Selfishness is evident in “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner and “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway. Both stories have a character that only thinks of their own interests. It does not matter what those around them think and feel. This selfishness causes each character to control those around them, the American in “Hills Like White Elephants” does so more subtly and Abner in “Barn Burning” is very abrupt and obvious. How the affected character reacts to the selfish individual is also in contrast between the two stories. Both stories have a character that is selfish and wants to control those around them to satisfy their needs. In “Barn Burning”, the father, Abner is telling everyone in his family what to do. He tells his wife …show more content…
to “Get Back” (Faulkner 509) when his wife tries to see if her son, Sarty is hurt. When Abner is about to burn Major de Spain’s barn down, he says to his older son, “Do like I told you” (Faulkner 517). He is looking out for number one, himself, and does not care what that means to his immediate family. In “Hills Like White Elephants” the American does not want to change his lifestyle after his partner, Jig, becomes pregnant. He wants her to have an abortion because he believes that would suit him best. “But I don’t want anybody but you. I don’t want anyone else. And I know it’s perfectly simple” (Hemingway 645). He does not consider how the procedure will affected Jig, he just keeps telling her it is simple. In “Barn Burning”, Abner controls his family and wants everyone to do as he wishes. Because of his actions and behaviour, they have moved many times. Abner is very strict, he also uses physical force to control those around him. “His father struck him with the flat of his hand on the side of the head, hard but without heat…” (Faulkner, 510). In contrast, the American in “Hills Like White Elephants” is very subtle in how he tries to manipulate Jig. “’It’s really an awfully simple operation Jig,’ the man said. ‘It’s not really an operation at all.’” (Hemingway 644). He knows that having a child will change their lives, which he does not want. He does not care how this operation could affect her. He is only thinking of how having a child will affect him. He keeps stating that the operation is not even an operation and keeps insisting that it is her choice, but he does not let the topic go. When she does not want to talk about it, he keeps bringing it up. Much like a young child who does not get his way, he continues to pester Jig, hoping she will give in. After Jig asked him to stop talking, he said “’But I don’t want you to,’ he said, ‘I don’t care anything about it.’” (Hemingway 645). How the protagonist responds to the selfish character is where these two stories differ.
Sarty does not like how his father is acting and begins to stand up to him. At first during the trial at the beginning of the story. Abner questions Sarty about the trial, “You were fixing to tell them. You would have told him” (Faulkner 510). And at the end of the story when he runs to tell Major de Spain that his father is about to burn down his barn. “’De Spain!’ he cried, panted. ‘where’s…’ then he saw the white man too emerging from a white door down the hall. ‘Barn!’ he cried. ‘barn!’” (Faulkner 518). The rebellion against his father’s selfishness causes the father his life. “…knowing it was too late yet still running even after he heard the shot and, an instant later, two shots, pausing now without knowing he had ceased to run, crying ‘Pap! Pap!’, running again” (Faulkner 519). In “Hills Like White Elephants” Jig becomes quiet when the American wants her to see things his way. She becomes sarcastic when he says things she does not agree with. “’Yes,’ said the girl. ‘Everything tastes of licorice. Especially all the things you’ve waited so long for, like absinthe.” (Hemingway 643). In this story we are left wondering if she will give in to the American’s selfishness or if she will do what she thinks is best for her and her
baby. Selfishness is what is similar in both these stories. However, how one displays their selfishness and how those around them react is how the stories contrast. Either way, the outcome caused by selfish behaviour is unfavourable and destroys relationships in both stories.
In the book, “Touching the Void”, climber Simson Yates was,”unable to lift his friend up and losing his own grip on the mountain ended up cutting the rope to Simpson to save himself” (Survival 9). This particular incident isn’t selfish considering they both would’ve died if Yates continued to lose strength as he pulled up the rope. Also, in the “Titanic”, Bruce Ismay, “was ruined” because he got in a lifeboat even though there, “was no longer women or children in sight” (Survival 1). This is clearly not selfish since no women or children were left to aboard the lifeboat, anyone would do the same considering the circumstances. Lastly, in the Grand Central Station incident when the lady witnessed an explosion underground and she states, “people were frozen or screaming, but nobody was moving towards the emergency exits, even as smoke began to fill the cabin. After realizing everyone around her were too paralyzed to react, she took action, crawling over several rows of people to the exit” (Survival 6 & 7). This isn’t selfish because there was no time to get people to focus on the exits, so she took action and saved herself which was just common instinct if you weren’t the people,
At first glance, the story “Barn burning” seems just to be about a tyrannical father and a son who is in the grips of that tyranny. I think Faulkner explores at least one important philosophical question in this story were he asks at what point should a person make a choice between what his parent(s) and / or family believes and his own values?
