01 Mar How does the theme of good and evil present itself in the story? ? Is it accurate and truthful (is the ‘good guy’ really good

Complete these readings from the textbook:  

· A Good Man is Hard to Find- Flannery O'Connor

· Young Goodman Brown – Nathaniel Hawthorne

· Those Winter Sundays- Robert Hayden

Remember that academic reading is a skill you develop over time.

Here is  my best advice for scholarly reading .

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Module 6: Lesson and Notes

The Nature of Good and Evil in Literature and Why It Matters

The conflict between good and evil isn't a new one. It is as old as time itself and accompanies humanity as a shadow, taking many forms and manifesting in as many ways as there are different kinds of conflict. A few things about this concept:

· There are different ways of defining what is "good" and what is "evil."

· The definitions aren't concrete, and never can be, but instead are left up to interpretation by individuals involved or by society as a whole.

· For example, the act of murder is an evil thing. However, we often hear stories of people committing murder to avenge an attack on a loved one and the act is forgiven. Revenge for love changes the game.

· The nature of good and evil follows closely with the common conflicts: man vs nature/self/man/supernatural/fate, etc.

· It is one of the methods authors use to help present conflict in the story line.

· This theme is often represented by foil characters, which are characters that are complete opposites in order to illuminate certain personality traits (Think "Cinderella". The wicked step-mother seems so wicked because Cinderella is so good, and Cinderella seems so good because the wicked step-mother is so wicked). This makes is easier to determine who is good and who is evil in the story. But it's not always that simple (the good guys sometimes make bad decisions and the bad guys sometimes do heroic deeds).

· Sometimes, you really, really want to like the bad guy… this is called the anti-hero. Think, Captain Jack Sparrow from "The Pirates of the Caribbean".  Click here for a quick read about the (awesome) anti-hero.  (Links to an external site.)

The beauty of literature is that, over time, it has captured the crazy spectrum that is associated with good vs. evil, and been able to tell of it from every angle. Often, this resonates with readers either by speaking to a personal conflict and relating to a current social conflict.

Popular Examples

Shakespeare has plenty. Don't groan, we aren't reading Shakespeare, I promise, but we will look at one example: 

   Macbeth– Macbeth was an incredible warrior and very loyal to his king, King Duncan. He is influenced by a trio of witchy sisters that tell him of a prophesy in which he becomes king. Maddened by his new found ambition, he kills the king and assumes the kingship only to meet his demise in the form of a ghastly and gruesome death.

Pretty solid good vs evil, right? But consider:

· Although it appears that Macbeth is evil, it is important to know that Macbeth's wife, Lady Macbeth, had even more ambition than Macbeth and pushed him to commit the murder. He didn't necessarily want to and when he couldn't go through with all of it, she taunted him, doing much of the work herself.

· There were supernatural influences and witches were known to cause trouble, just for the sake of causing trouble. 

· Was Macbeth really evil? or was he just easily influenced by others that forced his hand?

· How is evil defined here?

· As one action/ multiple actions? One person/ multiple people?

(We will stop there with Shakespeare. Whew.) 

Far from Shakespeare, let's look at a popular fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel. For being such a simple story, the nature of good and evil here is very complicated. In the story, a father takes his two small children deep in the forest and left them there. Twice. Eventually the children are lost in the forest and encounter an old witch that captures them to eat them. The children trick the witch, push her into the oven intended for them and escape home to their, seemingly, very grateful father.

Initially, the evil in the story seems to be the witch. Or is it?

Consider:

· The father in the story is forced to take his children into the forest by their step-mother (wicked step-mother, anyone?)

· The only one to commit murder, an evil act, is a little girl.

· Therefore, who is the evil one? Step-mother, witch or Gretel?

This fairy tale was based on an early 14th century famine so fierce that families were starving and forced to make unspeakable choices, like the one that the father made. What if sometimes evil is defined as survival?

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Thinking about the readings from this Module, write a 200 word discussion board post in which you explore one or more of these questions:

· How does the theme of good and evil present itself in the story?

· Is it accurate and truthful (is the "good guy" really good and the "bad guy" really bad)?

· What are some of the topics that seem to be recurring?

· What kinds of social and cultural changes were going on to influence the author?

· Does this reflect some sort of timeless social issue (oppressive government, racial, socioeconomic or gender bias)?

After writing your post, be sure to review and edit before clicking "Submit." Then, respond to 2-3 classmates with a substantive reply… You can ask questions, agree or disagree, expand on their ideas, or make connections between their post and yours. Replies should be 3-4 sentences each.

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