Comparative Analysis: A Few Good Men In the movie A Few Good Men, the director Rob Reiner follows the story of Lance Corporal Harold W. Dawson and Private First Class Louden Downey a couple of marines charged for the murder of their fellow soldier Private First Class William Santiago. Contrary to their lawyer Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee’s assumptions, these men strongly believed that they are not guilty, or at least not fully responsible, for Santiago’s murder. As Dawson would later tell Kaffee, “I'll accept whatever punishment they give. But I believe I was right, sir. I believe I did my job.” (A Few…). After having accidentally killed a soldier whom he had carried under his wing, why would Dawson feel that he was right in his actions? Dawson
In the introduction of the movie, the Dawson and Downey break into Santiago’s room and come to his bedside and detain him to perform their “code red” procedure. While they were in the process of tying him up as he was fighting them, Downey says “You're lucky it's us, Willy.” (A Few…) as they continue along with their job, however Santiago does not stop fighting. What would bring these men to believe that such a grotesque action should leave the victim lucky? The threat of the unknown spawned this belief in the two and caused Dawson strongly believed in for his comrade. According to what Downey’s words on the stand, “I was given an order by my squad leader … And I followed it.” (A Few…) From which Downey explains that Dawson told him about their order to perform the code red, and Downey willingly followed Dawson with no hesitation as he worships Dawson for his actions. Dawson however, does not feel this way about Kendrick as Dawson has had the unlucky displeasure to experience Kendrick’s leadership
Kendrick, after learning about the incident, ordered a code red to be set for barracks restriction, and the denial of food for a week. Dawson, after personally questioning the morality of the order, disobeyed and tried to assist Lt. Barnes by sneaking him food, an action that displeased Kendrick. Kendrick then punished Dawson for his disobedience by neglecting to promote him and negatively evaluating his fitness evaluation. From this point forward, Dawson had just seen the introduction of the power that Kendrick had over his military experience, one that Kaffee would later recall to be “A lesson he learned after the Curtis Barnes incident.” (A Few…) But, if this order was no different in terms of punishment or in the matter of a soldier simply being disregardful of their marine code, then why was Dawson so reluctant to disobey Kendrick the second time involving Santiago? Not only would Dawson more than likely have to face a much greater consequence for having disobeyed a second time but also Kendrick must have stressed the importance of this order as his leadership was being critically by Jessup. In the meeting where Jessup called the order for the code red, Jessup accentuates “I'm gonna blame you. Then I'm gonna kill you.” (A Few…) discussing if Santiago doesn't meet his baseline
Character is defined by the army as doing what is right, legally and morally. This can get to be a difficult thing when other factors come into play. For SPC Justin Watt this was very much the case. He wanted to tell his chain of command what he had learned but he also wanted to be loyal to his brothers in arms. He knew that if he were to speak about the incident, he would lose a lot of his close friends and be judged by a lot as a snitch, something that not easily forgotten. Watt negatively showed his character by waiting a month or so to tell anyone what he knew and when he did he told someone that was outside his PLT and not his own chain of command. Positively though, he did come forward and tell someone because he knew it was morally right to even though he knew the consequences.
The motion picture A Few Good Men challenges the question of why Marines obey their superiors’ orders without hesitation. The film illustrates a story about two Marines, Lance Corporal Harold W. Dawson and Private First Class Louden Downey charged for the murder of Private First Class William T. Santiago. Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee, who is known to be lackadaisical and originally considers offering a plea bargain in order to curtail Dawson’s and Downey’s sentence, finds himself fighting for the freedom of the Marines; their argument: they simply followed the orders given for a “Code Red”. The question of why people follow any order given has attracted much speculation from the world of psychology. Stanley Milgram, a Yale psychologist, conducted an experiment in which randomly selected students were asked to deliver “shocks” to an unknown subject when he or she answered a question wrong. In his article, “The Perils of Obedience”, Milgram concludes anyone will follow an order with the proviso that it is given by an authoritative figure. Two more psychologists that have been attracted to the question of obedience are Herbert C. Kelman, a professor at Harvard University, and V. Lee Hamilton, a professor at the University of Maryland. In their piece, Kelman and Hamilton discuss the possibilities of why the soldiers of Charlie Company slaughtered innocent old men, women, and children. The Marines from the film obeyed the ordered “Code Red” because of how they were trained, the circumstances that were presented in Guantanamo Bay, and they were simply performing their job.
The story Good People by David Foster Wallace is similar to Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway as both stories are about the two characters in the story deciding whether or not they should get an abortion. However Good People focuses more on the religious reasons of why the two characters, Sheri Fisher and Lane A. Dean, would want to have or not have the abortion. Most of the story is from Lane's point of view as he struggles with the decision they are trying to make and the author chose to include no dialogue in the story. Because of this decision the reader is forced to come to conclusions about the story using only Lane's thoughts and opinions. At the beginning of the story the setting is described as dark, as “there had been
Furthermore, it potentially got one of his troops killed. Although he did fall for his desires, his motivation to not die began to show and he started to focus on bringing his troop’s home safely.
While some differences between Ventura College and the colleges that Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus wrote about in their essay are evident, the similarities are salient. Ventura College meets the characteristics that Hacker and Dreifus described in their essay, Ventura College has a low tuition rates, small class sizes, and all students have access to counselors and instructors. The only difference between Ventura College and the colleges that Hacker and Dreifus talked about is funding. Ventura College doesn’t cost a lot of money to attend, but is experience it provides actually worth the price?
