The Surroundings of Man
Is man really born with a evil persona or a persona that is
worthy as an angel or is man born naked for a reason because he
has nothing to bring to this world but himself? A person is not
innately any characteristic, he was brought to the world from
love and must choose to love or not. Mother Theresa explains
this best by saying, “Everyone was created to be loved and to
love.” The novel, Lord of the Flies, has characters that were not
brought to the island good or evil, but has characters that
changed because the atmosphere that they are in changed them.
Because of the environment that you are in makes you become a
certain person, you change with the circumstances of your
environment, and interact with the condition of your
environment.
Major events affect your life in drastic ways. A marriage,
for instance is a major occurrence and different kinds of
marriages can drastically change your life. A marriage that is
abusive emotionally and physically can make your life full of
hatred, you could be depressed, you could see your self as less a
person than you are, and you could also be a frightened person
because of it. A marriage completely different is one full of love.
A marriage like that can cause a person to act blissful, to go out
and do more things on account of your support system, and you
can show other people to have loving lives like yours. All the
characters, as one, are in a kind of marriage together, they lived
concurrently and supported each other. The marriage was
abusive, they taunted each other, especially Piggy. They taunted
him at first meeting by saying this, “He’s not Fatty... his real
name’s Piggy”(21). On account of that Piggy felt not worthy to
other characters in the novel and didn’t get to show his more
intelligent side to everyone. Events are a primary device that
causes people to act a certain way. If the characters didn’t live
so close together and taunt Piggy, would he have acted the way
he did through the course of the novel?
Being brought into particular situations can alter your life.
To cite an instance, a child being taken from his home, the only
place he knew, and put into a foster home would be a particular
situation that could alter one’s life. The other place he lived in
may have been harmful to his well-being and it was a positive
occurrence that he was brought out of his home. On the other
hand, the foster home could affect his well-being in a more
Life is constantly changing, like clouds in the sky; always shifting and turning. People never really know which way life will turn next, bringing them fortune or failure. When you look at how things change it is best to compare it to something that you can relate it to. The changeable nature of life can be related to the novel 'The Bean Trees.' This is a book written almost entirely on dealing with changes in the characters lives.
Two people with two completely different characteristics have something alike. Both Dally and Johnny are mentally tough because of their parents. Johnny and Dally’s parents both do not care for them and could care less about them. For example, during Dally’s childhood he went to jail, been in a gang, and has been in many fights and his dad still would not care for him even if he won the lottery. Dally also talks about his dad's disgrace towards him in the car with Johnny and Ponyboy, “‘ Shoot, my dad don’t give a hang whether I’m in jail or dead in a car wreck or drunk in a gutter...’”(88). Dally could easily live without his dad and he does for the most part. Dally just hangs around with his friends and stays at their place. Similarly, Johnny's parents use him like a rag doll to blow off steam, “his father always beating him up”(14). The gang knows what happenes in Johnny’s house. Once Ponyboy was witnessing, “Johnny take a whipping with a two-by-four from his old man”(33). Ponyboy talks about how loud and mean Johnny's mom is and,“you can...
“The Lamp at Noon” written by Sinclair Ross, it is about a couple who lives at the dusty and windy prairies during the Great Depression. The drought & the dust storm has taken has taken the couples happiness and changed their life. The other story by Sinclair Ross, “The Painted Door” is very similar to “The Lamp at Noon”, a couple living up on the mountains experiences a very severe snow storm, this causing the conflict on the couple due to feel of isolation. Setting is a crucial element to establish a conflict that could change the characters action, thoughts and words. “The Lamp at Noon” and “The Painted Door” is one of the greatest examples of them, if Ross used the settings that was not harsh these conflict would have never occurred. Sinclair Ross portray the psychological landscapes of his characters by mirroring location, time and weather with the characteristics of the characters.
This thesis is shown by John Hick in his article Evil and Soul-Making. As Hick explains, humans already exist in God’s image but have “not yet been formed into the finite likeness of God . . . Man is in the process of becoming the perfected being whom God is seeking to create. However, this is not taking place – it is important to add – by a natural and inevitable evolution, but through a hazardous adventure in individual freedom . . . this involves an accumulation of evil as well as good” (Hick 1-2). In other words, humanity is slowly progressing toward a world in which evil does not exist, as implied by the term “finite likeness of God,” but in order to reach that state, we must first deal with acts of evil, in order to learn what good truly is. On a personal level, this is known as soul-builder
In the beginning of Golding’s book, Lord of the Flies, one of the main characters, Piggy suffers from low self-esteem and low self-confidence. This can be seen on page 11 when Piggy says “I don't care what they call me, so long as they don't call me what they used to call me at school...They used to call me Piggy,” (Golding 11). This quote shows his low self-confidence and gives the reader a glance into Piggy’s past. The reader can assume from the quote that Piggy was made fun of for his weight before he came to the island and does not want to be treated like this again. Piggy seems scared that the new boys will tease him. Another example of Piggy’s low value of himself is when he begins to show leader ship qualities and is shot down. “I expect we...
...Piggy was a blow to the islands social make-up and Piggy's subsequent death. Golding's reasons for pursuing this course of action in the sociology of the island are debatable. While it may be a mere exciting plot device, it is also very possible within the context of the macrocosm that Golding is in fact, portraying the island as a person in decay. Previous events including the crash, which could symbolize death and various untended wildfires indicate the island has suffered substantial trauma and loss. Golding's choice to generate conflict between the id and the ego may well be a symbol for a greater crisis for the island/person, where it is reduced to an internalized battle between its two fundamental psychological processes.
