Hi Everyone:
As preparation for next week, write
down your thoughts about how your book frames concepts like "corruption"
and "evil" as they affect our culture. How are these concepts defined
in the book (if at all), and how does the book explore our response to
these concepts? How does the story compare or contrast with the story
of Macbeth in how it handles evil and corruption?
My free reading book was "The Great Gatsby" by Scott Fitzgerald. My thoughts about this book varied. I thought the book was great over all but the way the story ended wasn't really what i was expecting. This book had many concepts i can compare to in our English class. The Great Gatsby is full of evil emotions and corruption. This book can be thought as evil because of all the stories behind each character. Most of the characters commit adultery and betrayal and even murder.Through out the book we see the characters cheat on their own families and consorts, and continue to do it in the dark and unknown by the other partner in their relationship.This book also includes a lot of corruption due to gambling and illegal alcohol due to prohibition. The Great Gatsby can be compared to "Macbeth" by William Shakespeare, because of their concepts on evil and corruption.In Macbeth, it can be compared to my book because both books include evil. In Macbeth we see a man named Macbeth who is corrupted by his wife and 3 evil witches that persuade him into killing his own king, which will lead to his corrupt reign of a tyrant kingdom until his death by his enemies.This is how the book "The Great Gatsby can be seen as evil and corrupt and can be compared the the book "Macbeth".
ReplyDeleteIn Dante's, "Inferno," evil is interpreted as sin. Instead of being some sort of essence, it is the result of one's decisions. Those who suffer in the book are suffering from their mistakes, and the punishment is something they deserved for their actions before the afterlife. Choosing to do bad things is what corrupts those in Dante's depiction of Hell. The way the punishments are described in the book work also as a way to scare people out of doing bad, as they do not want to suffer like the sinners. This is different from the depiction of evil in, "Macbeth." In the play, Lady Macbeth, the evil in the beginning, persuades Macbeth to do bad. As the story progresses. her evil transfers to him, until he is consumed by it. Both pieces of literature have an interesting approach on what evil really is.
ReplyDeleteIn the “Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne evil and corruption plays a key role in the plot of the story. Hester Prynne is accused of adultery, the first in her town’s history. The townspeople are shocked and disgusted by her actions. They see that she has performed a sin and punish her for it. They put her in a position that makes other girls fear being put in. They corrupt her as a being a horrible person for one mistake, people don’t look or treat Hester the same, even her child. Pearl is Hester’s baby that came from the adultery, is a symbol to the town’s people of evil. Pearl is an exotic child, but she isn’t evil. This story contrasts with “Macbeth” because in “Macbeth” evil is covered up with lies and in the “Scarlet Letter” everyone sees the evil, even if the evil isn’t as evil as they might think. In “Macbeth” the evil and corruption consumes him and takes over his judge of character, but for Hester it has open her eyes how to treasure the more important things in life and not what others assume her to be.
ReplyDelete"Clockwork Orange" is a prime example that displays corruption and evil perfectly. Alex, the main character in the story, or the anti-hero, is a criminal who robs peoples houses, rapes women, and hurts people. He is a good example of evil. In the beginning of the book he goes into an old ladies house to steal some of the items she has in her house so he can later go and sell them. In doing this though, he gets into a fight with the old lady and accidentally kills her before the police arrive and arrest him. Alex is a prime example of evil, because he commits actions like this and rape and murder without even thinking about. The only thing is, is that this evil did not just come with him when he was born, maybe a bit did, but it was the corruption of society, that sprouted the evil in him. In the society that Alex lives in, the crime rates are high and kids his age probably feel insecure, and since the police are not very effective, they also feel unsafe. They are corrupted to think that they have to protect themselves, and what better way than to "join the game" and form a gang so they feel safe. The economy corrupted Alex to think this was the only positive way of life, and anything else is stupid. This is how he developed a corrupt evil way of thinking. Also the book displays that corruption and evil can come even from the "good guys". In the book when Alex gets arrested and during his interrogation, they bully him, beat him, and kick him. This shows how society is so corrupt that they think just because they are the police and the good guys that they can beat up a kid 10 to 20 years younger than them or even any criminal and think it is "good". It is illegal and yet the police and detectives do it instead of letting them go through the law, legally and get their rightful punishment. The idea of evil has been so corrupted that things like police beating up a kid seems totally okay, or physically forcing them to become corrupt, like the experiment done on Alex. This evil and corruption in "Macbeth" and "Clockwork Orange" are similar because they are so similar, the words almost become molded together in meaning. In "Macbeth", Macbeth becomes corrupt but this sprouts from evil, while his wife has the opposite effect, her becoming corrupt comes from the evil she already had. While in the other book, the story involves both of these ideas too. This is how "Macbeth" and "Clockwork Orange".
