Essay Question
For this essay you will write a five paragraph essay proving the following quote to be true or false based on what you have read in Lord of the Flies and/or a personal experience you have had. It is important that you include the quote in the first paragraph of the essay. Then decide on three reasons that the quote is true or false.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. - Edmund Burke
This essay prompt is similar to what you will see on the SAT. They will give you a quote and you have to prove through personal experience and books you have read whether it is true or not. They want to hear your personal opinion, and so do I. There is no wrong answer. Remember you really want your first sentences to grab my attention. Make them exciting, interesting, surprising. Have fun with it. The essay is due on Friday, April 25 by midnight.
Please let me know if you need any help along the way!
5 comments:
Daniel Malouf
Mrs. Severson
English
April 24, 2008
The Temporary Battle
Edmund Burke once stated, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” To all problems there is a core reason, a seed to all plants, wood to all cabinets, work behind a grand meal, and brains behind greatness. Behind events, objects, emotions, wealth, and health, there is an underlying reason. Often the triumph of evil is because good individuals do nothing. Evil is like a bacteria. Bacteria thrive in warm environments. When exposed to cold, they shrink back and perish. If honest upright people would be cold to evil, the world would be a better place. One such character is Ralph in Lord of the Flies. Ralph did his best to prevent evil from spreading among the boys, but failed despite his best efforts. On Animal Farm, the good farm animals were dominated by the greedy and self seeking Napoleon. Napoleon reigned with brutality and exploited his subjects. The farm animals had never given him any such authority over them. The good animals failed to do anything against Napoleons tyrannical reign. In The Heart of Darkness, the natives gave in to the Europeans. They did nothing to stop Europe’s greed from infecting their home land. Although resistance may have been futile, it would have been justified. Regardless of the situation, it is our responsibility to stop evil, physically, mentally, and spiritually. When good men stand together, united by the desire to eradicate evil, it can be said they fought the good fight, whether in victory or defeat.
As Ralph fled through the creepers for his life, the realization that his former friends were at that moment chasing after him with spears, must have seemed surreal. Led by Jack, the boys crashed through the island after Ralph, pursuing him like a gazelle among lions. Another thought went through his head, how did this happen? Why had the others gone with the immoral Jack when he was so obviously evil? He remembered pondering the situation when they had just arrived on the island. Looking back he discovered there was little more he could have done. His best efforts to keep the group together had failed miserably. Ralph then realized this situation had been beyond his control from the beginning. There are some things we just can’t do by ourselves he thought. Just as he was about to give up hope of ever getting off the island alive, he fell at the feet of a marine officer. He was saved. Ralph then was made aware of another truth: “with a greater power on our side, there is always hope.” We can see Ralph did is best, but his best was not enough. He had stood in the way of evil, and been pushed aside. The best of Ralph’s efforts were insufficient. Thus evil did triumph, despite Ralph’s attempts.
The books Animal Farm and The Heart of Darkness give us a look at what transpires when evil goes unchecked. In both cases, the results were disastrous. In Animal Farm, Napoleon’s reign was unhindered. He ruled cruelly and broke every one of the seven commandments which had been laid down as law from the beginning. Clover the farm horse suspected the pigs were violating the laws, but never acted on her suspicions. The main reason for this usurpation was simple, the good animals did nothing. They stood by and watched their liberties sucked away. The Heart of Darkness also proves Edmund Burke’s theory. From what the book depicted, the natives did nothing to shake loose Europe’s draining hold on them. They bore their disgrace with submission and without hope. If they had committed themselves to standing in the way of the selfish hordes, their lives possibly may have not been lived in bondage. In both these unfortunate circumstances, evil triumphed. The good did nothing, and were dominated by corrupt, self serving individuals.
Often in life we may feel that certain situations are beyond us. We might think that our words and actions would be too insignificant and have no positive outcome. This is the type of thinking that lands people in regrettable circumstances. Edmund Burke was right on when he stated, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” We see this over and over again in history. Evil can spread like a cancer, if the proper measures are not taken to combat it, the cancer will take over and consume everything, often resulting in death. It is our responsibility to stand for right and stand against evil. Even if our physical efforts do not curb the growing evil, we know good will prevail in the end, and our endeavors are not seen as vain in God’s eyes. We must never accept evil in our hearts, but continue to lead by example. If the good in society refuse to stand up against evil and for what is right, we are doomed.
By sticking together and standing up against evil, we can impede and potentially stop it. Although evil takes on many forms, evil is still evil. In our every day activities we see wickedness. The question is “Will we do something about it?” Ralph certainly tried. Regardless of his attempts to maintain unity and humanity, he ultimately failed. But could look back and honestly say he did the right thing. The animals on Animal Farm could not say the same. They were dominated by Napoleon, and did nothing to stop him. The natives in The Heart of Darkness did nothing as well. Edmund Burke’s statement is true. If good men do nothing, evil will definitely triumph. If good men stand up against evil, there is a fair chance good will win. In the world, we want good to infect evil, instead of evil infecting good. For when honest upright people cease to remain, what will impede immorality from being the standard by which people live? Thankfully Jesus Christ will reign in the end. Good has already won. These battles we endure now are temporary, and will not affect the eternal outcome.
