West of Eden

During Eve’s time in the Garden of Eden, she unintentionally became the first person to have ever disobeyed God. Prior to the creation of Eve, Adam was told by God “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17). Later when Eve was created, she was made aware of Gods order to not consume the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. However, one day in the Garden of Eden a Serpent appeared and…

In The Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses allegory to portray how the boys on the island represent the corruption of man. Lawrence Friedman, in his 1997 essay “Grief, Grief, Grief: Lord of the Flies”, states that “the island opens in Eden.” He uses this to show how the boys are allusions to Adam and Eve, being in paradise, bringing sin and evil, and then ultimately destroying it. In his essay, “Good Grief: Lord of the Flies as a post war rewriting of salvation history”, Marijke van Vuuren…

Grendel from Beowulf and Satan from Paradise Lost can be both compared and contrasted, shown by the text. Grendel is described as an evil, powerful monster (Beowulf 23). Satan in the story Paradise Lost, is also described as a monster born of cain and the archenemy of God (Beowulf 38-51). While Beowulf’s Grendel and Paradise Lost’s Satan exemplify power, evil, and unsuccessfulness, their tactics prove different. Grendel and Satan can be compared as powerful. We can see this in Grendel through…

A renowned American author, John Steinbeck, once said, “power does not corrupt...fear corrupts.” To twist Steinbeck’s words, perhaps it is the fear of losing power that corrupts an individual’s morals. Many works of art and literature represent the ideas of power and corruption; such works include the painting Massacre of the Innocents by Peter Paul Rubens and William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Massacre of the Innocents is based on a biblical scene in which the Roman King Herod learns that a new…

“And to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). One aspect of the Ephesians' verse that is applicable to William Golding's Lord of the Flies is the idea of righteousness and the character who represents that idea is Simon. In the story an all boys British school crash lands on an island. With no adults to supervise them many of the boys went into their savage tendances because there is no order for them to follow. Out of all of them,…

"His body glided quietly across the room, noiselessly and smoothly. His hands were in front of him, palms down, and his eyes were on the scorpion." This scene plays out on page 6 of John Steinbeck's The Pearl. The setting of John Steinbeck's The Pearl takes place in La Paz, Mexico. Some interesting details that drew me into reading this novel is the storyline of the novel. The storyline relates to the storyline of Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea where both protagonists from each book…

How Disobedience Affects Humanity Disobedience has played a major part in human history, starting with Adam and Eve. At the beginning of human history, Adam and Eve displayed disobedience toward God which ultimately changed the perfection of the world. People continue to disobey orders, however, disobeying an order can be beneficial in some circumstances. The movie Hacksaw Ridge is about Desmond Doss and his disobedience toward his commander, however, the result of his defiance created a…

The Book of Genesis chapters 1 and 2 tells us that God created the world by his spoken word. God created the world in 7 days, in which is why we have 7 days in the week. God created the heavens, the earth and everything that lives. He made humankind in his image, and gave them charge over the earth. On Day 1, God created light from the dark chaotic world. God spoke, “Let there be light.” (Genesis 1:3) and there was light. On Day 2, God created the heavens and earths. God divided the…

The book of Genesis presents God as being directly involved with the development of humanity, particularly during the time spent with Adam in the Garden. The closeness is continued in Exodus as God uses Moses to guides the Hebrews out of the oppressive system in Egypt. The scriptures of Deuteronomy and Joshua continue to examine God’s closeness with the Hebrews. The laws given to the Hebrews that describe how they should conduct themselves suggests God’s concern for the Hebrew’s well-being.…

interpretation. Luther 's extreme dislike of the use of allegory came directly from extreme levels of dislike for the arrogance of the Catholic Church and it’s Officials. Luther provides great reason for this belief when he discusses his views on the Garden of Eden, compared to members of the Catholic Church. As a child, Martin Luther’s eyes were forced to be centered upon the harsh realities…