ReplyDeleteThe Island of Doctor Moreau frames concepts of corruption and evil in our culture. In this book, a doctor performs experiments on animals and tries to turn them in to humans. He changes their looks and forces them to follow the “Laws” which were rules on how to be human. As the book goes on, some animals revert back to their natural ways. This book portrays evil as crossing the line between natural and unnatural. Macbeth also does this. In Macbeth, instead of bioengineering, Shakespeare toys with perversions of motherhood, ghosts, witches and being plagued by ones own conscience. Another representation of evil in The Island of Doctor Moreau is the temptation to give in to animalistic urges rather than being civilized. The animals that do this are considered evil, some attack people and other animals. In Macbeth, this temptation also is present. This happens when Macbeth has the urge to murder and no longer follows the rules of morality in his culture. He listens to his self-preserving compulsions and his need for more power. These books both explore the abstract idea of evil, as well as how society reacts to them. In Dr. Moreau, the society of other animals as well as humans cast away the evildoer and it antagonizes them. This also happens in Macbeth. But unlike Macbeth, all the characters in Dr. Moreau eventually become part of the evil; they all turn animalistic and no longer care about the good of humanity or others. This only happens to Macbeth and a few others in the play, but you can sense much of their guilt. These works of literature both highlight important parts of evil and how they affect culture.
ReplyDeleteThe Great Gatsby has a lot to do with corruption and evil. Gatsby himself, fell in love with a woman when he was an offcer, but did not get to marry her because he was too poor. Gatsby believes that in order to marry her, he has to illegally sell liquor to become rich. Evil plays a role in this because Gatsby commits a crime to achieve his goal. The GreatGatsby is similar to MacBeth in this way. Both of them commit a crime to gain the affection of a woman they love and lose everything because of it.
ReplyDeleteCorruption and evil are extremely malleable concepts that effect our culture in drastic ways. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey frames these notions continuously throughout the novel. This book hits readers on a level of sympathy for the uncomfortable missed guidance of the characters who all have unfortunate disabilities. The corruption takes place in an Oregon psychiatric hospital where Nurse Ratchet rules with harsh, unfair mechanical ways. She uses the patient's inferior minds to manipulate the hospital to work the way she wishes it to. Just as Lady Macbeth does in the beginning of Shakespeare's play, when she manipulates her husband Macbeth to perform the necessary tasks in order to become king. The evil behind the novel is expressed with the death of Billy Bibbit and main character Randle McMurphy. Nurse Ratchets evil taunting ways come to a climax when she threatens to tell Billy's mom what scandals he has done, resulting in his suicidal death. McMurphy attacks the nurse in attempted murder, in relation Nurse Ratchet lobotomized him. Once returning as a vegetable he laid as a symbol of her dominance and power. Macbeth goes through a similar fate as through his wrong doings, his death symbolizes the overthrowing of evil and corruption. Both pieces of literature display a strong presence of evil and corruption and how they effected those cultures.