Edmund Burke once said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Now in Lord of the Flies, the evil was inside the boys, even though Jack was the voice. Before that happened Ralph had tried to keep the kids in order and semi-civilized. The only other person in the group that didn’t want to be savage was Piggy. And his head ended up getting split open.
There are three reasons why this statement is true. The first we can see just through Ralph. He tried to stop the evil all on his own, with only help from Piggy. The statement says for good men to do nothing. Two people won’t cut it. So even though the evil inside the kids did win and Ralph barely got out alive, had there been more opposed to Jack, he would not have been able to rise to power. If you look back to the beginning of the book, Jack wanted to hunt instead of keeping the fire alive but Ralph wouldn’t let him; the reason Jack didn’t fight that was because Ralph had people on his side.
The second reason can be taken from when Edmund Burke was alive. Edmund Burke lived from 1729-1797 and strongly opposed the English oppression on the American colonies, but supported the English in the French revolution. In the statement, you can interpret it as the Americans as the ‘good men’ and the English as ‘evil’ which might have been his original intent. If you do interpret it this way, the reason the Americans won was because they were united, unlike Ralph and Piggy, who didn’t have people on their side.
The third and final reason why this statement is true can be found in Cry, Beloved Country. The natives were fine, living on their own, without technology and then the white men came. The white men made themselves rulers of the natives land and though they did bring the natives things like cities and technological benefits, the natives did nothing to stop them. In the end, the white’s became the rulers and the natives were basically their slaves. They worked in the mines, mining white man’s gold but never seeing any of the rewards.
When Edmund Burke said this, he was completely correct. In a nutshell, these are just a few of many possible examples of why this statement is true. In Lord of the Flies, Jack rises to power through seducing the pack by meat. There were not enough people to oppose him so he had no problem. In 1776 the Americans stood united and were able to free themselves of oppressive England. And finally in Cry, the Beloved Country the natives did nothing to stop the rise of alien power and eventually became extremely overworked near to the point of slavery. Had any of their circumstances changed, Jack not rising to power, and English still controlling America, countless other things in this world would be different.
Kevin Doody
Literature/Composition
Mrs. Severson
4/25/08
The Triumph of Evil
The war between good and evil has been addressed and struggled with in a multitude of ways. It is a constant battle, which we all participate in daily. How can good triumph over evil? Edmond Burke stated, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” There are three valid examples proving this statement to be false. The first is evidenced in the novel, Lord of the Flies. The second example comes from my life as I struggle with sin. Lastly, we must consider the heavily debated topic of abortion and how it relates to the idea of good versus evil.
The evil that is rooted deep within us will emerge when we are unchecked. “Which is better—to be a pack of painted Indians like you are, or be sensible like Ralph is? … Which is better—to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill? … Which is better, law and rescue, or hunting and breaking things up?” (Golding 180) These pleads came from Ralph and Piggy. This was the summation of their struggle with the innate evil that was eating away at the children’s precarious society. These courageous children had done all that they could to persuade their companions that they must remain organized with the goal of being rescued. Their pleads were in vain, however, because the other children had become infatuated with their newfound freedom. They had become solely focused on pleasing themselves through hunting and savagery. Becoming greatly irritated with Ralph and Piggy the children succeeded in killing poor Piggy and seriously wounding Ralph. In this case, evil was victorious. Evil prevailed over the good intentions of Ralph and Piggy. They had no chance against the sheer numbers of Jack’s followers. Evil succeeded despite the good opposing it.
Evil triumphs over good when we attempt to make the right decisions in our own power. It is a constant struggle for me, as it is everyone. When we are faced with a choice, our natural inclination is to do the thing that is easiest and most satisfying. And, without God’s help, we will choose it. Those who do not have God’s help, try to make right choices in their own power which is extremely difficult. We try to triumph over the evil in our bad choices by ourselves. We struggle and fight, but without God, we will never win. Therefore, Edmond Burke’s statement is proven to be false once again. In our own power, evil will always come out victorious.
Although there are millions of individuals who are against the atrocity of abortion, it is still practiced daily. Despite our efforts to abolish abortion, it runs rampant in our society. We know that abortion is wrong because it’s murder. But because abortion is the easiest solution to an unwanted baby, about 26 million women obtain legal abortions each year. An additional 20 million abortions are obtained in countries where it is restricted or prohibited by law (www.abortionno.org). But retaliation is a reality. Organizations like Life Dynamics, a pro-life institution, are devoted to saving infant’s lives. Unfortunately, this effort is without great effect. "Whatever we believe abortion is, we know one thing: government doesn't work, and it is as incapable of eliminating abortions as it is of eliminating poverty or drugs." (Harry Browne). Our attempts to destroy abortion are foiled by ones who have no regard for life because they continue to take the least challenging and easy route.
No matter the amount of effort we apply to the triumph of evil, we will always fail. So how can good triumph over evil? Evil will continue to triumph over good unless there is a changed life in Jesus. Without His redeeming power, we will forever be lost in our own fickle ways that are longing for the easiest route. With the change that Jesus has in our lives when we accept him comes a desire to put away our selfishness. We will begin to see the world through Jesus’ eyes.
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