Lieutenant Commander Oram and Captain John Adam are lethal weapons. These characters are leaders, kings of their castles. With emotions like storms that cloud their thoughts, makes hard decisions similar to escaping from quicksand. Below us, the submarine of Michael Bruce’s “Gentlemen, Your Verdict” lies helpless at the bottom of the ocean, Commander Oram must decide whether fifteen innocent men should die for five to live or if all twenty men will die from oxygen deprivation. Trusted by his crew with anything and everything, he is the Albus Dumbledore of his submarine: Colin McDougal’s The Firing Squad focuses on protagonist Captain John Adam, who is asked to be the executioner of a prisoner he feels innocent and with whose execution he disagrees. The characters in question are both placed in different situations, yet can be compared and contrasted through their moral dilemmas, tough decisions and their military …show more content…
Captain Adam is not doing his job and does not do what he was ordered to do and can, therefore, be punished. This was something he has to do in order to escape his racing mind and therefore is the right decision for him and his well-being. In Gentlemen, Your Verdict, the deaths Oram is responsible for is taken to court because the families of those who were lost wanted justice. Although the story does not reach a point of conviction, we can infer that he would not be charged for murder. Ethically he made the right decision, but also the decision that was right for himself. In the following quote, the surviving men are asked by the head of the court, “Gentlemen, it is for you to decide, guilty or not guilty” (24). Consequently, we can infer that the survivors would see their saviour as a hero and end up not convicting him guilty. Assuredly, we know that both men make the right decision because there are survivors in a situation where men may have been condemned to
In the Lilies of the Field by William E. Barrett, Homer and Mother Maria both display straightforward, hardworking, and stubborn character traits. Firstly, Homer and Mother Maria both display a straightforward personality by being brutally honest about their opinions. For example, when Mother Maria asks Homer to build a chapel, Homer speaks his mind by telling her he does not want to build it. Mother Maria shows her straightforward behavior during Homer’s stay at the convent. One morning, when Homer sleeps in late, Mother to becomes extremely upset and is not afraid to show how she feels about him. Secondly, both Homer and Mother Maria display a hardworking spirit. Homer is a hardworking man because after finally agreeing to build the chapel,
The high ground is always desired in battle and serves many advantages as such. This location of benefit provides vision, command, and valor to its holder. Yet, regardless of the means of attaining this position, the owner rests easy in the chair of the catbird seat. Knowing full well that they may relieve some thought of agony over the upcoming battle. No throne of ease is described more vividly than James Thurber’s “The Catbird Seat”. And no means of revealing the deceit utilized to sit in the catbird seat is projected in a more uncanny way than Mark Twain’s “The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg”. Literary pieces as these, whose similarities and differences, reveal more than a humorous story. A symbolic life lesson about authority, deceit, and appearance are prevalent throughout both these works. Yet to the untrained eye, the average reader misses key insights that can apply to any power struggle.
Dee Goong An, more popularly known as Judge Dee, was a well known magistrate of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). His popularity comes from his just perspective, which makes him a great magistrate. He addresses new cases with open ears and is determined to be fair at all times. He treats all people equally and relies only on hard proof to solve cases. With some help, he uncovers guilty criminals, using several techniques to find the truth. Going undercover and using torture to get people to confess, Judge Dee uses his persist approaches to make things right. He risks his job for the truth, and relies on his gut and experience to capture felons. Judge Dee's experience and righteous judgment to find the true criminals by proving them guilty, makes him an ideal magistrate of the time.
The Liars Club is a story told as a memoir by Mary Karr and it is told from her point of view, and how she remembers certain moments of her life growing up in a small East Texas town. Karr talks mainly about her family and the people in her life who have all left a strong impression on her. In her story she describes and conveys the emotion and detail from her interactions with her family. While she focuses mainly on her relationships with her family, she demonstrates how she and her family defied stereotypical gender roles with their own strong which enabled them to cope with a hard life.
People have goals everyday, believe it or not some people think that dreams aren't worth it. I believe that it is worth it to dream because it gives a person a goal, it makes them feel good, and it makes them stronger. I know this from The Pearl, A Cubs video, the Susan Boyle video, and We Beat the streets.
