The Divided Soul: Duty and Desire in Literature and Life

People used to believe in an intrinsic connection between happiness and goodness–an idea largely forgotten in our modern age. Instead, most of us feel that duty and desire are opposing forces–that we have to choose between being happy and being good. But does it have to be that way?

Ancient thinkers considered every person to be a little world–a microcosm of the universe embodied in the individual. Among other things, this means that the stories of our lives share a common narrative. We are all created good, we all fall into sin and suffering, we all are rescued and restored by intervening grace. By extension, the great stories of the literary tradition reflect this universal story. Over the centuries, literature tells this tale in myriad ways, creating overlapping layers of meaning with fiction, psychology, and faith. 

At its most fundamental, literature is about characters who make choices, and these choices always reflect the tension between ought and want. The first example is Eve, but she is only the first: this duty/desire dichotomy is embedded within every narrative. 

We are all of us divided souls, an affliction which manifests in psychological, social, and spiritual contexts. The people we encounter, the art we create, the stories we tell, the societies we construct, and the cosmos we inhabit all carry within themselves recognizable and interpretable fractals of this division. 

One part memoir, one part literary excursion, one part ode to the value and beauty of stories,The Divided Soul: Duty and Desire in Literature and Life contemplates this intersection of human psychology, literary education, and Christian spirituality, revealing how the conflict between what we want to do and what we ought to do is the dividing line of every enduring story—including our own—and what we can do about it. 

Heidi White is a teacher, podcaster, therapist, and author with a lifetime of experience as a divided soul. She has spent the last several years researching, speaking, and writing about duty and desire in literature and life.

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