A Comparison Of Evil In Serene Words And The Secret Sharer

The battle between good and evil has inspired discussions for centuries on end. Whether one consciously realizes it or not, all of humanity faces the choice between good and evil, light and darkness, God’s will or one’s own on a daily basis. “Man has the power to know the right, to choose between good and evil and know that his choice has made a difference...” (Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon) Both Gabriela Mistral’s poem “Serene Words” and Joseph Conrad’s, “The Secret Sharer, effectively bring to light the continuous battle between good and evil, choice and consequence, peace and disparity. Mistral actively addresses goodness through personal life reflection. She gleans towards truth, which has provided her the wisdom to understand
Mistral goes on to proclaim, “There is nothing now that can pierce my flesh. With love, all turmoil ceased” (Mistral, 1922, p. 559). She encourages her readers to recognize the goodness of each day, of each year and to not let the darkness or pain rob one of his or her peace. While Mistral actively addresses goodness, Joseph Conrad actively addresses darkness. The narrator is overwhelmed with darkness and solitude so much so that he is drawn to the very presence of it. The captain is somewhat fixated upon Leggatt, a murderous fugitive who he helps hide aboard his ship. Time and again, the captain states he sees himself in Leggatt, often referring to the fugitive as his “double” (Conrad, 2009). The captain explains, “ in a moment [Leggatt] had concealed his damp body in a sleeping suit of the same gray-stripe pattern as the one I was wearing and followed me like my double on the poop. Together we moved right aft, barefooted, silent” (Conrad, 2009). Not once, did the captain condemn Leggatt but rather approved of him and understood his hateful actions (Conrad, 2009). Leggatt’s very being is a strong symbol of darkness, distress, evilness, and solitude (Conrad, 2009). In the eyes
I do not think I have read such descriptive honesty in a while. I found Mistral’s piece to be very inspiring especially after further research on her life. For a woman who has endure such pain, that most will never have to endure, Mistral stands firm in her faith in God. She does not bow to the darkness of despair but holds strong to the Light in her Father. I hope I can only be so strong one day. Furthermore, this poem was also a very humbling read. It is easy for this generation to believe that we have experience a deal of life. However, the reality is— we have not. We can get so consumed with our lives, our needs, our successes, our failures that we think we have pretty much endured all that life has to offer but the reality is we have not even scratched the surface. Mistral realized that with age and experience comes wisdom. We find more beauty in life even in the midst of agony as we grow in wisdom and surrender. Mistral was surrendered. I needed to be more surrender to God in every area of my life. “There is nothing now that can pierce my flesh. With love, all turmoil ceased”. God is love, no turmoil can exist in his presence. Although a dark and somber story, I did gather insights from Joseph Conrad’s “The Secret Sharer” as well. It reminded me that we live in a broken world. Darkness is often present if not always. This piece truly reminded me of my humanity. It is too easy as Christians to forget our brokenness. We all live in