In the story “Inez” by Merle Hodge, Mr. James appears each collection day to fearlessly collect rent, or evict if needed, however, he demonstrates no such courage towards his wife as he does with his tenants . Though he sees an injustice in his wife’s demands, he would rather face an angry tenant and hungry children than fail in his duty toward her. The courage he demonstrates while collecting rent is not evident when facing his wife. Mr. James is a hypocrite for enabling his wife’s greed even though morally he knows it is wrong. A similar moral conflict is evident through the behavior and actions of some politicians seeking election. Politicians run for election, willing to say anything to get elected, though morally they may not agree with what they say.
Mr. James is portrayed as fearless by enforcing his
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wife’s policy on collecting rent. “‘The landlord arrived, punctual as doom’” (Hodge 2), the word doom and the phrasing in the quote implies he is reliable, always there to do his job, fearless of his work and the tenants. “‘The tenants paid or tendered their excuses’” (Hodge 2), Mr. James’ tenants were very poor and some were not able to bring in the rent needed, he knew he had to collect rent or his wife would be angry. He would rather accept a partial payment or an excuse as to why they could not pay, instead of having to evict and seize. Inez was just another one of the poor people, having hardly anything, and getting paid hardly anything from her job. “‘He shook his head wrily, it was a detestable business, what he was going to have to do’” (Hodge 2), Mr. James did not want to have to evict the woman, but wanted the money. “‘Evict, seize... seize what?’” (Hodge 2), Inez already had nothing, but Mr. James was going to take more anyway, showing how he will put himself and his needs before the suffering woman. Conflicting with his brave side, Mr. James is fearful of his wife. His wife is overbearing and makes sure Mr. James collects all the money he can. She has no sympathy for her poverty stricken tenants. “‘Mrs. James had no use for sluttish women who spent their lives breeding bastard children and then then expected you to feel sorry for them when they couldn’t pay their debts’”(Hodge 2). The quote demonstrates the greed in the James household and how money is valued over what is right and what is wrong. “‘He wished with all his might that Inez could come through the gate this very minute, bringing even part of the rent; then he could give her some more time’” (Hodge 2), Mr. James knows that it is wrong to demand rent of the poor woman, but he needed to collect at least a little money to be able to show sympathy and not evict her. “‘Mrs. James might not object to that. Otherwise... it was a scene which he had never got used to; each time made him years older. A shouting, swearing woman, her children screaming, crashing of kitchen utensils, crowd gathering, police...’” (Hodge 2-3). In this quote it shows the root of Mr. James’ fear, and how he would do what Mrs. James needs, no matter how morally wrong it may feel. She already had almost nothing, “‘...seize what? The Klim Tin sitting smoky and awry in the dead coals?’” (Hodge 2). Mr. James knew part of her situation and wanted to be able to help her, or at least not harm her through eviction. But he could not, he needed to be able to collect what mattered most in his greed filled life and make sure his wife was happy with it. In the short story “Inez,” there are many complex characters, and Mr.
James the landlord is one of them. He appears to be a brave and fearless character ignoring his morals in his work life, while in his personal life, his wife pressures him into doing his job harshly and without thinking about morals just to get money. This is sometimes reflected in society by politicians who run for office because they think they can help society, but are willing to do and say things they may not believe in just to get elected. Like Mr. James, they behave in a way that is in conflict with their internal morals. A politician's desire for power drives them to do or say things they might not really want to do or believe in. Power and recognition conflicts with their desire to do good, and Mr. James is the same. He collects rent or evicts tenants even though it creates a moral conflict in side. In conclusion, while Mr. James appears to be harsh and fearless on the outside, on the inside he is fearful of his wife, uneasy about taking money from the poor but does not stand up to his greed-filled wife, allowing the hypocrisy to go on, like a politician and his
campaign.
Kenneth Vogel’s Big Money explores the invasion of money into our political system. In the novel, Vogel explains one of the most important important events that is currently happening in today’s elections: donors. This, according to Vogel, has been brought on by a ruling in the case Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission. The result of this case destroyed finance restrictions, giving Corporations and Unions the same laws of freedom of speech as individual Americans. The novel opens in February of 2012 where Vogel sneaks into a donor banquet. As our current president, Barack Obama, gives his speech, Vogel makes a note of the President’s words. In particular, Vogel focuses on one line “You now have the potential
He was offered a “Club cap” but James “gave it back” to his friend, Kris. They waited until Kris left the apartment building, then played a game of checkers. James had wanted to fit in with his friends in the “K-Bones” club but had realized that his brother was more important. He pushed his friend away to play games with Isaac. Furthermore, James has to “take care of” Isaac when his mother is at work. Even when he is trying to fit in with a devious club, he would still “hold Isaac’s hand” or even “carry him home”. James is a very nice and caring brother. This is logical because, that is what a good brother should look like. James must truly love Isaac as his brother, and admires his family more than his
Unknown, to James at this point he did not realize that he was having a problem with a psychological theory called behaviorism. Now this theory is one that is saying human behavior is developed through learning experiences which in this case would apply to James. His behavior as an adult was reflected by the way he was treated as a kid by his father and mother because they fought all the time. They never truly paid any attention to him, which in terms taught him how to stay out of their way and learn how to steal and burglarize places without getting caught. Therefore, within the psychological theory of behaviorism Behaviorists saw crime as something that is a learned response to life’s situations such as James situation which led him to a life of crime because of his parents. Although, he was never truly mistreated, he did not receive his father attention due to the fact of the way his father was treated as a child growing up an abusive household. Therefore, he did not want to place his son in the same situation. There is also the fact that James could be suffering from the psychodynamic theory which says that a person’s personality can be controlled by their unconscious mental process and that is grounded in them in early childhood. These entire things such as the id, ego, and superego
In “The Death of Honesty,” William Damon raises the concern that current apathy towards increasing dishonesty threatens democracy. In this essay taken from the online volume “Endangered Virtues ” published by the Hoover Institute in 2012, Damon initially concedes that there are situations where lying could be considered acceptable. However, with that being acknowledged, he transitions to his main premise that honesty is losing its importance in society and will lead to its downfall, and he cites examples in politics, law, journalism, and business in contemporary society where dishonesty is expected, and even, condoned. Damon finally directs his remarks pointedly at teachers and current students who accept cheating in schools. To persuade his audience of university students and academic scholars, Damon uses many rhetorical devices and styles including classical logos, pathos, and ethos, and allusions to make an ethical appeal regarding the necessity for honesty.
