The story suggests to a certain extent that Mr. John Clay’s aristocratic brilliance is the reason for him being a successful criminal. John Clay’s aristocratic background is only one part of the foundation to have the brilliance as a criminal. The rest of the reason for him being a mastermind criminal is through time of committing crimes in the past. The story “The Red-Headed League” reveals one of many crimes that John Clay has committed. Having an aristocratic background and committing crimes while learning from his experiences have contributed to his brilliance of being a criminal.
Being an aristocrat and having royal blood does not mean that one will become a criminal but it can have its advantages to contribute to one’s knowledge of being
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His brain is as cunning as his fingers and though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to find the man himself” (49). Assuming that John Clay comes from a typical wealthy aristocratic family, he receives an education that only the wealthy can afford. When getting an education, one can learn to read and the person’s thought process begins to expand. The ability to read is an essential tool to being a criminal. Reading helps the criminal because he could go to the library and find books or public records to gain knowledge of the people and town he plans to rob. In the story, it seems that John Clay has thought out his plan to rob a bank very thoroughly because he has accepted an offer from Mr. Wilson to work for him at half wages. This shows that he has chosen Mr. Wilson to be the gullible man to take advantage of and trick. Choosing a naïve man to work for at half wages is a mask to hide his true intentions of robbing a bank that is conveniently near Mr. Wilsons shop.” I walked round the corner, saw that the City and …show more content…
Mr. John Clay not only has an aristocratic background as a foundation to be a criminal, but he also has the experience to lean on and improve his skills to be the brilliant criminal he is. “He’ll crack a crib in Scotland one week, and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. I’ve been on his track for years, and have never set eyes on him yet” (49) says Mr. Jones. One can think that since John Clay can seem to do good and bad in a short period time, he is a master at disguise. Behind the scenes nobody can see the crimes he commits but they do see the good deeds outwardly. Other people can see the kind gestures like raising money for an orphanage and then never expect him to be the type to commit crimes. Ultimately he has created this illusion of living a good life to have no one suspect that he would do anything other than kind acts. Through experience he has improved on his skills on how to almost be a perfect criminal. Committing crimes has made him improve on his skills and gain knowledge each time on how to commit a crime better than the last
In the book, “Manchild in the Promised Land,” Claude Brown makes an incredible transformation from a drug-dealing ringleader in one of the most impoverished places in America during the 1940’s and 1950’s to become a successful, educated young man entering law school. This transformation made him one of the very few in his family and in Harlem to get out of the street life. It is difficult to pin point the change in Claude Brown’s life that separated him from the others. No single event changed Brown’s life and made him choose a new path. It was a combination of influences such as environment, intelligence, family or lack of, and the influence of people and their actions. It is difficult to contrast him with other characters from the book because we only have the mental dialoged of Brown.
The book, Heat written by Mike Lupica, is a novel about a young boy named Michael Arroyo who faces many difficulties throughout the book, all for his right to play his beloved game of baseball. Michael lives with his dad, Papi, and his brother, Carlos. They are all Cubans who came to the United States for a better chance to follow their dreams. Papi always encourages Michael to play baseball and he always has high hopes for Michael’s career in baseball. It is right to believe in Michael so much because later he fulfills his father's dream for him. After Papi dies of heart failure, Michael still continues Papi dream for him, to be the Little League Champion. Throughout the book Michael meets two characters who have significant impacts on him,
Jacoby can be easily perceived as an upset and alarmed individual who blames the rise of criminal activity in the United States on the failure of the criminal justice system. He cares about people and believes that the safety of individuals is decreasing because criminals are not punished effectively by imprisonment and that some even receive a “sign of manhood” from going to prison (197). Additionally, he is upset that the ineffective system is so expensive. His concern for his audience’s safety and his carefully argued grounds, which he uses to support his claim, create a persona of an intelligent person of
It has been shown again and again throughout history and literature that if there is a perfect human he is not also the perfect ruler. Those traits which we hold as good, such as the following of some sort of moral code, interfere with the necessity of detachment in a ruler. In both Henry IV and Richard II, Shakespeare explores what properties must be present in a good ruler. Those who are imperfect morally, who take into account only self-interest and not honor or what is appropriate, rise to rule, and stay in power.
In Robert Conroy’s book Red Inferno, the character of Steve Burke is a symbol for military intelligence is essential for winning a war. Burke is not a particularly manly and does not possess much physical strength. But, what Burke does have is a strong mind. Even if he himself would not be an effective soldier in the trenches, Burke serves an even more important role of military strategist. He accurately provides the right place to drop the atomic bomb to the top American generals. In a meeting with all of the top US military brass, Burke explains “Sir, if we take out their commanders as well as cause casualties, the survivors will be a leaderless mob until such a time as Stalin is able to correct things. If the bomb is as good as it is supposed
The play “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry has many interesting characters. In my opinion, the most fascinating character is Ruth because of her many emotions and captivating personality. She goes through extreme emotions in the play such as happiness, sadness, anger, stress, and confusion. Ruth is very independent, firm, kind, witty, and loving.
