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Morality and ethical decisions
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Is morality an ideology that develops over time as people mature or an influential set of beliefs? “Just Lather, That’s All” written by Hernando Téllez demonstrates how making a decision, whether it be ethical or not, is influenced by the different morals that the person believes in. In the story, it is evident that when a character is challenged, their morals help them to make a decision that pertains to their beliefs. Firstly, the Captain’s mere presence made the Barber nervous, which shows his morals beginning to make an appearance. As the Barber is shaving Captain Torres, he thinks that “On the other hand [he], with this razor in [his] hands, stroking and re-stroking this skin, trying to keep blood from oozing from these pores, can’t …show more content…
Furthermore, the Barber’s razor represents what he could have done with it to the Captain, depending on his morals. While he is consumed in his thoughts as he shaves the Captain, the Barber thinks “Murderer or hero? My destiny depends on the edge of this blade . . . You came to me for a shave. And I perform my work honourably” (Téllez 16). The Barber strongly believes that murdering Captain Torres with his razor goes against his honour and status as a professional barber. He does not want to think of himself as someone who abuses his power and harms someone for the sake of his own reputation. Subsequently, Captain Torres relies on his morals to aid him to make what he believes is the correct decision. While the Captain is getting a shave, he says “We got the main ones. We brought back some dead, and we’ve got some others still alive. But pretty soon they’ll all be dead . . . The town must have learned a lesson from what we did the other day” (Téllez 13). Captain Torres decided to kill all the rebels because he believes that the only way to teach people a lesson is to resort to violent tactics. His belief
Strong, self-contained, Independent, mild-mannered, and courageous are all words that come to my mind when I think about my grandmothers. These are also words that I think of when I look at other black women throughout history. Over the duration of this course I have learned about the tenacity and strength of African American Women. There are many hardships that come along with being an African American female. The trails that African American women have faced molded us into the strong people that we are today.
A moral person goes beyond the phrase, “without sacrificing oneself,” provided by Gilligan in her essay. This is clear by looking back at a specific example. I can recall a time when an entire class of mine decided to play a trick on a teacher in high school. They planned on manipulating her by telling lies in regard to what she had assigned and made her feel embarrassed. I wanted not to be part of these hurtful actions, so rather than tagging along as most of the other students, I did something about it. I stood my ground and as the students told one lie after another, I raised my hand and made her aware of the prank that was being executed. Though everyone looked upon me as the one who spoiled everything, the simple gesture of raising my hand revealed my morals to the class. At the time, I followed my conscience and followed through with what I thought was right, whether others agreed with me or not. This clearly supports and exemplifies Didon’s explanation of the moral person.
He is tempted by the opportunity to kill the Captain as, he feels it is part of his duty to protect his fellow revolutionaries. However, his personal or positive power is more important to him than the feeling of duty that he has. He is tempted to use his power to kill the captain, but then thinks to himself, “I am a revolutionary but not a murder” and “No one deserves the sacrifice others make in becoming assassins.” Unlike the captain, he does not want to hand over his personal power; he does not want to stain his “hands with blood”. He knows that he has the option to kill the captain, but is unwilling to pay the personal consequences to this
... of their personality then that guides to making a good or moral judgment in this situation. The negativity for this ethic is that the coast guards moral fibers might not be the same compared to other coast guard or even to the people that they are rescuing. Some may say that this kind of person would save the family of four that contains the children yet some would argue to save many lives as possible.
...en when tough situations are presented to a person. Motivation from peers, educational leaders, or other members of society may help those that should learn to behave ethically, but the bottom line is following one’s inner code of ethics, which constitutes character.
In Just Lather, That’s All, Hernando Téllez tells the readers about the struggles of indecision. The indecision of whether to kill Captain Torres and save many people or let him continue murdering the rebels. The barber was contemplating whether he should kill the barber with his shaving knife or not, and he did not end up killing him. I thought that this move was selfish because by killing the Captain, he would be able to save his people; and might as well take a chance, because the Captain was going to kill the barber, a rebel, eventually. The main conflict of the story was man versus himself, he starts questioning himself about the aftermath of the murder and taking things into consideration. Also, the barber mentioned that the captain “...came to me for a shave. And I perform my work honourably…” (127). It is evident that the barber is too scared to do the dirty work for everyone else and knows how to respect the Captain as every other customer. Therefore the barber, in my opinions, is a coward.
