The dictionary definition of loyalty is "the quality of being faithful in your support of somebody/something" (Fowler). Loyalty can also be defined as “giving or showing firm and constant support or allegiance to a person or institution” (Augarde). These are pretty concise definitions, but they represent something deeper. Sometimes it goes unnoticed, but it’s there, and we will eternally search for it in ourselves and in other people. Loyalty comes in domestic, spiritual, commercial, and professional forms. In all of these, the concept of loyalty incorporates elements of freedom of belief, expression, and connection. Loyalty is a moral standard. It’s something that people understand to be morally right and it is one of the aspects …show more content…
that we as humans have rooted in us. When thinking about loyalty, one must know this quality that lies in ethics does not fall under an exact science, nor religion, but under moral law. It’s an aspect of ourselves that we find desirable, and therefore desire to have the same characteristic. Abandonment can be described as the opposition to loyalty. By abandoning something, we lose our loyalty and devotion to it. In some cases, it can be something as simple as deciding to stop going to your usual favorite coffee shop, because a newer, cheaper one just opened up a block away. But abandonment is a pretty strong word, and usually means deserting or forsaking someone who once meant so much to you. Finally, staying loyal is something that holds or breaks apart relationships, and is a key aspect of the types of people that we constantly look for in a friend, family member, or significant other. Many people say that relationships are built on trust, but loyalty is a better foundation. Families wouldn’t have the same love in them without loyalty. But within the loyalty of a family, many times you can find yourself not truly becoming who you really are. As you grow up you learn the ways of your family. You learn how to talk to people through the examples your parents give you and you learn different beliefs by being exposed to your parent’s views. Most of the time kids will grow up being loyal to their parent’s beliefs and habits while really having different ones of their own. Although they are being loyal to their families those kids tend to lose themselves in the process. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you to a prophet of nations.”-Jeremiah 1:5 (Bible) Although this biblical verse relates to the way god has a plan for you, it can also be used to describe the way loyalty works within a family. Not only do some parents feel that their child needs to be born into their specific religion, but they already have plans for them in terms of education, how they will live their life and what they could end up pursuing in their future. Not all families and parents feel this way but there is a vast majority of parents that tend to believe their children will stay loyal to their parent’s beliefs, teachings or religions as they grow older. This is when loyalty becomes difficult to achieve and comprehend because not only are you attempting to stay loyal to your own family but also to your own ethics and morals. If you are living through the eyes of your parents you are abandoning yourself and who you really are. If you are loyal to yourself and stay true to your own personal beliefs you can find yourself in a tricky situation where you suddenly feel like you are disobeying or abandoning your family. This situation is a common theme throughout the book The Poisonwood Bible. Barbara Kingsolver, the author of The Poisonwood Bible doesn’t only exemplify the ideas of loyalty to oneself but also the loyal one may have to their culture. All in all, Loyalty is an ongoing theme in the way we live our lives, how we fit into our society and how we are perceived to others. Not only is it a characteristic that is awed by all but is also something that has its own battles. We strive to be loyal to our relationships, work, and family but what many fail to do is to be loyal to yourself. It is an ethical part of humans; it acutely contrasts abandonment, and is the basis of all healthy relationships and ways of living. We intend to always stay loyal, but if to be loyal we diminish our own self beliefs and throughout our internal compass can we really say we are loyal as human beings? As Barbara Kingsolver says in the book “Sugar, it’s no parade but you’ll get down that street one way or another, so you just as well throw your shoulders back and pick up the pace”(pg.121), not only does this segment pertain to the whole book but it gives a good sense of the personality of Orleanna. Although Orleanna is able to find her way in the end of the book, she finds herself facing the same question asked previously, “Am I being loyal to myself?” Within a short amount of time into the book Orleanna tells us, the readers, how she is being brought to the Congo by her husband, Nathan Price.