ReplyDeleteIn Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury evil is displayed not in a way of murder and violence, like in Macbeth, but in a way where a person’s uniqueness and identity is taken away. In Fahrenheit 451, the firemen of an utopian city must locate people that have books and burn their houses down. They do this because they are afraid that people will get ideas from these books and become more intelligent than they are supposed to be. The sense of evil that is portrayed in this book holds a bitter eeriness because if you consider it, would you rather be a cookie-cutter non unique person living in a corrupt society or dead. This is the type of evil that is the worst of all, because at least if you die you do not have to live with the corruption of the government. This book shares both similarities and differences with Macbeth. In Macbeth, along with Fahrenheit 451, the characters each represent something and therefore signify something when they die. In Macbeth, Banquo represents happiness and trust, therefore when he dies it is meant to signify that that lies and hardships are coming. In Fahrenheit 451, Clarisse represents a unique, loyal, free spirit. Therefore, when Clarisse dies, it signifies that something restraining is going to happen due to being different or not following society, which is when Montag gets caught with books and has his house burned down. The difference between Macbeth and Fahrenheit 451 is that in Macbeth, the message is clear that Macbeth is a power hungry person and just ends up killing everyone in his way, but in the end he is killed and therefore the problem is solved. However, in Fahrenheit 451, the problems are underlying and Bradbury uses the technique of using objects to represent the underlying issues, for example using books to represent the people that society believes do not fit in. Both Macbeth and Fahrenheit 451 contain evil, but each explore different paths of it.
ReplyDeleteIn "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", by Ken Kesey evil and corruption are displayed in a different way than MacBeth, but also similar. Like in MacBeth there is a character who has power and uses it to control what everyone does around her. Her name is Nurse Ratchet and she rules with harsh and cruel ways. The story is told in the percpective of one of the patience who McMurphy calls Chief. from the start Chief describes the hospital as an evil and corrupt place to bve. The way he describes Nurse Rathcet is almost like the devil himeself. She feeds on controil and power and she will do almost anything to do so. Unlike MacBeth this book uses alot more humor. McMurphy is a wise guy who should probably not be in a psychiatric hospital, but his wise guy attitude and out of control behavior makes Nurse Ratchet turns him into a vegetable. Both books display the corrupt power both Nurse Ratchet and Macbeth had.
ReplyDeleteThe Great Gatsby was my book of choice and this book compared to Macbeth both show a great deal of evil and corruption. In the Great Gatsby Gatsby is blinded by love and driven to do evil and illegal things, commit murders and break rules for the one he loves. Like Gatsby Macbeth too commits murders and breaks rules for the one he loves, but in the end does it for the one he loves. All the characters have a past behind them and share evil secrets, that are in the dark to the people behind him in the Great Gatsby. Both Gatsby and Macbeth go through a great ordeal of evil and bad to get what they want. Both story's are all based off the evil and corruption of the characters in the book. In the Great Gatsby, there's lots of alcohol and gambling. Gatsby himself sells alcohol illegally. Corrupted by love and illegal substances. In Macbeth, Macbeth is corrupted by his wife into doing evil things, much like the great Gatsby. Both novels, show a great amount o evil and corruption of evil things that come together to make in both novels some horrific endings.
ReplyDeleteI read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. In this book, the concepts of corruption and evil were outlined better that any novel I have read thus far. The situation the city is in is nothing short of remarkable. In the novel, people from the city are content with living dull, meaningless lives, watching TV for hours on end and never being curious about what else there is to life. They believe that literature is too controversial and is therefore banned from society. The main character, Montag, is a fireman in the futuristic city, who burns books instead of putting out fires. In the book, the definition of evil is clearly the firemen and all of their acts upon the society. When the firemen burn down all traces of literature it is a clear showing of intense evil and corruption. The books response to this evil is Montag’s rebellion against his culture. He begins to get curious and meets a man named Faber who helps him in his quest to become knowledgeable and see what else there was to life. Eventually, Montag is forced to burn his own home down because his wife turned him in for having literature in the home. During this process, Montag loses his cool and burns the chief to ashes, and creates a giant manhunt for himself. Eventually he escapes to a secret society called “the book people”. The conflict is never really resolved, for after he leaves the city, the city is blown up by enemy aircrafts. The evil in this book is very similar to that of MacBeth. In both novels there is killing done. In MacBeth people are killed, while in Fahrenheit 451, happiness and literature is essentially “killed”. In the end, both conflicts are resolved violently and not dealt with the way they should have been. All in all, MacBeth and Fahrenheit 451 are very similar in the ways in which they have corruption and evil, and how they deal with it.
