I think it is obvious that the difference between good and evil in this book is the existence of love. In the quote on pages 201 and 202, the unity of the family presents the most pure image of joy in the book. By listing every one of the family members’ names, including the dog joining in, makes all of the individuals become a true family unit for the first time in the book. Fortinbras could “bear being left out of the happiness not one second longer.” This use of language implies that happiness is not reached until one is a part of the family unit.
L’Engle is trying to show, not only that evil is life without love, but also life without true feeling. Therefore, I think the “it” in this book doesn’t only refer to IT, but the entire world of Camazotz. It fits better with our class description of “it” meaning soulless. The people of Camazotz are merely robots, controlled by IT. The entire world of Camazotz is L’Engle’s representation of evil in my opinion.
On the other hand, to be “good” means to feel. On page 228, Meg finally discovers what truly separates her from the evil. “Love. That was what she had that IT did not have.” I think that L’Engle is trying to prove that a creature that is loved and loves back cannot be evil.
I agree to some extent with this argument, but I definitely think there can be exceptions. I feel like it can be harmful to portray this type of argument in such a “fairy tale, happy-ending” type story. It gives that feeling that a lot of modern day movies do that “love conquers all.” While I agree that things are more likely to be evil without love, I don’t think everything that has been loved is not evil. The idea that Meg could conquer the most evil she has ever encountered by simply embracing the power of love is slightly dangerous. There are many evils in the world (such as natural disasters), that love is not going to keep from harming us. Love can, however, help us overcome the difficulties that come with these travesties. I think this also relates to spending a life fighting for one and against the other. There are constantly struggles and hurdles in life that we must fight against and we usually do it for survival, and the survival of our loved ones. It’s worth the fight to save the ones we love. Meg was scared out of her mind to go face IT for the second time, but she fought the fear for the sake of her beloved brother.
I agree with you that the existence of love is what is good in the book but I think the lack of love is the evil in the book, not necessarily the whole planet of Camazotz. I think that lacking love can mean, obviously, not caring about others and their own free wishes. With this being said, I think IT’s lack of love is what is evil, and IT lacking love causes IT to want to control people and draw them away from their free will. So I don’t think the people of the planet or the whole planet is evil because both of them lack love. They only lack love and free will because of IT’s lack of love, making only IT’s lack of love the source of the evil.
ReplyDelete