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Evil is a fascinating subject.
For centuries philosophers and
theologians have wrestled with the
question: If an all-good God is respon
sible for creation, why is there so much
evil in the world?
News media continually keep us in
formed of evil’s existence and its
countless manifestations.
Artists and writers have always used
evil as subject matter, asking how to
recognize it, how to respond to it, how
to hold people responsible for it.
One of the most notable examples of
the literature on evil is Joseph Conrad’s
“Heart of Darkness.” This is an
allegorical tale of a man’s journey into
the jungle and his progressive discovery
of evil in its many forms.
Conrad tells the story of Marlow who
travels into the Congo in search of
Kurtz, a trader who lives deep in the
jungle and who has not been seen for
years. The narrative is cloaked in
shadows and mystery. As Marlow
steams up the river there is a growing
feeling of foreboding.
We sense that Kurtz is connected
with some unnamed evil and that more
evil will occur. Both the reader and the
main character are strangely attracted
to whatever lies in the darkness.
Marlow’s journey is a gradual
discovery of the universality of evil and
his own capacity for doing evil. It can
exist in social structures and institu
tions. It can also be found in the privacy
of individuals’ lives and in relationships.
In the early stages of his quest, he
encounters evil as a social or collective
phenomenon. For example, he witnesses
the exploitation of native peoples which
has resulted from colonization, slavery,
and commercial greed.
But as his journey continues, the
focus shifts to his encounter with evil
expressed in the person and actions of
Kurtz himself.
This man entered the jungle many
years before with high moral ideals.
Since then he has degenerated and is
now rumored to be responsible for
“unspeakable” acts.
PAGE 10 - The Georgia Bulletin, August 2, 1990
By H. Richard McCord Jr.
Catholic News Service
CNS photo by Mimi Forsyth
Kurtz dies before Marlow can com
plete his mission. We never learn the
precise nature of Kurtz’s evil. Marlow
returns to civilization, irrevocably
changed by his experience of the faces
of evil.
This evocative and captivating story
conveys some important truths about
the existence of evil.
First, evil can be enormously attrac
tive. If it could not lay hold of imagina
tions and wills, why would anyone be
drawn to it?
As it is, people are fascinated by evil
just as they are repelled by it. Consider
the attraction of J.R. Ewing’s greedy
schemes or the Phantom’s twisted sense
of love.
□ □ □
Closely connected with evil’s seduc
tive power is its ambiguity. This is the
second lesson in “Heart of Darkness.”
It is difficult to know how or why
Kurtz fell into moral barbarism. Evil
seems part of the very environment
inhabited by the characters.
To say that evil can be ambiguous is
not to deny its reality. It simply admits
it isn’t always easy to distinguish
between perpetrator and victim, or to
trace the source of the evil or even to
isolate it so that it might be easily
eradicated.
The Watergate story and the Iran
Contra affair are cases in point. So are
sexism, racial prejudice, chronic pover
ty, drugs, the systematic violation of
human rights and the anti-life
mentality.
At the same time, “Heart of
Darkness” makes clear that evil is a per
sonal matter. It is rooted in one’s
freedom to choose.
Kurtz had some ability to determine
his fate. Marlow, at the end of the story,
chooses to conceal the awful truth about
Kurtz from those who had a right to
know.
Both the reader and the main
character are strangely attracted
to whatever lies in the darkness.
In his apostolic exhortation on recon
ciliation and penance, Pope John Paul
II summarizes three realities about
social sin:
First, each individual’s sin affects
others and thereby has repercussions on
the whole human community.
Second, a sin can be social inasmuch
as it weakens the social fabric of our
lives by violating the demands of
justice.
Third, social sin can occur in the rela
tionships between various human com
munities, as in confrontations between
nations.
There is frequently a close relation
ship between social evil and personal
guilt.
When a black youth was killed in the
white neighborhood of Bensonhurst,
N.Y., an individual was convicted, but
the corrupted environment in which he
acted was also recognized.
□ □ □
Appreciating the complexity and
variety of evil present in our world
should not cause us to deny that sin is
always rooted in personal freedom.
The pope writes: “At the heart of
every situation of sin are always to be
found sinful people.”
In “Mere Christianity,” C.S. Lewis
offered this wise insight: “Good and evil
both increase at compound interest ...
The smallest good act today is the cap
ture of a strategic point from which, a
few months later, you may be able to go
on to victories you never dreamed of.”
(McCord is associate director of the
National Conference of Catholic Bishops'
Secretariat for Laity and Family Life.)
FAITH IN THE MARKETPLACE
What do you call
evil? What does
it look like?
“Evil is the use of power that destroys the spiritual growth of others.”
— Myra Hayman, Tampa, Fla.
“Evil is ‘live’ spelled backward! It is a complete rejection, turning away 100 per
cent from God’s gift of eternal life.... Evil disguises itself as good' and ‘beautiful’
and ‘necessary.’" —Patricia M. Connolly, San Antonio, Fla.
“Evil is the absence of love and caring. We see it in people who exhibit traits
contrary to love - such as greed, lust, envy or selfishness. It looks like pollution,
vandalism, war, destruction.” — Donna Grgurich, Canton, ill.
“Evil is the creature who takes children who took 11-year-old Jacob Wetter-
ling from his family.” — Mona Winter, St. Cloud, Minn.
“When I was a little girl, I used to think that evil was the devil with horns —
scary stuff — but now that I’m grown and an adult, I know that people can be evil
in their actions toward others.” — Phyllis Dorsey. Cumberland, Md.
An upcoming edition asks: “What adult religious education event that you participated in really hit home? And why? If you’d like
to respond for possible publication, write: Faith Aiive\ 3211 Fourth St. N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-1100.