The Nature of Evil

In the past, and even in today’s world, evil is associated with the unknown. People don’t like change and therefore any fluctuations from whatever society deems ‘the norm’ are considered different and therefore evil.
We can see examples of this in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery.” Evil is interpreted as a deviation from the norm in this story because the town is extremely adamant about keeping up their ancient traditions. One such tradition is the annual stoning of a member of the community. Obviously this is a horrible, cruel and undeserving murder. However, when faced with the prospect of changing their ways, the towns’ people refuse to even consider the idea. A town’s man named Mr. Adams remarks to his friend, Old Man Warner, that the northern village has begun to cease the mindless murders. To this statement Old Man Warner replies, “Nothing but trouble in that,” and calls the northern villagers a, “Pack of young fools.” From this line we can see that the majority of the town considers change to be foolish, and to some extent, even evil.
Evil is interpreted as a deviation from the norm in the short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” too. In this story we are presented with a family that consists of three young children, a husband and wife, and a grandmother. The two older children are bratty and disrespectful, the husband does not honor the wishes of his mother, nor does he respect her opinion, and the wife is ghost-like in the fact that she hardly speaks at all. In an ideal society children should be well-behaved and elders are respected and defended. Because of this family’s ill-tempered mannerisms they suffer cruel deaths at the hands of a criminal, named the ‘Misfit.’ The Misfit does not fit into society’s mold either, since he is a law-breaking scoundrel. The only one through-out the entire story that fits society’s norms, and is therefore not portrayed as evil, is the grandmother. If the family had listened to the grandmother’s warnings in the first place, like a good family in society would have, they would have been able to avoid their untimely deaths. Unfortunately in this story evil prevails in the fact that the family doesn’t conform to a more socially acceptable manner.
I also saw evil in both of these stories when it was stated that children are not exempt from the murderous rages of evil people. In "The Lottery" Mrs. Hutchinson was the unlucky soul who was selected, at random, to be stoned. However, it could have just as easily been one of her three young children who selected the 'short stick.' I don't think it would have mattered to the town's people if a child had been selected. They still would have stoned them to death. In "A Good Man is Hard to Find," we also see children being subjected to harm. The Misfit has no problem shooting the two young children and the baby to death. He also murders the wife. Although it is unacceptable to murder anyone, murdering women and children are absolutely outrageous.

Ghost Story or Comic Relief?

One of the ways in which Irving described Ichabod Crane in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” was when Ichabod was mounting the farmer’s horse, Gunpowder. The two are a sore sight for any eyes. The horse was described as, “gaunt and shagged, with a ewe neck, and a head like a hammer; his rusty many and tail were tangled and knotted with burs; one eye had lost its pupil, and was glaring and spectral, but the other had the gleam of a genuine devil in it.” Gunpowder is a very run-down, second-hand horse. Ichabod is also described as awkward and ungainly when Irving wrote, “He rode with short stirrups, which brought his knees nearly up to the pommel of the saddle; his sharp elbows stuck out like grasshopper’s; he carried his whip perpendicularly in his hand, like a scepter, and as his horse jogged on, the motion of his arms was not unlike the flapping of a pair of wings.” Later in the story, after Ichabod heads home from the party at Van Tassel’s mansion on the back of Gunpowder, he encounters the headless horseman who pursues him in a wild chase through the woods. This part of the story is intended to be fearsome, with the horrible, headless creature tearing after poor Ichabod. But all I could think about during this part of the story was the image of Ichabod on the dilapidated horse, lumbering through the forest. It’s quite an awkward and humorous scene. Humor goes hand-in-hand with terror in this part of the story.
I also noticed humor tied to scary elements in the “Christmas Banquet.” During the annual Christmas banquet there are ten guests invited to the table. They all gather around the food like civilized, mannered people. However, at the head of the table sits a skeleton, described as, “Such a fearful guest, shrouded in a black mantle […].” The skeleton is used as a horrifying image, meant to inflict fear and wariness among readers. In my opinion the image of ten civilized people sitting down to dinner with a skeleton at the head of the table is funny. I also thought that three of the mournful, depressed dinner guests were comical. I found it hilarious that one man, described as, “[…] a certain Mr. Smith, who had evidently the fat of many a rich feast within him, and the habitual twinkle of whose eye betrayed a disposition to break forth into uproarious laughter for little cause or none,” died because his heart condition wouldn’t allow him to laugh, yet he did. I also found it funny that two of the most miserable people seated at the table were married to each other, and the chief cause of each other’s grief. Often this is the common and unfortunate case with many married couples. These three guests were meant to symbolize grief, despair and unhappiness, but to me they were funny.