The theme of power being abused is carried out in both I Only Came to Use the Phone and Lord of the Flies. The reasoning as to why we would see this theme as the base for both stories is because it is such a common theme; it is known that everyone craves power because of the self-satisfaction they gain from it. The authors of these stories realizing that, used the theme of abuse of power to create chaos within the story and create interest, and they did this by having their characters go after something that makes themselves feel powerful. In Lord of the Flies it was the powerful feeling of hunting for the boys, and in I Only Came to Use the Phone it was the power that the Matron had over Maria by sexually harassing her. Although those two examples seem as though it is people who abuse power it goes beyond that; as if the evil within everyone is awaken by power and that evil is what succumbs them to abuse the power.
Relativism can be hard to understand. It’s in our nature as human beings to base thing off of the knowledge we already know. Relativism is the idea that, when faced with another culture, we must try to comprehend it instead of judging it based on our own culture’s values and morals. Human rights advocates opposing the tradition of female genital modification (FGM) is an example of relativism (page 30). Female genital modification can include the removal of the clitoris or a process in which the female anatomy is modified in such a way that constricts the vaginal opening. Both procedures reduce female sexual pleasure and, it is believed to prevent the likelihood of adultery. Although a tradition in societies in Africa and the Middle East, human
Guilty or not guilty? This the key question during the murder trial of a young man accused of fatally stabbing his father. The play 12 Angry Men, by Reginald Rose, introduces to the audience twelve members of a jury made up of contrasting men from various backgrounds. One of the most critical elements of the play is how the personalities and experiences of these men influence their initial majority vote of guilty. Three of the most influential members include juror #3, juror #10, and juror #11. Their past experiences and personal bias determine their thoughts and opinions on the case. Therefore, how a person feels inside is reflected in his/her thoughts, opinions, and behavior.
...all want to believe that the crime was truly “foretold”, and that nothing could have been done to change that, each one of the characters share in a part of Santiago Nasar’s death. Gabriel Garcia Marquez writes about the true selfishness and ignorance that people have today. Everyone waits for someone else to step in and take the lead so something dreadful can be prevented or stopped. What people still do not notice is that if everyone was to stand back and wait for others, who is going to be the one who decides to do something? People don’t care who gets hurt, as long as it’s not themselves, like Angela Vicario, while other try to reassure themselves by thinking that they did all that they could, like Colonel Lazaro Aponte and Clotilde Armenta. And finally, some people try to fight for something necessary, but lose track of what they set out for in the first place.
An analysis of Mycerinus and Kha-merer-nebty II and Augustus of Primaporta, reveals that there are many similarities, but also many differences between these two pieces of sculpture. These similarities and differences are found in the subject, style, and function of both works of art.
Some people think that if they could only change one aspect of their lives, it would be perfect. They do not realize that anything that is changed could come with unintended consequences. “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs and “The Third Wish” by Joan Aiken both illustrate this theme. They demonstrate this by granting the main character three wishes, but with each wish that is granted, brings undesirable consequences. The main idea of this essay is to compare and contrast “The Monkey’s Paw” and “The Third Wish.” Although the “The Monkey’s Paw” and “The Third Wish” are both fantasies and have similar themes, they have different main characters, wishes, and resolutions.
Both the films, The Blind Side and Rudy, address many common issues. Two in particular that stand out are education and sports. Both Michael Oher and Daniel Ruettiger (Rudy) pursue their education in order to follow their dreams. In these cases, both dreamed of becoming college football players. The long journeys they take to reach their goals bring out each characters motivation and dedication to get to the top.
Santiago is, undoubtedly, crafted as a Christ figure, from his innocence to his crucifixion. His innocence is derived from the narrator’s doubt and the doubt invoked in the reader, that Santiago deflowered Angela prior to her marriage; he is murdered for this reason. In the novella, Santiago attempts to flee from Pedro and Pablo Vicario once he realizes that they are out to kill him; unfortunately, he does not make it into the safety of his home. As the stabbing progresses, Santiago stops defending himself and lets the brothers continue “knifing him against the door with alternate and easy stabs” (Márquez 118). With the surrender of Santiago, the entire town became horrified “by its own crime” (Márquez 118).
Hansel and Gretel is the tale of two children who get lost in the forest, and stumble upon a house made of sweets, where a witch resides. They are tricked into staying with the witch, before she shows her true colors, and tries to eat Hansel. In the end Gretel outsmarts the witch, and cooks her in and oven and frees her brother. A simple story, with a simple resolution. What happens when take that simple story and add in a ton of violence, gore, swearing, and guns? You get Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, a film that takes the concept and turns it into a funny action movie.
Personal writing can take several forms, descriptive and narrative being two examples. The two essays, "I Want a Wife" by Judy Brady and "Sister Flowers" by Maya Angelou are prime examples of such writing. Both stories were able to capture my attention and entertain me throughout their entirety. Choosing a preference is always going to be subjective; it is all a matter of how you like to take in information. In fact, personal choice is what inclines you towards a certain title as opposed to another. Some may like to envision their own details, while some rather the images chronicled for them. In fact, the crystal clear details given in a descriptive essay as compared to a narrative, set the two far apart. Although narrative essays can give details without as much wording, the vivid pictures painted by a descriptive essay such as "Sister Flowers" is a superior read since the details make the story come alive.