many key details in the science fiction short story book titled Masterpieces: The Best Science Fiction of the Twentieth Century that shows pessimism and has a negative tendency of expecting the worst from life and how people treat each other. This is certainly shown in the acts of communication, isolation, and hopelessness.
The human moral compass serves the purpose of regulating judgment and deciding what is morally and socially right and wrong. While Walter White’s moral compass originally guided him toward legitimacy and integrity throughout his teaching career, he is eventually forced into a business filled with danger and corruption due to the financial demands of his chemotherapy bills. Existentially, our moral compass can deteriorate and be altered to become an impressionable state of mind, which can be influenced through choices and consequences in life. At first, Walter White is a virtuous, credible man who earns his living to provide for his family. But White’s career takes off and steers his ethics away from honesty.
When anyone thinks of the word “evil” they do not think it is within themselves. In reality, without a structured and well-followed society, people are apt to follow their own corrupt desires and neglect the thought of consequence. In the allegory, Lord of the Flies, William Golding reveals that man’s selfishness and sinful nature will be unmasked when the structure of a society deteriorates.
The cruel nature and intentions of people can either hurt or harm individuals or it can bring about resilience and determination. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee revealed that humans often have other motives in life; some are born to be evil in nature, some are naturally innocent and then there are some that are born to protect the innocent. Lee utilized a variety of symbols and themes that correlated with each other and thus had the ability to create questions in the minds of the readers. Are humans calculatedly cruel or is there some moral good in each of us? The impiety of a few can create a movement, imprison the innocent or reveal the sincerity of others.
People in society strive to find happiness in ones self, others and their community. What factors are there to obtain ultimate happiness in one’s life? What ethical decisions does one have to overcome to obtain this supreme happiness that every individual endeavours? The citizens of Omelas have a difficult time achieving the goal of making the right ethical decision. In exchange for their ultimate happiness and success, is one child’s misery. In order to live their “perfect” lives the citizens of Omelas must accept the suffering of the child. To make the right ethical decision is difficult, but necessary to end the injustice of the society. Failing to overcome the ethical issues in the city of Omelas is displayed through three different characters in the story. There are those who choose to ignore the situation, those who observe the child in misery, and those who feel that they must walk away. In the story “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” characters fail to overcome the ethical issues in their society, and the reader is taught the importance of moral responsibility and the implications of the difficult task to make the right ethical decision.
Both “2BR02B” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr and “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula Le Guin, depict ideal utopian societies where the citizens live in peace and happiness. However, these societies have flaws that prove them to be unideal for life. Upon closer examination, one sees that these societies may function with a set social and class structure in mind, but also providing their citizens a scapegoat for their problems.
Looking closely into the way Flannery O’Connor and Nathanial Hawthorne portray good and evil through their characters in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and “Young Goodman Brown.” There are some shared items between the writing style of O’Conner and Hawthorne which include that themes are shared as they both revolve around everyone being guilty of something, that both the characters Goodman Brown and the Grandmother tried to find the good in bad at some point in the story. The characters go through different turn of events which leads to the realization that the world is not all good or bad, and that when put in dire situations an understanding, or compassion that was previously not exhibited can be shown to better display themselves. In “A Good
Morals are what distinguish humans from other animals. People are capable of understanding the complex network of emotions and relationships between each other and making choices that benefit themselves as well as others. However, the greatest phenomenon in human psychology is why people are also capable of doing bad things. We used to believe that some people are inherently bad. However, in recent history, the Zimbardo uncovered that in most cases, evil is "rarely . . . done by ‘bad apples' or rogues" (Aron). Philip Zimbardo's research reveals that good people are capable of doing bad things through conformity, blind obedience, and anonymity; these ideas can be proven by looking back at our history.
Tracing back to the earliest forms of societies, a clear picture of moral values have always existed and been taught through different practices of religions and laws. Even today, we teach our children at a young age the difference between right and wrong, good and evil, pretending that the distinctions between these lines are clear, “black and white”, and containing no overlaps or intersects. As much as we wish to deny the truth and believe that these statements are still true, our world as a whole has become far to complex for such clear divisions to remain. The progression and advancement of our world which is now developing at exponential rates has resulted in too many unforeseen consequences, establishing a much more blurred concept of