She isn’t enthusiastic about the trip yet she does stay very optimistic about what it may bring to her family and how the Congolese people with be graced with God. Nathan Price has little to no respect for Orleanna, as she is just a “wife” in his eyes. One of Shakespeare quotes that stood out in relation to Nathan and Orleanna’s relationship is “Love is not love which alters when in alteration finds, or bends with the remover to remove” (Shmoop). How this is interoperated in relation to loyalty is that you can have/share love for someone only by being loyal to yourself. He could ultimately care less about her experience in the Congo as he is only focused on God and his duties to him. After six months in the Congo Orleanna had gone through hell and back, from helping her children and she survive a horrific ant infestation while her husband was too busy religiously “saving” the people of their village to losing their youngest child which Nathan concludes to being because she hadn’t been baptized. Once Ruth May had passed away Orleanna had a sudden change of heart. She was tired of being loyal to Nathan and the journeys that he had made him family endure. She abandoned the life that she lived in the Congo and set foot on her own journey with Adah back to the United States. She grew loyal to herself and to Adah after taking them out of the picture that Nathan had
created. As for Nathan he is exposed as only portraying loyalty to himself and to God. We are given the sense that he had begun his journey only being loyal to himself, never involving the family in his decisions. Once he arrived in the Congo, he completely abandoned his family. They found their way around on their own, only seeing their father when he came home at night or during one of his seminars. He sets himself on a mission to enlighten the Congolese people with the grace of god. While pursuing his duties he is also disobeying his family. Even though none of the children or the mother, Orleanna, wanted to go on this excursion he still set forth and followed what he believes was being loyal to God. This is one of the common mistakes in terms of loyalty. Nathan does stay loyal to his faith and most likely to himself, but he doesn’t manage to stay loyal to his family, which many believe is most important. As for the three young girls, not only is it hard for them to adjust to the new lifestyle but it is even more difficult for them to keep their relationships up with their family members. All of the girls stayed underneath their father's shadow until the death of their youngest sister. Similar to how their mother, Orleanna, reacted they all began to part ways. While parting their relationships with each other diminished. Leah left believing that “Rachel's heart was the size of a thimble”( pg. 430), Adah left with Orleanna no longer believing that she was no longer “worthless” (pg. 305) but rather important when she found herself attending Emory University and as for Rachel she followed in her father's footsteps. Her ego devoured her as she distanced herself from her family. She now lives in South Africa with Axelroot where she associates herself “with very sophisticated women” (pg. 425), something she had been apparently lacking in the Congo. The path Rachel is on gives us a better idea of how loyalty can be altered. She was the one person throughout the book who began her journey only being loyal to herself. She never fully gave the Congo a chance to prove its importance and never once did she give her family the respect that they needed to stay strong and together. While the whole family was changing their routes and finding their inner selves she began to fall down an un-loyal path. Her distinctive personality became crated as her relationship with Axelroot moved forward. Once they had moved from the family into South Africa, Rachel was able to be who she truly was, a conceded woman who was loyal to her unfaithful husband. As time went on her speculations of her husband cheating on her only grew. He was gone most of the time and when he would come back to their house he would treat her with little to know respect. Once again she is found staying loyal to her relationship but not truly to herself as she states how unhappy she is by saying “ If I had known what marriage was going to be like, i probably would've tied the hope chest linens together and hung myself from a tree”(pg. 425). Although she goes on a roller coaster ride with relationships and loyalty in the end she finds herself alone but she is content. Not only had she found her true self and regained her own internal loyalty but she begins to reach out in attempt to communicate with her family once again. The Poisonwood Bible is drowning in themes and concepts but through the book, one of the main ideas is loyalty, and how they strive to achieve internal loyalty. A found within the context of the book, the idea of loyalty and abandonment continues to alter between one and the other. When the characters are in the stage of Loyalty to oneself they find themselves living more fulfilled lives, which helps them achieve loyalty with one another as well. When the characters are focusing on their loyalty that it demanded by their family or culture they find themselves in ruts and at their loyal points. These just prove that to gain loyalty in life you must start by being loyal to oneself.