ReplyDeleteI read “Slaughterhouse Five” by Vonnegut the evil that takes place is the war that the main character Billy is in. With Billy being captured during the war and then being forced to live and survive in all these situations, but he wasn’t really the cause of his survival. Before being captured he was being carried around by another soldier who ended up dying soon after. Then when he was in the camps he was lucky and barely escaped many types of death that killed more conditioned people. Billys post war life is very good though and he is very successful, but like in the war the success was given to him by his father in-law and he never really earned it. Then everything bad or good that happens is made to seem not as big as it really is with a phrase like “so it goes” after people die. This book is almost opposite from MacBeth though because in MacBeth he wants the power and has to work and kill people for the better position. Then in “Slaughterhouse Five” Billy doesn’t really care, but gets very good things handed to them. Then another thing is that death in Slaughterhouse five isn’t made to be a big deal, but death in MacBeth is what the whole book is based on. That is the evil in the book I read and how it relates to MacBeth.
ReplyDeleteIn "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", by Ken Kesey the topics of evil and corruption are demonstrated in various ways comparable to that of Macbeth. The authors of both novels display an awkward sympathy at times but at other times no sympathy at all. In The one who flew over the Cuckoo's nest, character nurse ratchet is very evil and corrupt to all the mental diseased patients. The mental diseased patients minds don't have as much "intellectuallness" as Nurse Ratchet so she can manipulate them. Nurse Rathcet doesn't want failed patients to escape so she keeps them at the hospital. In Macbeth, Macbeth doesn't want to kill king Duncan. Lady Macbeth manipulates him with her evil by questioning his manhood. No man wants his manhood questioned. Both these acts are evil but Nurse Ratchets' act is worse. There is a difference between manipulating your hsuband and manipulating the mentally ill.
ReplyDelete"The Island of Dr.Moreau" and "Macbeth" both portray evil with temptation and guilt as a result. In the Island of Dr.Moreau the animals are transformed surgically into as close to humans as Dr.Moreau can get them. Although they appear very human and also have many mental human characteristics they have many animal-like instincts that they are tempted to do. Some of these instincts are clawing at trees or drinking from rivers. Some more drastic animal instincts include attacking people and slaughtering other animals. Dr.Moreau makes a system of laws for the animal/humans in order to keep them as human as possible and so they don't attack each other or himself. When all breaks loose for the animals and they give in to the animal temptation they attack each other and humans on the island. This kind of evil is driven by temptation, as is the evil in Macbeth. In Macbeth, Macbeth is tempted to kill the Thane of Cawdor, Duncan, in order to gain power. Throughout the book he commits evil crimes through the temptation to keep his power. In The Island of Dr.Moreau, the animals that break the law feel a sense of guilt for it. When they are found out to have caved in to an animal trait they avoid the pack because they know they will be shunned and punished. In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth ends up ending her life due to the substantial amount of guilt she has from being associated with all the murders that are taking part. In both "The Island of Dr.Moreau" and "Macbeth" evil is represented with temptation and creates guilt.
ReplyDeleteIn Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, society itself is viewed as the great evil. The protagonist Guy Montag faces the evils of his futuristic republic’s wrath, and is exiled when he attempts to cross it. In the novel, the evil of society is portrayed many different ways. Through the use of a mechanical dog, Montag’s society is portrayed as ruthless and unbreakable. Through the seclusion of the four-wall television we see the blindness the citizens of this world are inflicted with. The ability of the government and the society to shut down anything foreign or unwanted is powerful in this book. And its evil shows through the web it has woven over Montag’s world.
