“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked…And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imaginations of his evil heart.” (Jer. 17:9, 18:12, KJV) This persuasive essay will defend the opinion that humanity’s goodness is fleeting and fragile at best as depicted in Divergent (2011) by Veronica Roth. It is the opinion of this author that goodness is unsustainable by humanity as a whole. Four factors threatening mankind’s ability to maintain moral goodness are pride, power, and impatience. This paper will explore examples of each of these factors from Roth’s novel intertwined with other relevant media examples to defend the concept of mankind’s inability to sustain goodness. From an evaluation of humanity’s need for pride and power to a probe into impatience’s contribution in the destruction of morality this author will demonstrate the fragility of goodness among men. Let us now begin this exploration with the revelation of the importance of pride and power. Pride Webster defines pride as a “proud behavior or treatment; insolence; arrogance; distain” (Webster’s, 1939). Being proud is acceptable, even good, to a certain extent. Having pride in the way you look, your handwriting, or something you take seriously. People take pride in the little things that are personal and loved individually. Being a little prideful can lead to confidence; however people often mistake arrogance (an exaggerated pride) for confidence. Prideful people seek to prove their superiority in every aspect of their lives Roth provides the reader with a vivid illustration of this exaggerated pride. The initiates in her novel are supplied with multiple opportunities to st... ... middle of paper ... ...e desires above all else (p.432). The negative propaganda is not working fast enough to end the power held by the Abnegation faction (p. 244-246), “the failings of choosing government officials based on their faction, asking why only people who define themselves as selfless should be in government”(p. 261-262). Beatrice concludes that “Selflessness and bravery aren’t that different” (p. 396) not through impatience but through longsuffering and goodness. Conclusion This author believes that humans strive to maintain goodness but our prideful desire for power leads us to take the shortest route to gratification. Divergent demonstrates both our ability to do right and our inability to sustain goodness without strong restraints on our desires. This is why societies must maintain rules and punishments in order to try to sustain our goodness for as long as possible.
Click here to unlock this and over one million essays
Show MoreEven though pride can be a good thing at times, it is hurtful, it is an emotion that can make or break someone.
Sixteen year old Beatrice Prior is from the Abnegation faction but selflessness never came naturally to her. When they must take their aptitude test to see which faction they will live in for the rest of their lives. Her test comes back inconclusive. She shows equal aptitude of Abnegation, Erudite, and Dauntless. On Choosing Day she decides to join Dauntless.
The continual search for a perfect civilization marks the history of human progress. From Plato to Locke to Marx, man has sought to order society to provide justice for himself and his children. In this quest for paradise, myths of primitivity help describe how social institutions can direct humans away from their temptations toward higher goals. In Aeschylus' The Oresteia and John Milton's Paradise Lost, human civilization is viewed as an imperfect balance of opposites which helps combat man's tendencies toward barbarism and misogyny.
...humans depart from their original nature of evil in order to be good. While walking through a department store, it is not uncommon to see young children running away from their parents or making a scene, a behavior not found in older folk. From personal experience, it is much rarer to see a group of fifty-year olds fighting over a television on ‘Black Friday’ than a group of teenagers. As is demonstrated here, people are born evil but learn correct manners as they grow and can realize goodness.
a certain amount of pride can be a good thing, if it is based upon
Although humankind attempts its best at preventing evil actions, eventually evil rises above all else. While humans are living ordinary lives and living in ignorance, evil is always scheming and waiting to slide up behind the turned backs of society as depicted in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. One could argue that this is not the case and that good deeds always overshadow evil and that evil is just an occasional blip. However, what one’s opinion of society does not outshine the cold hard facts of humankind’s natural tendencies; specifically, how things are never as they seem, how easily humans can betray their emotions and how humans choose to ignore difficult situations in the search for an easy answer. Despite one’s best efforts, evilness will always prevail over goodness when it comes to humankind.
Pride n. 1. Inordinate self-esteem; high opinion of one's own importance or worth; conceit. 2. arrogance; haughtiness. 3. honorable self-respect; personal dignity.
Pride is a monster; it acquires many forms. Each of us have our own pride monsters, they are universal beasts. We cannot identify them because they are constantly evolving, impacted by our thoughts, actions and words. Their growth is dependent on a proud sense of self. They manifest themselves amongst the vain but have ways of reaching the humble-hearted.
The boundaries set by our society has hinder human nature which is thought by many to be animalistic and dark implicating that a powerful motivating factor of human nature is to seek gratification and evade misery. Therefore without all the boundaries and rules that society has placed on us, we would pursue whatever our hearts craved and ignore others and the repercussions that are actions have on other individuals.
Pride is defined in various ways. Depending on its cultural context, pride can be referred to a company of lions, the best of a group, or even a body decoration (“Pride”). However, people oftentimes think of pride as being “a high or inordinate opinion of one’s own dignity” (“Pride”). When used according to this definition, pride either has a negative or positive connotation, meaning it can be detrimental to oneself or beneficial to a person. A negative connotation of pride is best revealed in Antigone, a Greek tragedy written by Sophocles in 441 BC. This play chronicles a constant conflict regarding Antigone and Creon’s disagreeing reverence for Polynices’s dead body. Exhibiting an unrestrained level of pride, or hubris, leads to one’s hamartia,
The effects of pride can have two different outcomes when looking at two different perspectives. One Perspective is a “world” view, and the other a “Godly.” The difference between the two is one is living with worldly values, and the other with Godly values.
The struggle of “good versus evil” is nothing new to the members of the human race, but more often than not many people forget this concept is one of the main components of morality, a guiding compass that exists within every person. Every person has morals but several individuals do not know what to make of morality or do not realize just how important it is for our society to study this ancient ideal. To understand morality and its effect on the world we must first understand what morality is and how it applies to the world in general and in an occupational sense, how morality is influenced by media sources like television and film, and how morality is influenced by the literary world.
Fairy tale elements can be identified in most films and books nowadays. A contemporary book that I found using these elements is the Divergent series. The book is based on a girl named Tris who belongs to a faction called The Abnegation. There are a total five factions and each is like subcultures based on personalities. Abnegation are full of people who choose to live life as selfless individuals. Tris grows up restricted to this faction not by choice but by birth. At the age of sixteen teenagers are given the choice to switch to different faction based on what they believe fit their personality. The first fairy tale element that fits in Divergent is the good main character element. Tris is a girl with a narrow face, blue-grayish eyes and
Moreover, some people think pride can trap us in a cage that can be hard to escape. We may not see the cage we are being contained in by having self-esteem. We might seem like it’s no big deal because we pride is a positive way to define our goals or
In the present world we’re often taught key principles in order to live a flourishing life. Young children especially are often reared in school to become successful, and be the best they can be; and be a good person. We pose the question what does it mean to be a good person? According to Jacques Thiroux & Keith Krasemann mentions, when individuals apply these virtuous behaviors into their daily lives it promotes a decent human being (Thiroux & Krasemann, pg 78). This paper will examine the argument how having virtues can promote a balance in today’s society, and how this virtue ethics can also pose a problem.