Consequences of Evil - Are they always bad?

Most people would define what the Jan'ata is doing as evil and that it should be stopped. The idea is that if the population is unbalanced, they must kill off offspring to keep a sense of balance. Looking at it strictly in that light, yes it can definitely be considered evil but what if on that planet, what they are doing is actually benefiting the population as a whole?
        Emilio says,

"I am not defending them. I am trying to explain to you what happened and why. But it is their society, and they pay their own price for their way of life... there are no beggars on Rakhat. There is no unemployment. There is no overcrowding. No starvation. No environmental degradation. There is no genetic disease. The elderly do not suffer decline. Those with terminal illness do not linger. They pay a terrible price for this system, but we too pay, Felipe, and the coin we use is the suffering of children. How many kids starved to death to this afternoon, while we sat here? Just because their corpses aren't eaten doesn't make our species any more moral".

         This passage was really powerful but we are so quick to judge what is right or wrong and what is evil and what is good, but the consequences of it all may justify the act, after all. Looking at it from a utilitarian point of view, the consequences are all that matters. If they have to kill off a few offspring to present the greatest good for the greatest number, who are we to judge what is right and what is wrong? Emilio presented a controversial problem because as humans, you don't want to look at your world and think we are the ones doing something wrong. We like to think of ourselves as good and that we moral human beings.

Hunger Games and The Sparrow

Oddly enough that this movie comes out March 23rd but I made a lot of connections from this book (The Hunger Games) to The Sparrow.
The districts can be seen as the Runa in The Sparrow and the capital can be presented as the Jan'ata. The capital controls the districts much like the Jan'ata control the Runa. The capital uses the districts as a form of entertainment at the districts expense and the capital lives in a life of richness as the majority of districts struggle to get by. Although there are a lot more districts then there are members of the capital, the capital seem to remain in power just like the Runa and the Jan'ata. In both books, the evil that those in power demonstrate are examples of banal evil. Their evil has become a normal thing in both societies. The districts follow and obey the capital much like the Runa do. They are both part of a society where the instant someone is born, they are already a mere object that those in power own and use to their own benefit. Much like the Runa did, the districts form some type of a riot against the capital in attempt to overthrow them which resulted in a lot more people getting killed and hurt in the process- this goes for both books. The evil presented in both books from those in power is so ordinary that no one seems to question it or doubt it. Instead, they conform to it and obey whatever they are told to do. The capital 'trains' the districts in a manner where once they are a part of the hunger games, they will be good enough to put on an entertaining show with twists and surprises, in comparison to the Runa being bred just to satisfy the Jan'ata.

Jessica Frias

The Symbol Hands

The symbolism of hands presents itself a few times over the course of the book. One of the prime examples I found was the when the book said Emilio had his hands open to God while others had their hands clenched. I searched in our encyclopedia for the explanation behind open vs clenched hands and found it to be very interesting.
Open hands meant blessing, welcome and protection whereas clenched hands meant aggression and threat. Transferring these meanings to the book, it is saying Emilio was welcoming God where others were seeing God as a threat.

Jessica Frias

An Addition to Hands

There have been many posts about hands on this blog but it is necessary because the symbol of hands is a very important and prominent symbol throughout the book. As described earlier in the blog, hands are considered to be the tools of tools and hands being so important in what make humans unique, taking that away from someone can have them lose their identity as someone of worth or even have them lose their connection to their humanity. Emilio is trying to think of why they would do such a thing to his hands and he knew they did not mean evil intentions because the aliens often did this to their own friends. This shows how different people can have different views on what can be considered evil. For the people on earth, it is seen as evil because it is unknown and they do not understand the reasoning behind it but for the aliens they did not have evil intentions at all. Emilio thinks they did this either because; to them, having long hands is more beautiful to them or for the alien that did this to his hands to show everyone that they can afford to house useless dependents in his household. This is evidence that it is very difficult to classify anything as evil because there are always many motives or points of view to any action.

Another hands connection that can be made is that since hands are said that they may almost be said to speak. Emilio’s hands are destroyed in the beginning, so he speaks as little as possible but when he gets his hand bracers to help him move his hands and function slightly better, he begins to speak more often. By the end of the book when Emilio has the newest bracers that are comfortable on his arms and function well, he is speaking about what happened to him (the most he ever has spoken) and eventually tells John Candotti everything which seemed like it would never happen in the beginning of the book while his hands were rendered useless.

-Adam Zack 

Evil from Jana’ata

  Throughout the book there are several examples of evil involving the Jana'ata. The Jana'ata use the Runa society as literally as means to an end. The idea of arendt is shown various times. The Jana'ata breed the Runa to satisfy themselves. The Runa have an absence of rights and freedom but do not seem to even notice this due to the Jana'ata manipulating them. Ironically the Jana'ata value honour and justice highly and believe themselves to be stewards and guardians of the Runa. The Jana'ata seem to be all about balance -- coincidentally much like the symbol for justice. They choose when the Runa can breed and how many offspring they can produce and when they may do so. As mentioned before, they do this in order to control population. If too many offspring are produced, the solution is simply to kill the babies to remain 'balanced'. This can be seen as an example of moral evil.
                                                -Jessica Frias

