Being kind is not a bad thing, but being too nice cannot only be your weakness, but your downfall as well. If you care about others feelings so much that you ignore your own well being and you ignore all signs to run for your life, you are too nice. Cheap nights, bitter tea, an overnice landlady and a trusting Billy Weaver. Qualities that lead to Billy’s unfortunate ending are friendliness, naivety, and youthfulness.
Being nice is not the only thing that makes you a friendly person; you have to trust an always see the best in people. Billy Weaver is friendly because through all the signs that told him to run, he stayed and looked past the Landlady’s odd actions. Billy was very patient with Landlady when she would get his name wrong, “‘It is Mr. Perkin’s, isn’t it?’ ‘No,’ he {Billy} said, ‘It’s Weaver’” (Dahl 3). In the previous sentence, the Landlady has forgotten Billy’s name again yet he still uses a calm tone to respond. You can infer that Billy cares for others’ feelings. “The tea tasted faintly of bitter almonds, and he didn’t much care for it” (5). What the citation does not recognize is that even though Billy has a dislike for the tea he is still drinking it as if he doesn’t wish to hurt the Landlady’s feelings. The fact that Billy is kind, trusting, positive, and
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Unfortunate for Billy, being friendly, youthful, and naive are the three characteristics that lead Billy to be silenced forever. “The Landlady,” by Roald Dahl shows the readers to trust your gut, being too trustful can be your weakness, and that sometimes some things are too good to be true. Each of the traits that Billy has leads to each of these themes. Being too friendly leads you to see the best in people and become too trustful, if Billy wasn’t naive and he had trusted his gut through all the abnormal behavior that the Landlady showed he would still be alive, and Billy was too young of youthful to understand that somethings are too good to be
He later allows the reader to visualise his town through a description of his street. "Each deadbeat no-hoper shithole lonely downtrodden house in Longlands Road, Nowheresville." This repetition of colloquial negative adjectives expresses Billy's depressing feelings about his home. Billy's undesirable view of his town along with other factors such as being abused by his father aid his decision to leave and discover what else life has to offer. Because of his adverse position Billy decides to leave his town to seek a better life. To do this he becomes a homeless runaway which is his first transition in the
to it because his fate did not lead him there. Billy applied the fact that he had to accept
The virtue of kindness is not meek it is not niceness. Kindness holds firm to its foundation and values, but it does it in a way that is gentle. Kindness is not naïve, it is wise and discerning (Corey, 211). People confuse being nice as kindness because on the outside both are soft. The inside is what shows the difference. Niceness has no substance, it will go wherever society takes it. Kindness is different, it has a firm, solid center (Corey xv). The components of soft edges and firm centers make kindness warm and inviting and yet it remains deeply rooted to its core beliefs.
George and Lennie seemingly contrast each other throughout most of the story, constantly arguing about Lennie’s actions. After the two fight about Lennie needing ketchup for his beans, the author writes, "But I wouldn't eat none, George. I'd leave it all for you. You could cover your beans with it and I wouldn't touch none of it" (12). Lennie’s innocent offer to give up ketchup for his friend, resolving their argument, also establishes that extending acts of friendship is an astounding way to overcome differences. Certainly one must not only be kind in order to gain acceptance, but persistent in attempts to establish friendship. Lennie is another perfect example of this when he befriends Crooks: “Lennie’s disarming smile defeated him. ‘Come on in and set a while,’ Crooks said. ‘ ‘Long as you won’t get out and leave me alone, you might as well set down.’ His tone was a little more friendly” (69). Analogous to Lennie’s tenacious attempts to win Crooks’ trust, one must be resolute in order to accept those with differences. Constant acts of friendship show compassion and clear purpose in actions, ridding any stereotypes or misunderstandings in a
One of the strongest points proving Billy’s lack of emotion is when he is at war and essentially tries to set himself up for his enemy to shoot him (Vonnegut 29). The incident seems very ironic considering Vonnegut’s anti-war opinions, because he seems to want Billy to honor the fairness of war.