The first moment that creates suspense is when Captain Torres enters the barbershop. The barber thinks “He came in without a word...And when [he] recognized him [he] started to shake” (342). This makes the reader wonder why the barber is scared of the man who entered the barber shop. THe man is then described “...taking off his cartridge-studded belt with the pistol holster suspended from it” (342). The reader then begins to wonder why the man has a pistol holster on his belt. It is then revealed that the barber is a revolutionary and that the manis Captain Torres,
“You’ll feel this for the rest of your life […] I know that’s true, too, but remembering how he made that pretty girl blush makes me so scrunchy inside” (Updike, 30). Once Sammy’s manager embarrasses the three girls in bathing suits, Sammy views this as a quest to defend the girls. Even though, Sammy genuinely thinks his quest has value, it does not. The girls in bathing suits are not worth defending for Sammy because his gesture goes unnoticed. Also, Sammy is not the best example of a hero type character with a righteous quest, “ […] the plump one in plaid, that I liked better from the back—a really sweet can—pipes up[…]” (Updike, 15). Sammy’s intentions to defend the girls in bathing suits are not honorable. Therefore Sammy wants to defend the girls for his own sexual purpose. Unfortunately, the girls in bathing suits are undermining Sammy’s confidence. In addition, Sammy then undergoes his own epiphany, “[…] and my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter” (Updike, 26). To explain, Sammy is realizing he is making an impulsive decision to quit his job for three girls he barely knows. Sammy’s
What is morality? Merriam-Webster dictionary states that morality is/are the beliefs about what right behavior is and what wrong behavior is
First, murder as a means of revenge is unjustifiable in the short story "Just Lather, That's All" because the barber is too proud to kill. The barber loves his profession and admitted in the short story "I am a good barber, the best in the town, if I may say so." (Tellez, pg 2-3). This quote helps prove the thesis because the barber is proud to say that he is the best barber in town so he would not like to jeopardize is career to murder someone as a revenge. Secondly, the barber is too proud of his profession than to be a rebel, and has told the readers "Yes, I was secretly a rebel, but I was also a conscientious barber, and proud of the preciseness o...
When the barber says that he got nervous around the man who came in, it made me curious about what the man did. ‘Why did this man have a gun?’ I was wondering while wrapping my head around the fear this man made the barber feel. That man ended up being Captain Torres, a man who executed rebels, and the barber was one of those rebels that he might have to execute. At the beginning, it seemed that the barber was just agreeing with whatever Captain Torres said, but suddenly he began asking questions of his own.
Within the story “Just Lather, That’s All” the protagonist, the barber is placed into a situation in which he must act on a difficult decision. The barber was required to decide on whether to execute Captain Torres, the antagonist or complete his barber duties and let the captain go. Although the barber and Captain Torres were enemy’s the barber decided to complete his job and not end the captain 's life. If one were placed in the situation of the barber, one would have made the same dissection.
As the barber chokes down his tendency to stay clear of the Captain, he is showing some bravery, even though he could not be more scared. The barber goes on pretending like it’s a normal day, meanwhile his greatest enemy is in his chair: “But the sight of those mutilated bodies kept me from paying attention to the face of the man who had been directing it all and whom I now held in my hands” (343). Any person in their right mind would fear the Captain, but the barber accepted the fear, and moved on as if it was never there. On the contrary, the Captain showed greater bravery. The text shows readers how he spends his days standing up for what he believes is right, whether it is or is not; hunting down rebels (343-346).
Is each generation passing down their moral teachings for what is considered morally “good” in only their eyes? Morals essentially shape an individual on how they will lead their lives that will in turn pass those beliefs down to younger generations. Berreby argues, with the impact of parents and societal influence, children are learning “good” morals and cultural teachings. The applications of these values are emphasized by the connection between “our” way of doing things and the opposing side -“them”. When people have opposing morals, there becomes a greater distance between what is considered morally “good” and
“Descriptively, morality refers to certain codes of conduct put forward by a society or a group (such as a religion) or accepted by an individual for his/her own behavior. Normatively, it refers to a code of conduct that, given specified conditions, would be put forward by all rational persons.” (“What Is Moral Philosophy?”)