In all exceptional literature, there comes a time where a character makes an impactful decision, whether satisfactory or unacceptable. In addition, there is often a conflict that can’t instantly resolve, and remains a controversial event. In the case of Billy Budd, the decisive resolution vacillates betwixt the morals behind an action and the accountability to follow the law. The conclusion is a questionable and arguably stringent judgment that leaves audiences pondering the author’s intent for the entire book. As grim as it may seem, the arbitration is the most legitimate antiphon to the infraction carried out in the cabin of the individual ultimately deciding the causatum: Captain Vere.
In the novel Let the Great World Spin, the author, Colum McCann, shows that the kind of love Tilly is in is only for the other partner’s personal good. Tilly is a hooker attempting to live on the streets and make money, but does have a husband, called TuKwik. Tilly says, “TuKwik was flash (...) was coming through” (202-203). Tilly has been with quite a few men, however she stays loyal to only one, which is TuKwik. She explains them as a couple like she was ‘on his arm like a piece of jewelry’. Jewelry is often used to show off wealth, therefore TuKwik is only using Tilly to expose her great looks next to him. She also states that she is one of his five wives. Often people stay faithful and only have one wife, however TuKwik is not faithful
The Chosen by Chaim Potok is a phenomenal novel about two Jewish boys who live in two very discrepant worlds because of the impressions of their fathers.The Hasidic Rabbi, Reb Saunders wants his son, Danny Saunders, to perdure the family legacy and become a Rabbi. Mr. Malter, Reuven’s father, is an Orthodox Jew who is easy going about what he wants his son to do. Throughout the book, both Reuven and Danny face problems and sufferings that helped them both to become stronger and get through the hard times they faced.
Writing a story is pretty difficult. Writing a short story is even harder, there is so much that has to be accomplished; in both commercial and literary fiction! The plot, the structure, whether it has a happy, unhappy, or indeterminate ending. There must be artistic unity, chance, coincidence, rising action, climax, falling action. Most importantly there must be characterization. Characters make the story! “anyone can summarize what a person in a story has done, but a writer needs considerable skill and insight into human beings to describe convincingly who a person is” [page 168]
The reader is put in the middle of a war of nerves and will between two men, one of which we have grown up to learn to hate. This only makes us even more emotional about the topic at hand. For a history book, it was surprisingly understandable and hard to put down. It enlightened me to the complex problems that existed in the most memorable three months this century.
In Kroll’s Unquiet Death of Robert Harris, the author appeals to the readers’ emotional feelings and makes each audience a participant by addressing the whole process of Robert Harris being put in a gas chamber and describing
The Crucible written by Arthur Miller is a Non-Shakespearan Drama which presents societal issues still affecting mankind today. This play proves the idea that major characters do not always undergo important changes; rather they reveal their true nature as the play progresses. The antagonist, Abigail Williams, proves this theory as during the hysteria of the 1692 Salem witch trials, it is her integrity that is challenged and her true character that is revealed, rather than any catalysed change.
The author’s purpose is to also allow the audience to understand the way the guards and superintendent felt towards the prisoners. We see this when the superintendent is upset because the execution is running late, and says, “For God’s sake hurry up, Francis.” And “The man ought to have been dead by this time.” This allows the reader to see the disrespect the authority has towards the prisoners.
In the saying of “Character is what you are in the dark” by Dwight Lyman Moody, can meaning many different things. One being, “you are most yourself when no one is watching”, another one also being, “dark and troubled times bring out a person's true nature”, and “your true nature is on the inside”. This quote can or cannot apply to the play of “Romeo and Juliet” by Shakespeare.
The detailed descriptions of the dead man’s body show the terrible costs of the war in a physical aspect. O’Brien’s guilt almost takes on its own rhythm in the repetition of ideas, phrases, and observations about the man’s body. Some of the ideas here, especially the notion of the victim being a “slim, young, dainty man,” help emphasize O’Brien’s fixation on the effects of his action—that he killed someone who was innocent and not meant to be fighting in the war. At the same time, his focus on these physical characteristics, rather than on his own feelings, betrays his attempt to keep some distance in order to dull the pain. The long, unending sentences force the reader to read the deta...