Evilness...

Evilness can exist in every soul, every person is capable of being evil. I believe that people can learn evilness while the most evil ones are born evil, born with the bad seeds. Until Oedipus, I would've said that everyone is born equal but since Oedipus Rex, I understand more about fate, and accept fate more openly, I believe people can be born evil.

Society can feed people with evilness, with its television, movies, books, magazines, videogames, and of course, people. Parents can influence children the most. From them, people learn the art of evil and if the parents are evil, the kids are most likely to be evil. Children exhibit behaviors that are demonstrated by their parents, and that's why people say "like father, like son."

A recent Time article talks about the science of being evil. People who are good, can certainly turn evil in times of one's survival. People are also more likely to turn bad to people we are not familiar with or resemble, such as the example of a boy who was asked if it was ok to mug an elderly woman. The boy said no, but when asked who it would've been ok, he said, "A Chinese delivery guy." Now I, for one, would not mug a Chinese delivery guy because he was simply "Chinese." But what I definitely felt was a. I wanted to punch that kid and b. yeah well I don't know the kid and it won't happen anyways. If I knew the kid and was familiar with him, I would've not felt like punching the kid. So our brain has to do with evil decisions and evil actions.

I got a little off topic, but here is what I think. Some people can be born plain evil because it's in their genes. The genes affect how people act and everything. If the parents are evil, they are born bad. I remember reading/watching something about a kid who has evil parents and was adopted into a really nice family. At first, it seemed like the kid was going to be all nice and happy but that didn't happen and he resembled his parents. I don't remember what that show/movie/book was called but I'm sure someone has heard of this. So yeah, my answer is you can be born evil and you can be good and turn evil.

S.O.S: Complex Love

Of course, we all know that love in Song of Slomon dominates the whole book. But when people refer to love they automatically refer to Hagar and Milkman or Porter and Corinthians or whoever had sex in the book. The complexity of love in Song of Solomon not only comes from two lovers, it also comes from families, materialism, and races.

Between Ruth and her father, there is a strange, posthumus love. She has depended on him for a long time and she has loved him forever. Then there is the fervent love from Hagar to Milkman. Milkman didn't want her, so she had to sell hate. Then there is the sweet mother-daughter love between Pilate, Reba, and Hagar. Their love is so strong, so unified that they didn't need husbands to support them, except for Hagar who couldn't mature enough to understand that she did not need Milkman. Unlike all these people, Macon has love for no one. He has love for a thing. He loves money. His life revolves around money and because of his love for money, he has created hate toward his sister, Pilate. How unfortunate.

Now here is the kind of love that people can relate to. Love for your own race. The Seven Days was created in order to love black people, not to hate white people. Robert Smith, Porter, and Guitar joined the faction to love, not to hate. They wanted to give voice to black people. They wanted white people to know that they weren't going to take racism. The only thing they accepted was love.