A common theme in literature is that of good versus evil. This proves to be true in Alice Sebold’s novel, The Lovely Bones. While it might be hard to imagine any good coming from the story of a brutal rape and murder of a fourteen year old girl, there are moments in the novel that illustrate this battle between good and evil. From the very beginning of the story, we are introduced to good in a young Susie and also to evil in Mr. Harvey. The cruelty with which Mr. Harvey treats this young teenage girl is hard to comprehend. Doris Eder says, “One of Sebold’s most extraordinary imaginative feats in The Lovely Bones is her portrayal of George Harvey. A remarkable study in the banality of evil, he is at once frightening and pathetic,” (Eder
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This struggle between good and evil really manifests itself in this young boy. The innocence of a child is tested when the mother involves him in her shoplifting habits. This is shown when the author states, “And she began handing him the stolen items to hide on his body, and he did it because she wanted him to,” (Sebold 188). The little boy wanted to please his mother, so he was willing to do something that he knew deep down was wrong. The experiences that a young Harvey continue to go through keep shaping him into the adult he would become. In her article, Eder states that “His mother is driven off by his father and afterwards he internalizes her, seeking women and little girls as victims,” (Eder, 2008). The loss of his mother, no matter what bad things she did, created a big hole in Harvey’s childhood. The evil overcomes the good in this young boy as he becomes a serial killer to somehow try and make up for a missing …show more content…
Belluci states in her article, “Though Harvey repeatedly proves to be nearly impossible to catch and without a definitive trail as a suspect, eventually enough evidence surfaces to convince most in the story that he must be responsible for Susie’s death,” (Belluci, 2015). Here the evil starts to break down the safe barriers he has begun to feel. Harvey witnesses Lindsey running from his house with a sketch that could incriminate him. Evil overcomes good again when he very carefully plans out a story to explain to the police what she has found. He actually turns the tables on Lindsey and makes himself out to be the innocent wronged. One article states, “At the end of the novel, in what is apparently meant to be high irony, Harvey, who has managed for years to elude Susie’s increasingly suspicious family and the police, is killed accidentally: as he stands at the edge of a ravine, plotting to attack yet another girl one winter day, he falls when an icicle drops on him,” (Mendelsohn, 2005). Surely, this is the cycle of good versus evil coming to a close on
This struggle between good and evil really manifests itself in this young boy. The innocence of a child is tested when the mother involves him in her shoplifting habits. This is shown when the author states, “And she began handing him the stolen items to hide on his body, and he did it because she wanted him to,” (Sebold 188). The little boy wanted to please his mother, so he was willing to do something that he knew deep down was wrong. The experiences that a young Harvey continue to go through keep shaping him into the adult he would become. In her article, Eder states that “His mother is driven off by his father and afterwards he internalizes her, seeking women and little girls as victims,” (Eder, 2008). The loss of his mother, no matter what bad things she did, created a big hole in Harvey’s childhood. The evil overcomes the good in this young boy as he becomes a serial killer to somehow try and make up for a missing …show more content…
Belluci states in her article, “Though Harvey repeatedly proves to be nearly impossible to catch and without a definitive trail as a suspect, eventually enough evidence surfaces to convince most in the story that he must be responsible for Susie’s death,” (Belluci, 2015). Here the evil starts to break down the safe barriers he has begun to feel. Harvey witnesses Lindsey running from his house with a sketch that could incriminate him. Evil overcomes good again when he very carefully plans out a story to explain to the police what she has found. He actually turns the tables on Lindsey and makes himself out to be the innocent wronged. One article states, “At the end of the novel, in what is apparently meant to be high irony, Harvey, who has managed for years to elude Susie’s increasingly suspicious family and the police, is killed accidentally: as he stands at the edge of a ravine, plotting to attack yet another girl one winter day, he falls when an icicle drops on him,” (Mendelsohn, 2005). Surely, this is the cycle of good versus evil coming to a close on