Evil Created by Systems or by Humans Essay

The theme of evil always occur in the literary works. Different authors develop the theme of evil in different ways. Some of them use the circumstances which lead to the evil, others represent their characters whose actions and behavior create the evil. Our society also can create the evil by means of established norms or traditions.
My goal in this essay is to find out if the evil is created by systems or by humans.
In order to achieve this goal it is necessary to analyze three literary works which were written at various times but have much in common. The first novel is A Passage to India written by E.M. Forster, the second novel is Lord of the Flies written by William Golding and the third one is The Magus written by John Fawles.
The evil emerges and shapes the life of the main characters who sometimes have no opportunity to resist it or they do not want to do it. They are satisfied with their evil intentions and ideas.
In the novel A Passage to India the author criticizes the British rule in India. The British do not understand the culture and old traditions of India. Moreover, they humiliate all the Indians. It is interesting to note that the novel starts and ends with one and the same question if the English and the Indians can become friends. The answer given at the end of the novel is negative. The evil is created by humans in this literary work. There are four main characters: Dr. Aziz, a young Indian man who works in the British hospital, his friend Fielding who is the headmaster of the college for Indians, Mrs. Moore, the mother of another young man who wants to marry Adela, and Ms. Adela, a young schoolmistress who came to India from Britain. The excursion to Marabar Caves is the central event of the story. The caves represent “the evil”, it is a place where “the darkness stands not only for the absence of light” but also it stands for the absence of union and hope. (Forster 70)
Dr. Aziz invites two ladies to visit the historical and mystical place of India but they do not understand him and his good intentions. Adela has a psycological shock when she stays with Dr. Aziz in the cave and thinks that she was raped. Mrs. Moore also has great problems with her mental health and she dies during the trip. The evil that lives in the caves ruins the relations between the British people and the Indians: “Nothing is inside them, they were sealed up before the creation of pestilence or treasure, if mankind grew curious and excavated, nothing, nothing would be added to the sum of good and evil”. (Foster, 120)
Dr. Aziz was arrested and charged for the raping. The main idea of the novel is to show that the evil is created by humans and that it can ruin everything around in a moment.
The second novel Lord of Flies written by William Golding tells about a group of schoolboys who found themselves on a deserted island and try to rule. The main theme of the novel is the conflict between the civilization and savagery. Two boys, Ralph and Jack represent different characters with different values. (Golding 24)
They struggle for their own ideas and concepts. Ralph wants to rule according to the established norms in British society while Jack wants to gain power over all the boys who not only serve him, they simply worship him.
The evil which is represented in the novel stands for the savagery. Jack is the main producer of the evil on the island. The Lord of flies is a head of the sow which was killed by Jack as a gift to the beast. Throughout the novel the evil follows the boys. Ralph remains alone at the end of the novel. His best friend were taken by the savage boys. One of his friend was killed. The author wanted to show that the evil lives in the humans who have a great power over the others. The savage boy Jack is a representative of the evil.
The third novel The Magus written by John Fawles tells about a teacher who escapes from reality to a small Greek island. Nickolas Urfe is a person who has some psychological problems. He is bored with life. The girl he met at the party did not impress him. He does not want to have serious relations with her. Nickolas goes to the Greek island and takes a position of a teacher in one of the schools. However, he is not satisfied with his life. He called the school “claustrophobic” but the island is “beautiful” for him. (Fowles 36)
His feelings were injured. He knows that he cannot write good poems and this thought makes him forget about his literary talent. He cannot forget his girl Allison. Throughout the novel Nickolas thinks about suicide. The theme of loss is mixed with the theme of love in the novel. The author represents life as a game. Nicholas meets a man whose name is Maurice Conchis. He changes the life of the young teacher. A mysterious game of this man influences Nicholas. The author shows that one person can play different roles like an actor. However, he cannot understand the purpose of this game. The author shows “the game of the devil”. The evil which occurs in the novel captures the main character. (Ezard)
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, it is necessary to say that the evil represented in all three novel has direct relation to humans because all the characters make their own decisions concerning the evil actions. They are humans but their souls are full of evil intentions. Of course, we can see that the environment plays an important role in their intentions. Marabar caves where two women had psychological shock, savage boys on the deserted island with the evil Jack at the head, the egoistic and narrow-minded Nicholas Urfe whose evil game of an actor leads him to psychological trauma, he did not understand what is real and what is unreal – all these points prove the fact that the evil is created bu humans.