Comparative of the Moral Sense similarity
The short story’s Possibility of Evil and Bolt of White Cloth characters way of thinking is influenced by the moral perception of the surrounding environment and people. Each individual is considered to have his or her principles and a different view on morality. The characters in the story The Possibility of Evil written by Shirley Jackson and the Bolt of White Cloth by Leone Rooke their way of thinking and acting get influenced by their societal view and also by the way they perceive the people around them. Miss Strangeworth in the possibility of Evil looks at the society, and the people as Evil and that perception do her act in a way she thinks are suitable for the community. On the contrary, the Bolt of White Cloth centres on a couple who sees the society around them in an open mind and respects and welcomes other people’s principles and for that reason the couple acts in their unique moral way.
In both stories, the characters need to belong to a moral society, but their way of building morality differs. Societal acceptance highly motivates people. Each society has norms which define and judge the morality of action from its individuals (Schwöbel 337). Hence, people tend to try hard to align with the moral perception of the society they stay for them to be accepted. Miss Strangeworth, in Jackson’s story, considers herself as the oldest resident of the town and sees the new setting full of lustful people and evil people. According to Miss Strangeworth, she had a guardian duty to cleanse the city off the wickedness and restore the public morals and standards. She sends anonymous letters to her neighbours, alerting them about an immoral issue concerning them that she had witnessed. The closed mindset led her to believe that actions would lead to societal acceptance from a more moral environment. On the other side, the couples in the Bolt of White cloth open mind leads to accepting strangers and connecting with people in a joyous way that not everyone would act. The couples build their societal acceptance by incorporating love and kind in their moral perception. The Bolt of White Cloth demonstrates the morality in trusting in humanity and showing love to people. The characters of both novels create a moral society differently.
In both stories, the characters desire to achieve morality as the outcome of their actions, but their path to righteousness is different. The two stories show the contradiction of morality and demonstrate how virtue is a mind constructed concept. What Miss Strangeworth considers to be righteous and ethical contradicts with what with the couple’s view of righteousness and ethics. Miss Strangeworth, in Possibility of Evil, hurts people through what she thinks is the right way to do by using hurtful words. She has own concept of what right and Evil, the idea of morality in her thinking is individually based and most people would disagree with the perception. However, the couples in Bolt of White Cloth story construction of morality seem to be what everyone would agree to be the right concept. Most people would agree with love for humanity and kindness to be an ethical and righteous way to act. Therefore, in both novels, the characters need their actions to be moral, but what they perceive to be ethical differs.
The two novels portray acts of deceiving which have an impact on people in the narrative society. To other neighbours, Miss Strangeworth seems an innocent and harmless person, but underneath her reserved personality, the motives of her actions unknowingly hurt people. The people are deceived by Miss Strangeworth innocent looks and how well she interacts with them and considers her harmless. The hidden immoral actions of Miss Strangeworth resulted in her losing her most treasured possession, her roses. In Bolt of the White cloth, the couple, at first sight, the travelling stranger as someone who could help them; the husband shows an unwillingness to trust the stranger at first then the wife seems to doubt the trade the traveller mentions. The stranger offered the wife a cloth believed to change the suffering condition of the two and strengthen the unconditional love the couples had for each other. How the stranger looked hopeless must have deceived the couple into thinking that the help can only be offered from them to the stranger and not the other way round. In this instance, the moral actions of the couples rewarded them; they receive a cloth which solved their problems.
In conclusion, the two novels rotate through moral consideration through each Character’s action. The difference in moral perception in the book is a demonstration of the environment’s influence on the characters’ way of thinking and acting. In both stories, the characters need to belong to a moral society, but their way of building morality differs. According to Miss Strangeworth, she had a guardian duty to cleanse the city off the evil and restore the public morals and standards, but her actions hurt the people she needs to restore righteousness in. In both stories, the characters desire to achieve morality as the outcome of their actions, but their path to righteousness is different. The two novels portray acts of deceiving which have an impact on people in the narrative society. Both stories show that underneath each action, an intended moral is desired to be achieved.
Works cited
Schwöbel, C. (2017). The many faces of Evil: philosophical and theological conversations on the experience of Evil. International Journal of Philosophy and Theology, 78 (4-5), 334-347.