Even though they might appear as mischievous, bitter, or timid people change… or do they? People change most of the time “for the better” some do not. Some change because they are forced to and some change because they want to. In the short stories, “American History,” “Charles, “and “Utterly Perfect Murder”. The main characters are examples of change throughout the story because they started off one-way and come out another. Imagine getting up every morning, going to school, and acting out and repeatedly doing that everyday. At some point it gets old. That would make someone want to make a change. In the same way holding a grudge against someone for 30 plus years would make you want to let it go. Finally being picked on and having the worst …show more content…
He was a troublemaker, and the class clown whom always drawn attention to his self by getting in trouble. In “Charles,” by Shirley Jackson, The author developed theme through the main character by making up this whole person when really the character was talking about his self. When it was time to start school Laurie was a whole different person; he dressed, talked, and especially behaved differently. With this in mind, his parents thought this kid “Charles” was a bad influence when really it was their child. He soon changed; He became the teacher’s helper and behaved. But was that just a coincidence that parent teacher conferences were right around the corner? And he wanted good reports from his teacher to his parents? “The teacher spanked a boy, though,” Laurie said, addressing his bread and butter. “For being fresh,” he added, with his mouth full.”(73) Laurie was having a hard time staring off kindergarten. He lied, bullied and hit his teacher and classmates. At first it was kind of like a back and forth thing. He was bad one-minute then good the next, then right back bad again. Apparently, this young boy had a lot going on. He was all over the place. This was all just a pattern with him; everyone would just wait to see what Charles next move would be. But when he finally started being good and stayed that way, everyone thought there was something wrong with him. They didn’t think …show more content…
He hit him and left bruises and called him mean names. He had been holding on to this grudge for 36 years and was ready to finally kill Ralph. “ On of my forty-eight birthday, lying in bed that night beside my wife, with my children sleeping through all the other quiet moonlit rooms of my house, I thought: I will arise and go now and kill Ralph Underhill.”(19) He waited a really long time to get is revenge on Ralph and he thought it was finally time. He changed because when he finally went to kill Ralph, he stood on his porch with his weapon and didn’t do it. He changed his mind when he opened the door and they were standing face to face. “This was the moment I had come for. At some secret blood level, I had always known I would not use the weapon. I had brought it with me, yes, but time had gotten here before me, and age, and smaller, more terrible deaths…” (24) He had a change of heart because time was already killing Ralph. When Doug left years ago, half of Ralph life had collapsed. Doug was the center of his whole world, someone to attack, beat, pummel, and bruise. His whole life had cracked by Doug’s simple act of walking away thirty- six years ago. Doug had finally let it go and moved on. Because it was pointless, and all he really needed was to see his face again. It was nothing Doug could do to change what happened between him and Ralph in the past, but he could control what
Character- The main character Charlie is developed in many ways throughout the story. His whole demeanor changed from page one. He actually started smoking in the middle of the book. “When I light it, I didn’t cough. It actually felt soothing. I know that’s bad in a health class kind of way, but it was true.”-pg 102 His personality was different after that. He always tried to be friendly to anyone he met but if you weren’t nice to his friends he didn’t really respect them after that. His dialogue is very similar throughout the whole book. He is very friendly when he talks and tries to be polite. Charlie is trying to make friends and keep them. He succeeds with some coaching from his english teacher who Charlie calls Bill. Bill gave him books to read and graded Charlie’s reports. “He says that I have a great skill at reading and understanding language.”- pg 9-10. A’s showed on Charlie’s report card but Bill gave Charlie different grades. The books Bill gave Charlie changed his mind about a lot of things. Bill developed Charlie through the whole book.
Murder on a Sunday morning is a documentary of an unfortunate mishap with the legal justice system that happens one of many times. In Jacksonville, Florida the year of 2001, May 8th there was a horrific scenery at Ramada hotel. A women named Mary Ann Stevens and her husband were tourists, while leaving their room early Sunday morning around 9AM a gunshot fatally killed Mary Ann and ended the couple’s vacation. When cops arrived at the scene and investigated they took notes on what the suspect looked like from the husband, “ The suspect is skinny black male dark shorts unknown shirt on foot running south bound…. Fishlike hat on.”- cop at the scene. When the cops were driving around they’ve spotted an African American
The Murderers Are Among Us, directed by Wolfe Gang Staudte, is the first postwar film. The film takes place in Berlin right after the war. Susan Wallner, a young women who has returned from a concentration camp, goes to her old apartment to find Hans Mertens living there. Hans took up there after returning home from war and finding out his house was destroyed. Hans would not leave, even after Susan returned home. Later on in the film we find out Hans was a former surgeon but can no longer deal with human suffering because of his traumatic experience in war. We find out about this traumatic experience when Ferdinand Bruckner comes into the film. Bruckner, Hans’ former captain, was responsible for killing hundreds
Raymond Carver with “Cathedral” and “A&P” by John Updike are both short stories, even if in facts they are written during the same century, readers can interpret the changes that occurred to be really different. They both introduce characters that are being victim of stereotype by the protagonists, but somehow these characters made a great change into the protagonists’ view of the world and life itself. The stories differ in atmosphere and the quantity of people involve in each story which might be important to understand how changes occur. The audience can understand after analyzing these two stories that change is always possible and based on your action, a lesson is always to be learned the easy or the hard way.
Murder at the Margin is a murder mystery involving various economic concepts. The story takes place in Cinnamon Bay Plantation on the Virgin Island of St. John. It is about Professor Henry Spearman, an economist from Harvard. Spearman organizes an investigation of his own using economic laws to solve the case.