ReplyDeleteIn comparison, Macbeth targets a very different kind of evil. In Macbeth by William Shakespeare, we as the audience are confronted with the evil of lies and hunger for power. Like in Fahrenheit, we do see corruption in the government, however instead of an evil society we experience a deception in friends and foes. We see lies and loopholes, but instead of a corrupted world, we see only a corrupted city-state. The two books express evil in two very different ways. Both authors are powerful and unique in their strategies to portray evil.
I read The Clockwork Orange. This book is a perfect example of corruption and evil. The main character turns the whole city evil with his horrible acts on other people. Alex thinks that to be bad is human nature. All the bad things that Alex does he truly enjoys. Alex thinks that preventing people from doing bad things is just wrong and against humanity. Due to this Alex steals, rapes, and murders many people. He thinks doing all these things feels good. This compares to Macbeth because they both want to harm people but differ in many ways as well. Alex was evil from the beginning of the story. Unlike Macbeth who was persuaded from his wife. Macbeth learned to be evil. While Alex just has an overall evil conscience. Macbeth kills people to try and fight his way to be king. Alex on the other hand has no good reason to harm people besides for the fact he feels like it. I think that is way more evil than Macbeth. At least Macbeth had some remorse at the beginning of the book wondering whether he should go along with what Lady Macbeth says or not. Alex thinks that it is perfectly okay with doing all these horrible things. In both books corruption of society affects them. In Macbeth the people who are around him, his wife, convince him to be evil. And although Alex always thought it was okay to be evil his society affects him because in his neighborhood the police do not enforce as many rules and then he forms a gang. This support shows the corruption in not only Alex but the society as a whole. Everyone around Alex is the same way and have no morals therefore reassuring Alex is doing the right horrible thing. Overall, both books have to do with the concept of evil and corruption and effect their culture as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI chose to read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Using the setting of Long Island, New York in the 1920s, Fitzgerald shows evil and corruption and their impact on society. The culture of the Roaring Twenties is that of a newfound freedom for women, an improved economy, and a sense of consumerism and materialism like never before. The evil and corruption of the time period is mostly present in bootlegging and violence, but is also present in the conflict between those who embrace the changes of the Roaring Twenties, and those who don’t. Jay Gatsby represents one of those who embraces the changes to the nation by taking advantage of Prohibition to bootleg alcohol and stimulate his personal finances, as well as using this money to purchase material products that he believes enhance his life. Tom Buchanan, the husband of the woman that Jay Gatsby is desperately in love with, represents one of those who doesn’t approve of change. He looks down upon those who have “new money”, or money that has been earned by that person instead of being passed down as the family fortune. Tom Buchanan also displays the hypocrisies that were beginning to dissolve with the time period, but were still prevalent among those who despised the new era. A demonstration of this is Tom’s anger when he realizes that his wife, Daisy, may have been in love and may still be in love with Gatsby. Tom, who has a lover that he sees when he goes to the city, is enraged by the fact that his wife might be committing the same act as himself. This shows evil on two levels, one as betraying a spouse, and the other as displaying hypocrisy.
ReplyDeleteThe Great Gatsby also shows evil in the form of greed. Jay Gatsby remembers so fondly a time when he loved Daisy and when Daisy loved him that his only desire in life is to once again be together with her. He throws parties every weekend in hope that she will show up. He uses bootlegging to become rich and uses this money to buy materialistic goods that he believes will impress her. The way that Gatsby acts upon his desires is very selfish. This type of evil is very similar to the type of evil demonstrated by MacBeth in MacBeth. The Three Sisters and Lady MacBeth instill such strong desire for the crown into MacBeth, that he will do anything to become King and remain King. He does what he thinks will best help him accomplish his goal, and thinks only of himself. In the end, both MacBeth and Gatsby are killed, and both of them failed to keep what they most strongly coveted.