I believe that the story Night by Elie Weisel, you need selfishness in order to survive the work camp. One piece of evidence when someone did a selfish act was when Block Altesta the person that ran the block said “But you must increase your chances.” “Before you go into the next room try to move your limbs, give yourself some color and most important don't be afraid” (Collections (308). It portrays selfishness because Block Altesta is telling them in order to survive you should just try to increase your chances by moving your limbs and giving yourself some color and his saying just do it for
The struggle for Sarty is strong because of the great emphasis his father, Abner places on loyalty to one’s blood no matter the cost. Sarty might have been able to make his own choices of right and wrong, had it not been for the impact of his father’s words. His struggle becomes apparent because he doesn’t want to lie in court, but also feels strong loyalty to his father. He reminds himself that his father’s enemies are his own. “The smell and sense just a little fear because mostly of despair and grief, the old fierce pull of blood. He could not see the table where the Justice sat and before which his father and his father’s enemy (our enemy he thought in that despair: ourn! Mine and hisn both! He’s my father!) stood. (Faulkner 172) This demonstrates to the reader that Sarty wants
There is a common theme in “Hill’s like White Elephants” and “The Birthmark” of a life altering decision. Both women are thinking about having an operation that will affect them for the rest of their lives. In “Hill’s like White Elephants”, Jig and the American are debating whether or not they should have an abortion. This decision is something that will affect both of them deeply throughout their lives together. By the way the two characters interact with each other the reader can deduce how important they feel the operation is. There seems to be a tension in their sentences with each other. Jig says things like “Everything tastes of licorice. Especially all the things you've waited so long for” and “That's all we do, isn't it-look at things and try new drinks” (Hemingway 841)? These responses to the American show that Jig is in a distasteful state of mind which would most likely stem from her thoughts about the operation and what they will do in regard to it. Because these thoughts of the operation are affecting her socially, it shows just how important the operation is to her. How Jig interprets the scenery around them while they are discussing the operation also suggests the importance ...
...t to enter, he tells him to "get out of my way"(Faulkner 166) as he steps into the house and tracks his horse manure all over their very expensive rug. Then when the lady of the house tells him to leave he quickly obeys her after swiveling around on his heel to grind the fecal matter in even further. As he is leaving he once again makes a derogatory remark to the butler. This is probably when Abner's motivation becomes the most clear. He only feels superior to blacks in which case meant everyone else around him was somehow superior and therefore he felt as though every action they took was a threat to him and damaged his pride in himself which forced him to retaliate the only way he knew how, burning barns.
Sarty’s dilemma arises from his father’s destructive envy of his wealthy employers. Abner Snopes frustration with being a poor sharecropper owned “body and soul”(280) by the South’s rich and elite leads him to exact his revenge on the undeserving blue bloods in the only way he knows how-by burning down their barns. While Sarty’s loyalty to Abner is proven after a court hearing held by “his father’s enemy . . . our enemy . . .ourn! mine and hisn both,”(277) after which he challenges and is beaten by a boy “half again his size”(278) because the boy called his father a “barn burner”(278) he is left to make a critical decision between saving his family or his own morality.
Normally in life, you look up to your father to be the care taker and to encourage you to make your own decisions on what is right and what is wrong. You figure your father should have your best interest at heart and show compassion for you. In William Faulkner's short story "Barn Burning," Abner is the opposite of the normal father figure you would see. Rather than encouraging his son, Sarty, to make his own decisions on what is right and what is wrong, Abner wants Sarty to lie to him to protect his freedom, so Abner won’t get caught burning barns. Abner forces fear into Sarty to make sure he will lie to him rather than tell the truth.