The sentencing of underage criminals has remained a logistical and moral issue in the world for a very long time. The issue is brought to our perspective in the documentary Making a Murderer and the audio podcast Serial. When trying to overcome this issue, we ask ourselves, “When should juveniles receive life sentences?” or “Should young inmates be housed with adults?” or “Was the Supreme Court right to make it illegal to sentence a minor to death?”. There are multiple answers to these questions, and it’s necessary to either take a moral or logical approach to the problem.
A character can change many times throughout a novel, or film, whether it’s good or bad. It can be a character’s willingness to change or it can be a life changing journey he or she went on that made it happen. The novel, A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J. Gaines, talks about characters such as Grant, Jefferson, and Paul along with the life changing journey they went through in their life in Bayonne, Louisiana. In the novel, Grant said, “we are […] all of us on this earth, a piece of drifting wood, until we […] decide to become something else” (Gaines 193). Grant’s change of mind set, Jefferson’s ability to stand up for himself, and Paul wanting to be a part of the change, shows how they went from a drifting piece of wood to something
A red balloon floats from the boy’s grasp, as tears run down his face, all of the boys around him hit him and pull at his things. All except one, who stands in the back, Jon Huntman, He doesn’t understand why his childish need for torture and fun have subsided, he just felt pity for the boy. Years then past, his feelings of love and regret grew stronger each year. He no longer wanted pain for others, he had a good job and a wife, and he felt bad for past deeds and wanted to correct his wrongdoings. One day in his late 30’s he went to the boy’s house whom he had stood and watch get bullied, and hung a red balloon on his door. Growing mentally and becoming a better person is the best thing about growing up, as Jon did.
The major theme of Andre Dubus’ Killing,s is how far someone would go for the person they love. It is important to note the title of the story is killings and not killers, for the reasoning that the story does not just focus on two deaths or two murderers but rather the death of marriage, friendship, youth, and overall, trust.
Is murder ever truly justified? Many people might proclaim the adage, "Two wrongs don't make a right,” while others would argue that the Old Testament Bible states, "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" (Deuteronomy 19:21). Andre Dubus explores this moral dilemma in his short story, Killings. The protagonist, Matt Fowler, a good father and husband, decides to take revenge for his son's murder. Richard Strout is a bad man who murders his soon-to-be ex-wife's lover. These facts are complicated by the complexity of interpersonal relationships when seen through the lens of Matt’s conviction, Strout’s humanity, and ultimately Matt’s personal sacrifice on behalf of his loved ones. Though on the surface this tale might lead someone to think that Dubus is advocating for revenge, a closer look reveals that this a cautionary tale about the true cost of killing another human as readers are shown how completely Matt is altered by taking a life.
Newspaper headline: ‘KEITH MILLHOUSE MURDERED IN MANSION.” is across every paper in Rosewood County. Keith Millhouse is.. Or I guess was the richest man in Rosewood. The man had a heart of gold, only wanting to help others in need. Somehow, on a cold October day, though, Keith Millhouse was found strangled, and beaten in his mansion.
Laurie, the obnoxious boy, had a daily routine of going home and telling stories about the rude boy Charles in his class. In fact, one story that he recited was, “Charles was so fresh to the teacher's friend he wasn’t let do exercises.” This is included because it is conveying that the truth about Charles is right in front of them, who he is, what he does, and how he acts. Although, this is not exactly authorities trying to find out the truth about the murder it is still demonstrating the theme, the most obvious clue about who Charles is, is right in front of them, they just need to open their eyes. Eventually, the next parent night comes up, Laurie’s mom is anxious to meet Charles and his mother but what she finds out there is no Charles it is a astonishing surprise. “‘Charles?’ She said. ‘We don’t have any Charles in the kindergarten’” This is helping us infer the ending, that Laurie is actually Charles. And Charles was right in front of them the whole time, once again in arms reach but they did not realize it, they figured out the obvious in the end however, in Lamb to the Slaughter they never found out who it was. The sweetest person to them, really was the one who was disobedient. In conclusion, although, the plot in “Charles” was different, they still demonstrated the same theme through events that happen.
“The third day- it was Wednesday of the first week- Charles bounced a see-saw on to the head of a little girl and made her bleed,” (1). In the short story “Charles” written by Shirley Jackson, Laurie, the main character of the story, is a young kindergartener who is able to run around causing trouble at school and at the same time, pretend that it is only another boy in his class that is making the trouble. “Charles” teaches you that parents do not know everything about their child even though the child lives in the same house as them. Laurie’s parents do not know what he is like at school. Laurie is flamboyant, and arrogant yet creative and those characteristics make him the perfect troublemaker.
For obvious reasons, people reject change. Especially people who are close to each other because they feel that this change is going to seperate them and make them not as close as they used to be. They fight the change until they force the person to change. It's sad how this works, but in reality, it's probably the single most reason why people change. The people we love, love us so much that they want us to remain the way we are forever. Forever is a long time and not one person can always stay the same. Sometimes if the people we love would just accept the change and go with it, they would understand where the change was origianlly coming from.
Michael Sanders, a Professor at Harvard University, gave a lecture titled “Justice: What’s The Right Thing To Do? The Moral Side of Murder” to nearly a thousand student’s in attendance. The lecture touched on two contrasting philosophies of morality. The first philosophy of morality discussed in the lecture is called Consequentialism. This is the view that "the consequences of one 's conduct are the ultimate basis for any judgment about the rightness or wrongness of that conduct.” (Consequentialism) This type of moral thinking became known as utilitarianism and was formulated by Jeremy Bentham who basically argues that the most moral thing to do is to bring the greatest amount of happiness to the greatest number of people possible.