I read "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" by Ken Kesey. It explored the concept of evil and corruption by contrasting the power of Nurse Ratched with the powerlessness of her patients. Nurse Ratched knows how to manipulate the minds of her patients, bending their will to her command. An example of this is when Billy Bibbit is caught with a prostitute by Nurse Ratched, and she threatens to tell his mother. This reveals to the reader that throughout Billy’s stay at the ward, Nurse Ratched used her friendship with Billy’s mom in order to manipulate and control him. McMurphy, known to the boys on the ward as “Mac”, tries to defy Nurse Ratched’s manipulative techniques throughout the novel. He challenges her control of the ward, and gets many of the patients to believe that she can’t control them. When Billy got caught with the prostitute, he killed himself because of Nurse Ratched’s promise to tell his mom. McMurphy almost strangles Nurse Ratched to death, which leads her to order her worst evil tactic to be used against him. McMurphy comes back to the ward as a vegetable, after receiving a lobotomy. This, Nuse Ratched hopes, shows that no matter how defiant McMurphy could have gotten, she always would be able to overpower him. Nurse Ratched represents evil in this novel, and McMurphy tries to combat this evil. Evil ends up prevailing in a physical manner, and McMurphy’s life is taken by his best friend on the ward, who knew he wouldn’t want to go on living as a vegetable. The Chief killing McMurphy symbolizes McMurphy’s untamable spirit, and that Nurse Ratched could never fully defeat of him. This connects to MacBeth because the Weird Sisters (like Nurse Ratched) prevail in their evil plot, but it doesn’t fully come true because Fleance doesn’t become King. Also, it connects because Macbeth, being evil, is defeated in the end of the play, exactly how Nurse Ratched is figuratively defeated by the Chief killing McMurphy at the end of “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey.
ReplyDelete"The Time Machine", written by H.G Wells, is a story of a time traveler who travels into the future with his time machine. You may think that a story about a time traveler traveling in time couldn't have much evil or corruption in it. Wells does a great job of bringing those two things into play. In his travels, the time traveler comes across multiple frightening creatures . The Eloi is a very peaceful creature that becomes friends with the time traveler. The creature that brings evil and corruption into the time travelers journey is the Morlocks. These Morlocks are strange white ape like creatures. The Morlocks steal his time machine leaving the time traveler hopeless. Weena, an Eloi the time traveler saved from drowning, helps him retrieve his time machine by using matches to defend themselves. The Morlocks are the symbol of evil and corruption in this story because they almost left the time traveler stranded in another dimension. I can compare "The Time Machine" and "MacBeth" because both evil and corruption in the story are done secretly. Only a select few know about the evil in "MacBeth" and only a group of men know about the time travelers journey. All in all, I really enjoyed reading both, "MacBeth" and "The Time Machine." Both authors did a great job showing the reader the evil and corruption that took place in the story.
ReplyDeleteThe book I read was Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. The book very interestingly and uniquely displayed corruption and evil, and how they affect culture. The major city where most of the story takes place is very corrupted. The higher power-the government-convinces people that books are evil and unnecessary, does not allow people to read books, and have “firefighters” burn books, as well as houses containing books, rather than fighting fires. The majority of people do not question this, because they do not read and cannot know better, and thinks not reading and burning books is normal. This corruption shows the way one evil person or group can manipulate a whole society and culture. Since the government controls what people do and how they are educated in the story, they are powerless and do not realize what they are missing in life, while the government maintain’s complete power and control. The book explores our responses to these concepts by having the main character, a “firefighter”, become curious about books. He ironically does what his job is to prevent, by reading books. He realizes the power of books, and the corruption of the government, and rebels against them using violence. Another country takes care of the rest of the government by bombing the city due to war. The story compares with Macbeth because both greater powers abuse their power over the people, and are willing to do whatever it takes to keep their power. Also, in both stories, violence is used against the corrupted and evil person or group. Lastly, in both stories, a war is going on.
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