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Essay On Good And Evil

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Good and evil: two concepts that have been argued, discussed, and fought over through generations. Two concepts that have been circling each other for eternity as they drive society forward through history. Ancient civilizations represented them as gods above or devils beneath the ground. Good and Evil are shown as order and chaos, opposites. Two authors portray their interpretation of good and evil through their work. William Golding describes his belief that evil is present in everyone’s heart by nature. In contrast, Khalil Gibran writes that people are primarily good, and evil, when displayed, is a function of good merely beaten and abused by fear. A person’s intent and motivation is most important when gauging the impact of someone’s …show more content…

The boys start off as good and progressively get worse and lose a sense of society and good. For example Simon has always cared more about the littluns and taking care of them. In the part of the book when Simon talks to the beast, which represents fear in the boys not savagery, isn’t a depiction of good versus evil but bravery versus fear. In order to stand up against fear there must be strength and good. The death of Simon and Piggy represents all of the good in the boys has been beaten out and gnawed on by that fear. A line from the poem, “For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and thirst” (Gibran 4) is an example of this. It shows that the good in the boys has been beaten and abused by fear not an evil clawing from deep within the boys hearts. This is shown again in chapter 12 when Ralph, who is running from Jack and Roger, runs into the beast. Ralph converses with it and then crushes it. However, all good that was remaining in the book gone when Piggy, by far the strongest mentally, is killed by Roger. This symbolizes that the true leader of the island groups is fear. This is why the boys cry at the end of the book when the naval officer lands on the beach; because they are no longer driven by fear; because they will

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