Story Time

I have to admit that I approached reading the short story with a lot less trepidation than when I approached the poetry we read. I usually view short stories as much easier to read and to understand. I approach them with the intent of being amused, instead of a fear that I will not comprehend what they are trying to say, as with poetry. Of course, now that we have been through the English-200 poetry unit I am a lot more confident in my skills when it comes to reading a poem. However, I still enjoy reading short stories more.
While reading the Lottery I did have to use some of my earlier-learned poetry skills. I found that I needed to re-read certain parts of the story, three or even four times, before I really understood what was going on. I also had to re-read certain paragraphs to keep all of the different characters straight. Often, during the poetry unit, I would need to go back and look at certain verses and lines more than once. I quickly learned that it is not easy, and sometimes not even possible, to grasp a poem’s meaning with just one quick skim through. The same theory applies to The Lottery as well. Also, I found myself noticing the imagery of the story, something I would not have previously thought to do. For example, I loved how Jackson set the scenery in the beginning of the story, when she writes, “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green.” The poetry unit taught me to better appreciate the pictures painted by the words of poetry, and short-story, authors.

"El Cisne" (The Swan)

The poem that I found to be most interesting was “Leda and the Swan.” I recognized the poem immediately because I had read a poem almost identical to it last semester in a Spanish literature class. Ruben Dario, a very famous Nicaraguan poet, wrote “El Cisne,” which translates in English to “The Swan.” “El Cisne” describes the rape of Leda, by Zeus, and the birth of her beautiful daughter, Helen, from a blue egg. What’s most interesting to me is that in “Leda and the Swan,” the significance of the poem was to depict the violence of the Irish civil war. However, the significance of the almost identical poem, “El Cisne,” is to depict the literary current ‘modernismo.’ Modernismo is a literary current which advocates art for art. Modernistos (as they are called in Spanish) desire to create beautiful art and nothing more. It is a rebellion against the industrial revolution, which demanded relevance in everything. Nothing was important if it was not useful to science or medicine. We can see that the poem is written under modernismo influence because Dario uses such symbols as a swan and the color blue, both of which are very popular in the modernismo current. It’s interesting to me to see how two different authors wrote an almost identical poem with completely different underlying themes.
I definitely feel that this poetry unit has changed my opinion about poetry over all. I’ve realized that not all poems are that hard to understand if you only do a little research on them. Some poems I’ve actually come to really like and admire, such as the “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and “The Lady of Shalott.” I feel more well rounded in the area of literature now that I am familiar with more than just popular novels and short stories.
Aqui esta “El Cisne,” escribo por el autor Ruben Dario:
(Here is “El Cisne” written by Ruben Dario:)
"Fué en una hora divina para el género humano.
El Cisne antes cantaba sólo para morir.
Cuando se oyó el acento del Cisne wagneriano
Fué en medio de una aurora, fué para revivir.
.
. . . .Sobre las tempestades del humano oceano
Se oye el canto del Cisne; no se cesa de oir,
Dominando el martillo del viejo Thor germano
Ó las trompas que cantan la espada de Argantir.
.
. . . .¡Oh Cisne! ¡Oh sacro pájaro! Si antes la blanca Helena
Del huevo azul de Leda brotó de gracia llena,
Siendo de la Hermosura la princesa inmortal,
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. . . .Bajo tus blancas alas la nueva Poesía
Concibe en una gloria de luz y de harmonía
La Helena eterna y pura que encarna el ideal."