Royal University of Phnom Penh

Institute of Foreign Language

Department of English

Literature Studies 202

Instructor: Heng Somphospheak

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT

Topic: Desire

What can be the positive and negative impacts of desire on people and
society?

CLASS: E2.9

GROUP 1

1. Tou Meily
2. Va Kimhong
3. Sreng Meyling
4. Uk Sophearith
5. Pum Rathana
6. Rith Chansansovithia

Academic Year: 2022-2023

 What can be the positive and negative impacts of desire on people and
society?

According to psychoanalytic criticism, human behaviors are often driven by desire,

fear, need, cultural values, or conflict. In one of the miserable novels, Oliver Twist, the author
illustrated many characters’ behaviors, which he portrayed in this masterpiece. Having been
driven by one of the strong feelings, desire, several characters, such as Fagin, Mrs.Mann, and
even the protagonist, Oliver, had experienced a burning desire for something or a passionate
desire for something to occur, including hope, dream, ambition, and greed. Their acts of desire
might have a positive or negative impact. Moreover, it might not just affect them but also
impact society as a whole.

From the beginning to end of the story, we saw many scenes that illustrated the desire
of characters. First, Oliver Twist, the main character, had a dream to live a better life. Oliver
was an illiterate orphan who had been working in a workhouse. Then Oliver was bought by
Mr.Sowerberry, an undertaker, to work in his small shop as his apprentice. Since having
worked in the workhouse and Mr.Sowerberry’s shop, Oliver faced many difficulties, including
hunger, neglect, and discrimination. As a result, his burning desire urged him to run away to
London where he foresaw his life was better. Although, at first, we saw him struggling with
his life over there, but in the end of the story, he finally achieved his dream and found many
people who he could call family. Another positive impact of desire is Nancy’s hope. Nancy
hoped Oliver could get away from Fagin and Monks; therefore, her desire led her to betray her
own gang by telling Mr. Brownlow and Rose about Fagin’s and Monks’ plan. Consequently,
the whole gang was hanged; unfortunately, Nancy was killed by Sike due to her betrayal, but
her action saved Oliver from the gang’s red hand. On the other hand, there are not only positive
impacts of desire but also negative ones. Fagin, the leader of the gang, is an antagonist who has
a desire for money. His desire led him to commit many crimes against people and society just
to get money. For example, he trained many kids to be pickpockets, and he also deliberately
brainwashed Oliver. His gang committed many illegal acts, including stealing, robbing, and
pickpocketing. Accordingly, Fagin’s greed slowly dug a deep grave for him, and he was hanged
at the end of the story. Another character who has a desire for money is Mrs. Mann. She was
in charge of the baby farm, but she could not fulfill her work. She shortened the allowance that
should have been provided for the children and used that money for her own good.

Page | 1
For this reason, she did not provide enough food for the children, and she did not properly take
care of the children. As a consequence, the children were starving and neglected.

In order to get into the point of this topic more deeply, we have guided an interview
regarding the questions that are related to desire. There are 4 questions which we prepared to
ask 3 people to share their opinion on. Q1. Do you have a desire for a better life? What are the
things that you are willing to do in order to achieve that? Q2. Do you think having a desire is
a good thing or a bad thing? Why? Q3. Have you ever had a desire to help other people? Have
you ever faced difficulty after helping others? Q4. Most people think that desire for money can
lead to greed, do you agree with that? Why? Based on our first interviewee, he said the most
possible way that he would do is putting everything aside and only focus on himself. For
example, if he has to choose between being nice and being truthful to himself, he prefers to
prioritize himself. From his perspective, having a desire is not a bad thing since it depends on
what you want. Moreover, desire can help you to achieve our goals. Our second interviewee
was talking about his difficulty during the time he tried to help one of his classmates. However,
instead of appreciating his help, she began to get jealous and put pressure on him. For our last
interviewee, she agreed that desire for money can lead to greed, because people are never
satisfied with what they have which they always want more and more.

After evaluating the interview, we finally come to a discussion about desire in the story
and real life. In the story, Oliver has gone through so many difficulties in his life to the point
that he could no longer live in that torturing environment anymore and due to this particular
reason Oliver is willing to do anything just to fulfill his desire. In reality, it might sound
impossible for a child to have such a strong desire and run into a trap without acknowledging
it. However, our interviewee said that if he were an adult, he would try to escape from the
horrible situations as soon as possible but if he were still a young child, he would not try to run
away since it is impossible to keep on track at such a young age. In addition, we came across
so many desires in the story and it is the same in real life because having desire helps us improve
and set a goal ahead for ourselves. Although some of the desire might sound good to you, you
still can’t know what will happen in the future ahead. This led to another question about desire
to help others which could bring difficulties to our life. For example, Mr. Brownlow’s desire
to help a young stranger boy who has made his heart move and felt sorry for him. To achieve
this, Mr. Brownlow had his heart broken for a long time because he thinks that Oliver just
wants to rob him. This also applies in real life, according to another interviewee’s words, he
mentioned that “he used to help one his classmate with her study but in return she didn’t

Page | 2
appreciate his kindness and got jealous of him instead.”. By looking at the reality and example
in the story, we can assume that being kind sometimes does not mean we will get respect from
them, so we should not expect to get good things from being kind. This means, we will value
ourselves by helping others. Besides those three questions, the last question is very essential to
indicate people's willingness in real life. In contrast, the story also mentioned that Fagin, who
is a mean character in the story, is decided to discrimination due to his greed for will. He
decided to hide all the story that had happened before in order to avoid Oliver knowing the
truth of where he was from. Nevertheless, in real life, people will also decide to break the law
if they need the money in all curriculum. Even from the interview, she also raised the point that
money is everything. Thus, people sometimes need money, but they need a huge amount of
money.

In conclusion, Desire can be a powerful motivator for people to achieve their goals and
aspirations. It can drive people to work hard, be creative, and take risks. However, desire can
also have negative impacts on individuals and society. For example, excessive desire for
material possessions can lead to greed and corruption. It can also create social inequality and
injustice. Moreover, desire can lead to addiction and other mental health problems. Therefore,
it is important to balance our desires with our responsibilities towards ourselves and others.
We should strive to cultivate healthy desires that promote personal growth and social well-
being while avoiding those that cause harm or conflict.

Page | 3