Whether human nature is fundamentally selfish or altruistic is a question that challenge lots of researchers back in the time, and even today. Some people, such as Thomas Hobbes, claimed that man 's nature is basically evil and selfish. However, Joseph Butler, a philosopher, disagreed with this idea. For him, goodness consists in having what he calls the ‘principle of reflection’ govern and control our passions. People always want to know the true, but there is no answer for this question, so we have to find it out base on our knowledge and beliefs. It is important to know what is our true identity when we were born. In my mind, no one is perfect, everyone has the dark-side in themselves. People cannot deny that there is no mistake have
When people realize that good and evil are just points of view that are placed on other people and actions, it is possible to transcend these superficial roles. Since it is people who create the meaning of evil, it cannot be said that people are evil, or are born evil, because not only is that a perspective that is assumed onto others, which will change with different cultures, societies, and eras, but the very same acts may appear to be both good and evil, depending on the perspective in which the acts are seen. Ultimately, it is the individual’s responsibility to decide for himself the effects of his actions on himself and others.
The two most pivotal parts from each of these books, Heart of Darkness, and Lord of Flies, are the two scenes that will be compared. The grove scene from Heart of Darkness is incredibly powerful and express much about the human condition. Similarly, the boar head scene in, Lord of Flies, is also very powerful and expresses similar things about the human condition. These books were both wrote at the beginning of the twentieth century, and like many other writers, Joseph Conrad, and William Golding both viewed the upcoming century with a pessimistic view. Both authors saw the human condition going downhill and fast. These stories both depict how they view the human condition then, and what they thought it would become. Three things that each scene portrays about the human condition are, everyone has evil in them, everyone will lose their innocence, and everyone is manipulative.
Mankind is innately evil. The allegorical novel, The Lord of the Flies, allows for little interpretation about human nature. William Golding depicts the idea, “evil is an inborn trait of man” (Golding). Throughout the novel the children who have crash landed on the island begin to uncover their savage nature. Although all of the children somehow succumb to a heinous behaviour, Jack, Ralph, and Roger become most noticeably corrupt. Ultimately, it becomes clear that malicious intent is intrinsic in mankind.
Ultimately, the characters’ lack of morals led to their downfall. Every person’s individual childhood experience, or lack of one, was the detrimental factor to their mistakes. This all shows the human need of attention and guidance. Human interaction and strong moral based family structure is key to surviving in life.
Despite illustrating the same culture, “British Columbia Memorial” by Darcy Large and "The Spirit of Place" painting by Taylor Tabry-Dorzek prove to have various differences if we consider criteria of inherent meaning, significant beauty and fulfilled intent. Both have an inherent meaning. The historical painting by Large wishes to depict the darker side of the indigenous history and culture. For this reason, the artist uses her work to evoke emotions of heartbreak and remorse in the viewer. Contrastly, “The Spirit of Place” painting by Tabry-Dorzek wishes to depict the natural beauty and wonders of the Aboriginal culture. Both display significant beauty. The beauty of Large’s work consists of a darker, adjacent colour scheme. On the other
“In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.” (Eleanor Roosevelt). This is just one of the infinite examples of how human nature has been explored by so many different people. Each and every human is born with the capability of making their own choices. The decisions that they will make in the future will determine how evil they are viewed by others. Although one’s nature and nurture do affect their life, it is their own free will that determines whether or not they are evil.
In viewing 12 Angry Men, we see face to face exactly what man really is capable of being. We see different views, different opinions of men such as altruism, egoism, good and evil. It is no doubt that human beings possess either one or any of these characteristics, which make them unique. It is safe to say that our actions, beliefs, and choices separate us from animals and non-livings. The 20th century English philosopher, Martin Hollis, once said, “Free will – the ability to make decisions about how to act – is what distinguishes people from non-human animals and machines 1”. He went to describe human beings as “self conscious, rational, creative. We can fall in love, write sonnets or plan for tomorrow. We are capable of faith, hope and charity, and for that matter, of envy, hated and malice. We know truth from error, right from wrong 2.” Human nature by definition is “Characteristics or qualities that make human beings different from anything else”. With this said, the topic of human nature has been around for a very long time, it is a complex subject with no right or wrong answer. An American rabbi, Samuel Umen, gave examples of contradictions of human nature in his book, Images of Man. “He is compassionate, generous, loving and forgiving, but also cruel, vengeful, selfish and vindictive 3”. Existentialism by definition is, “The belief that existence comes before essence, that is, that who you are is only determined by you yourself, and not merely an accident of birth”. A French philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre, is the most famous and influential 20th - century existentialist. He summed up human nature as “existence precedes essence”. In his book, Existentialism and Human Emotions, he explained what he meant by this. “It means that, first of all, man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and, only afterwards, defines himself. If man, as the existentialist conceives him, is indefinable, it is because at first he is nothing. Only afterward will be something, and he himself will have made what he will be 4”. After watching 12 Angry Men, the prominent view on human nature that is best portrayed in the movie is that people are free to be whatever they want because as Sartre said, “people create themselves every moment of everyday according to the choices they make 5”.
environment as they are adopted by people having certain creteria . Sometimes heredity is misused as stereotypes like children of marginalised parents are less intelligent while this may not be true as when such children are given nutitious diet , better school and guidance facility they perform well and sometimes even better than children of well off families.