Corporal Punishment In Stephen Fry's Moab Is My Washpot

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Summary In Stephen Fry’s Moab Is My Washpot, Fry share is his opinion on what corporal punishment means to him and how it shaped his person as well as his thoughts on how the infliction of corporal punishment has changed as the years have passed. Fry confesses that while he sometimes believes corporal punishment is adequate, he also believes that to modern generations it has as much importance to them as a toy. To Fry, the more scarring memories of pain are those that include solute and doldrums, not physical discipline. The purpose of Fry’s exert concerning corporal punishment is to differentiate the perspective of physical punishment from past ages to modern ones. “The last twenty years are the only twenty years of our history in which children …show more content…

Fry remembers “pains of loneliness, boredom, abandonment, humiliation, rejection and fear”. He admits to “dwell” on them as the pains “inflicted on me by other children and by myself”. While getting punished in a school setting opens the door to continuous mockery, the offscouring brought on by peers eliminates the illusions of a child fitting in. Becoming the outcast and not being accepted leads to the feeling of being unwanted. For a growing individual, refusal hurts more than a physical wound. • Logos: Fry’s exert appeals to the logical side of a child objecting to corporal punishment. Fry asked that “if we object to corporal punishment”, what is the “ground” of this objection? It is logical to infer that a child would refuse to be beaten or rise his or her hands when they are about to be struck. While a child would not fight an adult back if that adult is trying to discipline them, one can understand how physical punishment can be degrading to the mentally of a child; not only can it spark fear but it can also spark rebellious actions in future

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