The Source of Evil

“They don’t go into the cause of goodness, so why of the other shop? Badness is of the self, the one, the you or me, and that self is made by old Bog or God and is his great pride and radosty (joy). But the not-self cannot have the bad, meaning they of the government and the judges and the schools cannot allow the bad because they cannot allow the self. And is not our modern history, my brothers, the story of brave malenky (little) selves fighting these big machines?”

This passage summarizes Alex's response to what the source of wicked behaviour is. It’s quite interesting how he defends wickedness claiming that there is no answer to what the source of it is, as evil is a natural part of man and is as inexplicable as goodness. He believes that evil, just like goodness is a choice that each individual has. He says that the soul of each person is God’s greatest creation and when the government deprives someone of choice and free will they are in essence depriving the individual of his soul. This passage is actually rare in terms of its lacking of many Russian slang words which are usually in place a couple times in a sentence.