The Symbol Eyes

A quick list of attributes on the symbolic meaning of eyes:
 The Runa and Jana’ata differ from humans in many ways. One of the most frequently mentioned differences is their appearance, and most notably, their eyes. Both the Runa and the Jana’ata have what are described as beautiful eyes with two iris’. Eyes can be symbolic of many things and are attached to many different stories. In The Great Gatsby there is a billboard with eyes on it that watch over the Town as a symbol of God’s omnipresence. I think that the same could be said for The Sparrow. The eyes of the Runa and Jana’ata were so beautiful, but the intentions behind them were never truly understood, just as God’s “intentions” may not be understood. Emilio especially, felt betrayed by God by the end of the novel. He had so many terrible events happen to him that ultimately made him question if he even wanted to believe in the existence of a greater power. I think that ‘eyes’ in this novel symbolize the open-minded and naïve belief that travelling to a new planet and meeting a new species would be a simple task. The saying “don’t judge a book by its cover” rings true for the Jesuits. They assumed that based on appearances, that things were a certain way, when really things weren’t actually as they seemed to be. The Runa were no more than domesticated pets. They were used as food, entertainment, and work slaves. The Jana’ata was a race of beings that worked sort of as typical human beings do. Humans are unethical beings in the sense that we too, eat animals, and kill them brutally without remorse, and yet own pets. We too take advantage of our neighboring countries and are only concerned about our own well being. Within “our own”, we are only concerned for our own race, or our own religion, or our own gender. Every man is for himself. No one cares anymore on Earth than on Rakhat. I think that is what was so complex about the whole voyage. Emilio realized that God is either not present in our affairs, or does not exist at all, but he is always watching.
--Seth White

Focus
Clarity
Vision
Prophesy
Omniscience
Presence
Intelligence
Perception
Observation
Opening
Awareness

Sofia's Life and Its Connection to Metaphysical Evil

Sofia Mendes has had a life that has not been kind to her but it has built her character tremendously. She is an incredibly strong human being and has made it through her life by having the uncanny ability to cut her emotions out of the equations of life and complete any task she sets her mind on. “She maintained a cold neutrality, concentrating on what was, blocking out what might be. She has survived because, by heritage and experience, she knew how to see reality unclouded by emotion.” (Russell 62)

 Sofia was only 13 when her mother was killed by a random mortar shell during the second Kurdish war. In that same year her father went missing after searching for food and never came back. He was presumed dead. All of her family was dead before she reached the age of 14 and was left alone to fend for herself in a war-riddled country. She was always taught to choose life, so instead of dying of pride she sold the only thing she had to survive -- her body. At age 14 in order to feed herself, this bright minded girl needed to sell herself to survive. This is where her ability to remove all emotion and go to another place came in handy. This allowed her to escape so that she did not have to feel anything as the men used her body. She was picked up by a wealthy broker who made a living off of picking up promising young orphans who were far above average intelligence and have them sign a contract that signs over the next 20 years of their lives to him in exchange for a fair wage and getting them out of the terrible situations they are in. Sofia moved from being a slave on the streets to a personal slave of someone else. Her early life is a cruel sad story, yet she perseveres and never quits. She is always working to finish the contract and regain her life. This is an example of metaphysical evil because it shows how the world is far from perfect. This broker makes money off of this metaphysical evil because if the world was perfect, there would be no orphans for him to get to sign contracts that would allow him to own them for a large portion of their lives while he profits.

 The metaphysical evil is prominent again in Sofias life again when she is an adult with her relationship with Emilio. After she meets Emilio and gets to know him, she allows herself to feel emotions towards him and Emilio has strong emotions towards her. In a perfect world they would have been married and loved each other forever, but since metaphysical evil exists and the world isn’t fair, the first person Sofia allows herself to feel emotions towards is forbidden because he is a priest and cannot marry because of the oath he made to his church.

Sofias life is a rollercoaster of metaphysical evil from the death of her parents to her having to sell her body to survive even though she was so gifted intellectually to getting out of prostitution, (but at the cost of her freedom) and then finally not being allowed to marry a man that she loves and allowed herself to express emotions to. 

-Adam Zack

Connection to Evil: D.W.

Throughout most of the novel, D.W. is portrayed as a strong leader with a big personality. He has a Texan drawl and is notably unfortunate looking compared to the average person. His role in The Sparrow is of commander and chief. He leads the Jesuits into Rakhat and takes the responsibility for all of their lives. Not much is known of D.W.’s past or deeper self other than his life as a Jesuit priest. Once he starts to become very ill on Rakhat, we find out that D.W. has been hiding an intricate part of himself all of his life. D.W. goes for a walk with Anne (whom seems to already be aware of his secrets) and comes out as a homosexual to all of the readers. There is also mention about Emilio, and how he has a slight attraction for him. Clearly, D.W. has chosen a life of abstinence since he is a Catholic priest. However, for social and spiritual reasons, he is not open about his sexual preference in any way and keeps that part of himself hidden. This is probably due to the taboo linked with his sexuality versus the Church’s stance on sexuality, but there comes an interesting point addressed by the Runa. When asked why D.W. could possibly be sick, the Runa respond with a different perspective on illness altogether. The Runa say that D.W. is falling ill because he is not dealing with something emotionally harmful, and it has manifested as a physical ailment. I find this to be a very true correlation with sickness in real life. Sometimes, when people become overridden with negativity and stress, they do fall ill because their immune system is not working as it should. If you aren’t emotionally healthy, then you won’t stay physically healthy for as long as you suffer the emotional baggage. As a gay religious man (a priest, nonetheless), D.W.’s character would have lived a life of great hardship. Due to the Church’s stance on homosexuality, he would have likely felt himself to be a dishonest person, and that would have stuck with him for all of his life, even though he was so much more than just gay. I think that the Runa addressing his illness as an issue needing to be overcome was an indicator of how D.W. felt about himself deep-down. He never accepted who he was in a matter of getting over what people thought was “right” or “wrong”. He may have tried to overcompensate himself (his over-confidence, for example) to seem like he wasn’t affected by how the Church viewed a person like him, but he was still ultimately affected. I think that D.W.’s character was anything but evil. He was just torn between two sides of a social and spiritual spectrum. He died a terrible death alongside Anne, and I think that is symbolic of how terrible he likely felt inside.

--Seth White