Dictionary.com defines selfishness as “devoted to or caring only for oneself”. For Abigail to have Proctor
The story "Hills Like White Elephants" is a conversation between a young woman `Jig' and an American man waiting for a train at a station in Spain. The author never names the topic of their discussion but as their dialogue progresses; it becomes evident that Jig is pregnant. The man wants Jig to abort the unborn child but she is unconvinced and wants to become a mother. Hemingway has brilliantly written the story's dialogue which "captures the feel of a private conversation while at the same time communicating the necessary narrative background" (O'Brien 19). At the end of the story, it is unclear as to what decision has been made; however, Hemingway gives the reader several clues regarding what Jig feels, and what she wants to do. Jig's private thoughts are illuminated by Hemingway's description of the setting, the character, and the conflict. Stanley Renner suggests that, as a result of the couple's discussion, "Jig has become able to make a more clear-sighted estimation, and perhaps a better choice, of men" Wyche(59). The couple's inability to communicate effectively their true thoughts and emotions makes their dialogue very appealing. The story examines the gender differences and miscommunications as they influence the decision whether to abort the unborn child or not (Smiley). In his book on Hemingway, published in 1999, Carl P. Eby points out that "[f]or the past two decades, Hemingway criticism has been dominated by a reconsideration of the role of gender in his work" (Bauer 125).
In Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” Jig changes her position completely when she claims her dominance over her situation, and possibly ends the relationship with The American Man. She changes from powerless, weak, and ambiguous to taking complete control and deciding to make her own decisions about the circumstances in which she is in.
Ethical egoism is a normative ethical position that focuses morally right action that promotes the individual own self interest. It states that actions whose consequences will benefit the doer can be considered as ethical. It differs from psychological egoism in that because ethical egoism says we ought to be selfish while psychological states we should be selfish (Frankena, 1973. 18). The theory in itself says we are hard-wired to be selfish and focus on what type of actions promote use and is self serving. The moral appraisal of things assumes our curiosity, necessitates and even contentment of others should factor in a stability of what we perceive morally and what is in our self-interest. What is morally right and
Throughout Hills Like White Elephants, the American refers to his girlfriend only as Jig (which is a device used for measuring whiskey). This nickname implies that he sees her only as an object; a companion to his wolfish self-gratification. The name in itself is an epithet for the bibulous and carefree lost generation lifestyle on which the two indulged. By leaving the American nameless, Hemingway endows the character with strength in anonymity. He is not concerned with his health, life or future and is only preoccupied with his present existence and the preservation of what he considers to be pleasurable to him alone. This gives the American the upper hand over Jig; thus exhibiting his dominance. Although she so desperately wants to move on from this lifestyle and start a family, she does not want to lose the man she loves. Therefore she is willing to postpone her transition into womanhood so as not to ruin the romantic connection she feels exists between them.
Ethical egoism is diametrically opposite to ethical altruism, which obliges a moral agent to assist the other first, even if he sacrifices his own interest. Further, researchers justify and rationalize the mental position of egoism versus altruism through an explanation that altruism is destructive for a society, suppressing and denying an individual value. Although the ‘modern’ age unsubtly supports swaggering egoistic behavior in the competitive arena such as international politics, commerce, and sport, in other ‘traditional’ areas of the prideful selfishness showing off, to considerable extent discourages visible disobedience from the prevalent moral codes. In some cases, the open pro-egoist position, as was, per example, the ‘contextual’ interpretation of selfishness by famous German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, can be described as a ‘grotesque anomaly’.
Psychological egoism, a descriptive claim about human nature, states that humans by nature are motivated only by self-interest. To act in one's self-interest is to act mainly for one's own good and loving what is one's own (i.e. ego, body, family, house, belongings in general). It means to give one's own interests higher priority then others'. "It (psychological egoism) claims that we cannot do other than act from self-interest motivation, so that altruism-the theory that we can and should sometimes act in favor of others' interests-is simply invalid because it's impossible" (Pojman 85). According to psychological egoists, any act no matter how altruistic it might seem, is actually motivated by some selfish desire of the agent (i.e., desire for reward, avoidance of guilt, personal happiness).