Evil in the Society - Literature Essay Example

Literature creates a world of speculative fiction. Readers or audiences are engaged in an organized speculative fictional world that reflects what happens in the real community. Octavia Butler envisions the vast space of possibilities of fiction in the novel Wild Seed. Like Butler, Okorafor continues to envision forms of organizing fiction of how e evil is depicted in characters in the novel Who Fears Death. The same concept of evil has been depicted in the film Wake written and directed by Newsome Bree. Society is full of evil and as Butler in Wild Seed Okorafor in Who Fears Death and Newsome in her film Wake depict, people contribute significantly towards existence of evil. This paper will examine the thematic relationship between the two stories and the film.

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Evil in the society has been widely explored in the novel Wild Seed through the protagonist, Doro and other characters like Anyanwu. In the text, the author depicts magic as the source of evil. People who practice magic have the power to control nature, and this makes them drawn to evil thoughts and activities. For instance, Doro kills others and takes their body without considering how their lives are meaningful. Through his magic, he uses the village where Anyanwu comes from as the breeding place for those he can kill and take their body and also misuse for his breeding experiment. In her novel Who Fears Death Okorafor depicts the evil in Okeke community. The evil has been practiced for many years and generation to generation; the narrator explains that Onyesonwu is a pawn of sorcerers who pass her from one master to another who appears to be a seriously bad news (Okorafor 316). The author depicts evil through characters like Onyesonwu and her mother who go through evil experiences in the hands of people like Mwita who is a master of sorcerers (Okorafor 317). In her novel, Okorafor uses the society to depict evil. People misuse their powers to infringe the rights of others. Onyesonwus mother is raped with the aim of breeding a child who will bear the power to protect the innocent from being subjected from the same kind of predicaments that Onyesonwus mother was subjected. The people from Nuru are powerful, and they use the Okeke as slaves. Consequently, the film Wake also depicts evil through the character Christina who murders her father and later enslaves another man with the aim of getting what she desires.

The authors use female characters in their works to show the struggle of women in the African communities. In her story Who Fears Death Okorafor shows the kinds of evils that women are subjected to. Women are used as objects or tools to meet mens desire. According to feminist approach, the feminist literary materials depict the experiences of women in the society. Onyesonwus mother is used as a breeding objective to bear the child who will rescue the community; the child is related to John the Baptist in the Bible (Okorafor 318). Instead of seeking her consent, she is raped and forced to bear the pain and challenges including isolation from the rest of the society. On the other hand, Butler also examines the experiences that women go through. Her story also conquers with Okorafors that women are tools of their male counterparts. In her story, Butler depicts evil against women through the character Anyanwu. Anyanwu is used by Doro to breed children for his ritualistic activities. Although she also has magical powers like her master Doro, Anyanwu continues to breed children for him as he dictates when she has to breed. The same is evident in the film Wake where women are subject to male dominance. Her father controls her life; however, when she finds a way to break from this bondage, Christina does not hesitate to take the opportunity.

Despite being faced with evil challenges that surround them, female characters have been depicted as fighters against their incumbent predicaments. Both authors have presented characters who struggle to fight against the forces that want to take over the lives. For example, in her novel Who Fears Death Okorafor depicts Onyesonwus mother and how she struggles to fight against the evil society she finds herself. Although she is just a slave woman from the marginalized Okeke community, she decides to move away from her oppressors, the Nuru. By running away from the Nuru, she declares to protect herself and her unborn child from the same predicaments. Okorafor depicts how women work towards their freedom in a male dominated society. Most of the African communities, the male have dominance over their wives and everything else. However, as Okorafor and other feminist writers depict in their stories, women tend to break away from this patriarchal society where they are considered subjects of the male. Consequently, in her story Wild Seed Butler depicts female character, Anyanwu who struggles to free herself from the magical bondage of Doro. Anyanwu believes that Doro is giving her children that she desired to have but Doro has a different intention for her; Doro says that then she realized that I could give her girls (Butler 146). After bearing her children for some years, Anyanwu manages to free herself after her husband dies and moves away from Doro. Christina in the film Wake also shows the process of attaining freedom. She manages to get out of the bondage by killing her father with her magical powers. Although she is old enough, she feels that she has attained her first step towards life because her previous life was controlled by someone else. Therefore, the first breath she takes after killing her father seems to her like the first breath of her life. Both stories and film present characters who are subjected to a total despair in life; however, this does not deter them from making the next step towards liberating themselves from the imprisonment and patriarchal male domination.

Although characters have magical powers to help them break from the evil bondages of the society, it is their free will that enables them to make the first step towards obtaining liberation. Anyanwu in the novel Wild Seed has magic just like Doro; however, she has been working all along with his commands because no one dares to oppose him (Butler 177). For example, the narrator says that who knew what punishment he might have to inflict (Butler 177). It is her free will that sets her on the path towards redeeming herself after the death of her husband. It is not because of magic but because of consciousness; therefore, the author tries to depict that people make their choices and the supernatural forces have no control over the life of people. The choice they make with the powers they have depends on their conscious level. Some people will use the power for good purposes while others will use it for evil purposes. Anyanwu in the story Wild Seed uses her powers to heal people while Doro uses his magical powers to imprison other people like Anyanwu. In the story Who Fears Death Onyesonwus mother knows that her child bears the powers but decides to protect her from misusing them by moving away from Nuru. On the other hand, Christina in the film decides to use her magical power against her blood in an evil manner but for the right purpose of setting herself free from her domineering father. Newsome tries to explain that people can become evil in their free will. No supernatural force controls the choice of what a person becomes. After killing her father, Christina decides to use the evil ways to obtain her desires. For instance, she uses her magic on another man with the hope of getting him to be the man she desires. What Newsome tries to depict in this story is that people have the free will of making choices; however, the outcome depends on the kind of choice that one makes.

People have different perceptions about the superstitious powers. Some people view it as a means to liberate themselves while others view it as evil. In the story Wild Seed Doro uses magic for his selfish gains. He believes that magic is the means to achieve his desires; for instance, he practices colonial suppression over his people (Butler 177). Anyanwu despite having the magic, she decides to help other people who have problems by healing them. In the film, Wake Christina believes that her magical power is the means to achieve her desires including the man of her dream. On the other hand, the story Who Fears Death depicts a character who thinks that magic is the cause of evil in the society. Onyesonwus mother runs from Nuru and keeps her daughter away from magical powers because she does not believe in harming other people for self-interest gains.

In conclusion, this paper has examined the theme of evil and how evil manifests itself in the two stories, Wild Seed and Who Fears Death and the film Wake. Through the characters, we have seen how evil can manifest in the society. Both stories and film show that people are the vessels in which evil transforms to the society. Although they have the option of making choices, some people like Doro in the story Wild Seed and Christina in the film Wake prefer to choose the evil because they want to gain their self-interest desires. Other people like Onyesonwus mother in the story decide to stay away from magic and any form of evil because she believes that people have a choice.

Works Cited

Butler, Octavia E. Wild Seed. Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday 1980.

Okorafor, Nnedi. Who fears death. Vol. 1512. Penguin, 2011.