Reflection part 2 on " the stranger on the lifeboat": Belief in good will always prevail evil

Reflection part 2 on " the stranger on the lifeboat": Belief in good will always prevail evil

Some truths on the life raft were uncovered. There was a scheme, which was plotted long before the yacht's voyage. Dobby, the cousin of Benji, who is the protagonist of this novel, sneakily brought a bomb onto the vessel. Dobby thinks the world is unfair. It only favors a group of people, those with wealth, status, and privileges. Ordinary people like him would never have the chance to fight for their own fates, for those men of note tightly grasped their destinies. Since little, Dobby has borne this grudge in his mind, and he eventually takes the last action to throw his criticism of this world by blowing up the ship. Dobby asked Benji to assist him, for he knew pretty well that Benji was also desperate and disappointed in this world as him.

 

    Benji refused his request, while he didn’t stop Benji the last time he saw him. He assumed what Dobby said would not going to happen. While eventually, Dobby literally implemented this felony. So far, Benji is the accomplice of this tragic accident. He missed and even gave up the opportunity to stop these horrible things from happening. He just sat back shielded himself from the fear of the unknown.

Nonetheless, this novel also reveals two opposite sides of humanity, good and evil. In our eyes, Benji has been the sinner for the sinking yacht, and he is far from being a “victim” of this incident. When Dooby told him his plan, he was in deep fear. He knew all the people would die from the bombard, including themselves. He trembled when thinking about the outcome, and there was always a voice telling him not to consider all these sinful deeds when Dobby tried to induce him. He seethed and told Dobby, “You are talking about killing people,” and he shook his head toward Dobby. Benji was also suffered from the sink of his morality and struggled with the choice of maintaining humanity and surviving. When other people on the boat asked Benji to catch the bird on the flap of the canopy, he prayed for it to fly, save itself, save him. The man doesn’t even dare to kill a bird when facing a life-and-death matter, how come he would be willing to heartlessly kill hundreds of people? Benji kept pacing up and down in the doorway of irredeemable hell, while he never really turned the door handle of falling.

 

    We are human beings, and good and evil are fluid. They composed the complexity of human nature. Even though evil exists and might always exist, the faith of trusting the power of goodwill eventually prevails over evil and empowers the belief in men's goodness.