Moral and Ethical Issues, A Comparative Study

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Control. Power. Decisions, who has the right to make them? Does the Government or a group have that right or does the individual have the right? Throughout history from our first book, the Bible, to our modern novels, literature has impacted our society in a great many ways; it reveals of our faults, and our triumphs, assist society in defining our moral values and ethical views. This paper will explore some moral and ethical issues about choice through several short stories: "Sonny Blue's," "Cathedral," and "The Lottery," and there will be two novels explored primarily; Fahrenheit 451 and George Orwell's 1984. The moral and ethical views that these books and short stories show us about our society today and the lessons that everyone could learn from them will be explored. To do this we must first understand the difference between morals and ethics. Morals are a person's individual view of the world, what they hold to be right, true, and just; a code of conduct. While morals are formed by the individual, ethics are a collective common law, yet not in writing; what the majority of the population hold to be right, true, or just.

The short story "Sonny Blue's" is about an African American family in Harlem, New York sometime in the 1950's; it deals with their personal problems and issues. It is about family and the different turns we may take in life as family members. A story about how people should embrace each other with respect and understanding: about respect for others, our responsibility as family members. The narrator, Sonny Blues' brother, goes through three major phases. The narrator reads in a newspaper that his brother, Sonny was arrested for using and selling drug, something he feels is morally and ethically wrong. T...

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...be changed in response to outside presures or internalized truths. How life experiences shape our morals and ethics, change who people are. The story's tells that just because it's popular doesn't make it right and people need to make informed decisions on their own!

Work cited

Palade, Brindusa. The Romanian Utopia: The Role of the Intelligentsia in the Communist Implementation of a New Human Paradigm. Journal of Southest European & Black Sea Studies, May 2002, Vol. 2, 93, 8; (AN 7389105)

Ray Bradbury. Fahrenheit 451. Published by the random house publishing group, 1953.

Mourby, Adrian. Dystopia: Who needs it? History Today, Dec 2003, Vol. 53 Issue 12, 16, 2. Academic Search Premier.

McGeary, Johanna. "McCarthy's First Slander." Times, 3/31/2003, Vol. 161 Issue13, 28, ¼; (AN 9349282)

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