Twain’s attitude changes from the first half of the story to the last half since it is many years later. But, years later, when he thinks about how much pride he had in his successful crime, he cannot relieve himself of guilt. In fact, he can’t even convince his own mother that he lied. “How easy it is to make people believe a lie, and how hard it is to undo that work again!” (6). He built his heroism on a lie and now that he tries to tell the truth to his mother, she won’t believe that he lied. After all, they say that people believe what they want to believe, even in the face of truth. Twain, as a teenager, participated in Simmons’s show for the attention, and thirty-five years later his guilty conscience continues to haunt him. But, it wasn’t only his wrongdoing, the townspeople and Simmons are all to blame.
In the play A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry (1959), the author depicts an African American family whom struggles with the agonizing inferiority present during the 1950s. Hansberry illustrates the constant discrimination that colored people, as a whole, endured in communities across the nation. Mama, who is the family’s foundation, is the driving force behind the family on the search for a better life. With the family living in extreme poverty, their family bond is crucial in order to withstand the repression. Hansberry effectively portrays the racism within society, and how it reinforced unity amongst the family members.
Criminal attitude and learning of dealing skills begins long before people become full-fledged thieves. Most have shady pasts that has influenced their intuitions about criminality and hustling, and this background often informs them of the best ways to evaluate information and situation. In Sam’s case, his experiences in jail were where he learned the most. Being around people with a similar ingenuity is crucial for fostering criminality. Ingenuity refers to the ability to actively exploit one’s environment by creating and controlling opportunities. It’s a furthering of larceny sense and springs from the street smarts retained with interactions with the underworld. It takes initiative to manipulate persons and resources, and a certain combination of cleverness and
In the allegorical story, “The Red Bow” George Saunders writes with amazing yet perceptive talent to interpret for the reader how the people of the United States and the government responded to the terroristic events on September 11, 2001. Ed, the narrator, is a father whose daughter Emily has just been killed by rabid dogs. His uncle, who lives with them, becomes authoritarian and takes on a vigilante campaign to put down all the sick dogs in town. Although his goal for doing this is so that no other family has to go through this pain, he ends up going overboard and his policy quickly degenerates into assassinating every single animal in town. Saunders uses three symbolic characters; Mr. Bourne, Ed and Uncle
Israel Keyes was a very organized conventional criminal that was always thinking ahead of how he could benefit himself for future crimes. According to many posts in discussion week 6, students seemed to agree that conventional criminals are much more hands on and appear more threatening. Keyes fits this description ve...
Criminal and deviant behavior is not always inherently part of an individuals nature, it is learned. It’s not inherited or a result of a biological condition. Rather, criminal and deviant behavior is learned in the same way all other behaviors are learned. According to Edwin H. Sutherland in his differential association theory, learning comes from interactions between individuals and groups. Individuals commit criminal or deviant acts due to repeated contacts and interactions with criminal activity and the possible lack of contact with noncriminal activity. This explains crime at the level of individual and society. Alex Gibney’s documentary Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer takes an in depth look at the once known New York Attorney General and Governor who prosecuted crimes by America’s largest financial institutions as well as some of the most powerful executives. However, it was later revealed he had been involved in a sex scandal. He was accused of seeing prostitutes and the known “Sheriff of Wall Street” fell quickly. The documentary explores the hidden profile of learning pride, arrogance, sex, and especially power. Spitzer’s acts of wrongdoing and dishonesty run counter to his career commitment to fighting corruption, however, the actions of Spitzer and the prostitutes parallel what they surround themselves with and learn in the context of their training.
Tom, one of the main characters, is hitchhiking home when he stumbles upon a preacher by the name of Jim Casey. Jim baptized Tom, but now he is no longer preaching because he has found that everything is holy and man needs no preacher. His initials are J.C. which are the same as Jesus Christ. Jim shows similar characteristics to Jesus Christ. He sacrifices himself for Tom. Tom has caused a deputy to loose his suspect and is said to be under arrest, but Casey steps in and takes the blame. “It was me, alright” (p.364). Casey is taken by two deputies, but appears to be proud because he knows he has done the right thing. “Between his guards Casey sat proudly, his head up and the stringy muscles of his neck prominent” (p.364). He gives up his freedom so the Joad’s can accomplish their dreams as a family. Tom then meets Muley Graves, an old neighbor. Muley shows animal like characteristics and acts like a mule. Just like a mule, Muley is stubborn. ...
The main character of Mr. Brooks is nothing short of a self-made man with a loving family and a productive business. However, not everything is what it seems. Mr. Brooks has a constant urge to kill. Like most real life serial killers, Mr. Brooks has a charming personality on the outside but a twisted brain on the inside. Every single action he took was thoughtfully played out, as if he were acting in a stage play with no chances of failure. Many psychopaths portray a high IQ and intelligence just like Mr. Brooks had. However, Mr. Brooks was not a psychopath. Deep down inside, he still harvested a strong familial love for his wife and daughter, and understood the mental and physical consequences of his actions. Instead, Mr. Brooks is the type of character that cannot be explained with just one theoretic analysis. The story illustrates that Mr. Brooks was a psychotic suffering from schizophrenia and that somehow his urge to kill could be passed down by generations. With this outline the
The nobles may choose to be oblivious to the conspicuous truth, but time and death will always be irrepressible forces. Regardless of one’s power, wealth, and influence they cannot escape mortality; hence, death is the only prominent equalizer against the blindness of the nobility.