Henry Drummond’s tactfulness allows him to convince a partisan jury of the absurdity of putting a man on trial for simply expressing an unpopular viewpoint. Drummond shows
On one level, each scenario is of an American archetype of success. For a country that prides itself on its immigrant history, hard-work ethic, and financial success stories, it seems strange to make these folks look like the villains. This is what Eric Schlosser is getting at: that these people would be heroes if the American ideal were anything more than a myth. Forgotten in that ideal, rationalized somehow, is the fact that our national heritage also includes a strong grounding in Puritanical morality somewhat. This is perhaps one of the most dissatisfying aspects of Schlosser's book, that the exploration of our moral grounding is never explored all that deeply, even though it is criticized. However, it is indisputable that the author, Schlosser, feels that the American ideal has a dangerous and powerful hold on the public co...
American author, John Steinbeck once said, “Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts - perhaps the fear of loss of power”. As seen in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, people of authority can feel pressured to go along with actions or make decisions they know are wrong because they fear losing their power and influence in society. They also tend to let to their opinions and motives impact their work and responsibility to make good decisions. The Crucible demonstrates how people of authority, like Parris and Danforth, try to use good judgement to make fair decisions, but are often influenced by their own personal opinions whether they realize it or not.
Citizens of today’s society have to comprehend that by conforming to the pressures of others and imitating everyone else, they will get nowhere in life. First of all, a teenage boy attends his first big high school party at a friend’s house one weekend and he is pressured into drinking beer and smoking marijuana so he will seem cool in front of the popular jocks and cheerleaders. Since many teens are so terrified of ridicule and downright embarrassment in front of fellow students, they decide to give in to their peers even though their actions may go against their beliefs. Emerson believed that by being an individual “you shall have the suffrage of the world.” Furthermore, an innocent sixteen year old girl’s parents go out of town for the weekend and she invites her cute, popular, senior star quarterback boyfriend over, but he pressures her into having sex when she i...
...nent person to achieve more positive good in the end. Just as Machiavelli says, in The Prince” there is no moral basis to judge the difference between legitimate and illegitimate power”, which Frank Underwood believes in also due to the way he earns his power. The contrary to this argument is the belief in deontology where, presenting the preceding “image” is considered wrong therefore it should not be even considered unless the official incurs true virtue. In Machiavellian philosophy, one should not worry about the means of what it takes to present virtuous characteristics as long as they earn the positive outcome and earn others trust. In House of Cards Frank Underwood portrays those “virtuous characteristics” but what he truly believes in is the belief of consequentialism, so that ultimately his colleagues and even the president will listen to what he wants done.
New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Romance, Joseph. Political Science 6 class lectures. Drew University, Summer 2004.
...r but Octavia tells him "You not a bum," she says. "You a man."(p.404) This is significant because it shows he is not seen as a young boy by his mother anymore, he is now seen as a man. We see the influence and change in James by all of the life lessons his mother instills in him, she tells him he needs to not cry, to be strong, and be able to stand alone symbolizes that he must be independent, he must also put others before himself and do things he may not like to do but must do as a necessity to live, such as killing the cardinal birds for supper. Helena also shows James that everything in life you must work for, that is why she tells him to take out the trash cans.
...h, to the democratic mind, are odious. We prefer a meaningless collective guilt to a meaningful individual responsibility.”
James was an authoritarian parent. He was controlling, in-charge and no one questioned him. He would play the role of the doting father. When his children made mistakes, he made a point to criticize them. He often compared them to other kids that he felt were “more perfect.” When his often unspoken expectations were not met he would yell and scream striking fear into his entire family. “He’s not a warm, fuzzy kind of guy, and he’s not going to inspire feelings of intimacy. But when his system works, he can boast about one thing: His recruits tend to obey” (Dewar).
Morality is about rules, rules that everybody agrees to abide by because it is in their interest. I have presented here some reasons why one isn't necessarily morally compelled to obey the law. I have explained why politics and morals, and politics and charity cannot mix. Unfortunately, these are merely a few reasons why a real moral society has not been realized. Morality is very complex, subject to many differing points of view. While understanding the issues presented here hopefully contributes to better moral practices, there are still many issues facing proper morality.
Authority in a society is a necessary evil which when unfettered, results in the abuse of power. Power has long been considered a corrupting and a disrupting force in function and in influence. Underlying motives and greed fuel those who seek to gain and or abuse this power. The Crucible examines this twisted force as it corrupts societies’ clergy, blinds its justices, and empowers those who seek to abuse it. Arthur Miller shows how power can be a corrupting influence and how it can blind the judgment of authoritative figures.