In today’s society, acts of compassion are rare as we get more and more focused on satisfying our desire for success and wealth. However, humans do sometimes show remarkable acts that melts the hearts of men and women and restore faith in humanity within those who are less optimistic. But it might not always be a kind return that you may get from such action. In the story “Sweat” by Barry Webster, a young girl named Sue allows Jimmy as an act of kindness to lick her “honey” on her body. As a result, Jimmy chokes from the honey and Sue gets more rejected from the other students at her school. By using characterization, dialogue and narration, Webster demonstrates the theme that compassion and kindness can bring more consequences than benefits when these actions are done by those who are different.
For most people having relationships and connections with other people is critical in living a content and fulfilling life, some people however are exception to this and they purposely lack motivation to connect with others. These people justify their actions by declaring that for them to connect they would first have to modify their personality, an action they do not wish to perform. In The Simple Gift, Billy the main character describes his disconnection with his hometown and especially his father, someone he openly despises. Herrick has used imagery to portray the town in which Billy resides in “This place has never looked so rundown and beat”. Billy having this hatred for his town left his home and now plans on wondering the streets as a homeless man. Even though Billy despised his town he still had connections to it, however negative they may have been, now being homeless he has lost these attachments, but he is perfectly contempt with this because he felt if he had tried to belong in his hometown he would have had to change himself and most likely end up like his father.
Protagonist Rip Van Winkle possesses mystical and entertaining characteristics that captivate the reader. Rip Van Winkle regards all of his neighbors with kindness continuously. He shows the depth of American values such as kindness and the love of the neighbor. Van Winkle’s great kindness is illustrated by his helping of others. On page 62, the narrator states “He inherited, however, but little of the martial character of his ancestors. I have observed that he was a simple, good-natured man; he was moreover a kind neighbor, and an obedient, henpecked husband,” confirming that Van Winkle is a kind person and a loving
Everybody has weaknesses, and no one can deny that. Some people are jealous, some have bad habits they need to break, and some are over-nice (but in the bad way). Mine happens to be the third one in that list. In multiple situations, I have been too nice to the point where it hurts me and makes me miserable. Where this weakness is the worst is definitely in relationships: both romantic and friendships. My personal weakness of being too nice isolates me from being happy for myself in the same way as Hester’s sin isolated her from the Puritan community in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
This world and its beliefs provide Billy with a way to escape the mental prison of his mind where even the sound of sirens caused him great distress. From the chronology to the diminishing reaction to the important moments in his life, Billy’s life becomes completely chaotic and meaningless, but he would not prefer any other alternative because this was the only one which was mentally
Like every action of emotion there is a story behind it and with cruelty or kindness it is the same; a purpose behind the initial action. In the short story, “Thank you Ma’am”, by Langston Hughes the story is started with a boy who initially attempts to rob a woman who in turn takes him to her house, and although she is a very rude lady she cleans, feeds, and bathes the boy before sending him off. The cruel actions that the boy initiated created kindness from the women who was cruel due to the rough life she had growing up. The reasoning behind the boy’s cruel actions were to feed his family, as well as himself in the wake of his parents. The cruelty is a feeble act but created a kindness for the boy, and for the women as well for she turned an originally negative encounter into a positive and potentially life changing events for the boy. Although it’s potential for cruelty to have no stimulation, and for kindness as well, there is more probability for the cruelty to have stemmed from kind acts as well as kind acts to stem from cruelty as each and every action have an intention or have come from equally impactful events within a
"If you choose to become a positive detective, if you choose to spread positive news, be prepared for a negative backlash." - Lea Waters
What is being rude? Being rude according to its definition is being offensively impolite or ill-mannered. In todays society, whether its at home, in school, at the store, at work, or even on social media, the act of being rude is on the rise significantly.
Honesty is a characteristic that everyone should possess. However, being honest is a difficult task for many people. Living honestly means allowing a person’s true self to be exposed to others. Honesty is considered owning up to one’s wrongdoings and not lying, cheating, or stealing. Being honest is a trait that many people believe is obsolete. Even though every person interprets honesty differently, it all stems back to telling the truth. Being honest allows a person to earn respect from their peers. Honesty is allowing oneself to be completely exposed by being truthful.
Kindness is the key to most everything. Being kind means taking the high road, even when someone has wronged you. It means serving other people, even under inconvenient circumstances.It involves looking for the good in others, and even helping them to see the good in themselves. Kindness is spreading happiness to make other’s day better and by making them smile. Kindness is defending those who are picked on by others, sitting by those who are lonely, and saying hi to someone in the hall. Kindness is being someone who wants to build up those around them.