“Man produces evil as a bee produces honey” (Golding). In a Nobel Prize speech, Golding stated that man is inherently evil by nature. Influenced by this idea, Golding shifted to literature and wrote The Lord of the Flies, depicting the behavior of children in a dystopian society. Later in the 20th century and into the 21st century, two authors, similar to Golding, that integrated their book’s settings as a dystopian society to show man’s inherent evil were Cormac McCarthy and Shirley Jackson. McCarthy, a father, wondering what would happen in a post-apocalyptic world with his son, wrote The Road. Similarly, by using the setting of a post-apocalyptic world, Jackson wrote “The Lottery”, establishing the setting as a dystopian society where people…show more content… After Bill Hutchinson reveals the marked paper’s owner, Mr. Summers says, “All right folks, let’s finish her quickly” (Jackson 7). Jackson clearly depicts that, in order to protect the tradition and keep it going, Mr. Summers kills Mrs. Hutchinson. The desire to maintain the village’s tradition pushes Mr. Summers to keep killing people. The two authors clearly argue that their morals are affected by a desire to protect themselves. Many critics also argue that man’s inherent evil is shown by a desire to protect. In her critique, “McCarthy's the Road and Ethical Choice in a Post-Apocalyptic World”, Jingjing Guo focuses on the ethical context in a post-apocalyptic world full of cannibalism and the man’s choice to maintain goodness for his son. Guo states that “although he decides to follow the principle of ethics, he sometimes betrays his moral principle when confronted with bad people... when one of them holds the boy against his chest with the knife at his throat, the father does not hesitate to shoot him” (Guo). Guo thinks that man’s evil is directly caused by society, as they confront bad people, meaning the man’s use of violence is caused by his need to protect his