“Look out for the people who look out for you. Loyalty is everything.” In the book, Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher, Ms. Lemry is loyal. Ms.Lemry is a teacher and a swim coach for a school. She is a teacher who stays loyal to her students. She is loyal because she cares for her students who are in her class. Ms. Lemry stands by Sarah at all times and is there for her. Sarah is a girl who got abused by her dad when she was younger. Sarah’s father when she was younger out her face on the stove. Sarah was always scared of her father and she still is because she is afraid of her dad coming back and killing her. Sarah was about to go on the train and Lemry was there to inform her to not get on the train. Her class is called CAT known
Nathan's motive for going to Africa was to try converting some of the villagers from the Kilanga Village to Christianity. Nathan is explaining to Mama Tataba that the citizens are "Broken in body and soul, and don’t even see how they could be healed" (53). Nathan is so fixated with trying to baptize the people of the Congo that he is causing the anger. Many of their conflicts are caused because of race, but here it is religion, the citizens don't appreciate Nathan's approach to baptism. The people of the village do not get along with Nathan, he is ignorant, but since his motive drives him he does not stop. Kingsolver's purpose in having conflicting parties shows that religion results in many conflicting idea within society that creates a divide. Nathan forces his religion on others, even his own children. Leah recognizes her father wearing "his faith like the bronze breastplate of God's foot soldier" and her mother, Orleanna, wearing it "more like a good cloth coat with a secondhand fit" (68). Kingsolver's comparison illustrates that Nathan treats his faith like a battle which explains why he is so persistent in forcing his religion on others. His forcefulness causes conflict within his own family. Nathan seems not to care because he is driven by his motive of spreading his faith. On the other hand Orleanna
Loyalty is one of the ethics that is instilled in a person at a young age. Loyalty can range from loyalty to a family member, friend, teammate, ect. In Larry Watson's, Montana 1948, the summer of 1948 tests the loyalty of each character and is told through the eyes of a young boy, David. The picture was clear to David when Marie was Murdered. Through this tragic event David was able to read each family member determining whether they were loyal or whether they would betray.
“No, he didn’t. For I’d ‘a’ been ashamed to tell him that you grudged me the money to get back my health, when I lost it nursing your own mother” (Wharton 46). This section of the book fixed my perception of Zeena. As I begun reading I thought Zeena was just simply an ill wife, with her hard-working husband. While Ethan battles his feelings for Mattie, I was angry. This is based on how I was raised, I was angry that Ethan liked another while his own wife struggled with her own health. I thought he could do more to help his wife. The quote shocked me, I didn’t think of Zeena like this. I thought of her as a sickly, caring wife. I was wrong and this section gave me a new version of what was happening. Soon instead of being angry at Ethan, I became
A very obvious example of loyalty is, Penelope. She is faithful to Odysseus for over 20 years and does not give up for long time. Even when the suitors came to her house and ate her food and overstayed their welcome she did not budge and still stayed faithful to Odysseus for the whole time he was gone. She told the suitors that when she finished her tapestry she would choose who she wants to marry, but every night she would undo a piece of the tapestry just so it would take longer and it would give Odysseus more time to come back just so she would not have to choose one of the suitors.
Loyal. Betrayed. Insane. Ophelia, a character from The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare, goes through emotional pain and suffering, that drives her into madness. Torn between her father’s word and her love for Hamlet, she chooses to listen to her father, which spells her own demise. Hamlet betrays Ophelia, telling her that he never loved her and that she meant nothing to him. Ophelia feels abandoned, but when her father dies she is pushed over the edge. She is no longer able to move on so she takes her own life.
Ever since Nathan Price was left behind in Kilanga, many events had occurred which most had been unpleasant including war, murder of the prime minister etc. Throughout the life of Orleanna, we see that many moved up. Especially Orleanna Price. Looking back when Orleanna and Nathan lived under the same roof, Orleanna wouldn't speak unless spoken to. She didn't defend her children when discipline came upon them nor took blame when a cause was her fault. She felt awful? Yes. She did truly love her children but we are seeing here that she was barely allowed to speak her mind freely, to show her inner self. Now that Nathan is not present, she is able to be herself without the fear of being criticized. She grows a garden of her that was once a male's job. In my mind, it is proven that the life of Orleanna Price can be fuller and beautiful without Nathan Price.
Is loyalty important to everyone? How important to you? Does it affect your friendships?In Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini loyalty is one of the themes that is explored, it is shown three times through the phrase “For you a thousand times over”. “For you a thousand times over” is said three times, once Hassan to Amir, Farid to Amir, and then finally Amir to Sohrab. Each time this is said it represents a loyalty and who the loyalty is towards
Loyalty allows people to make sacrifices in order to protect the ones that are deat to them. In the book The Chrysalids written by John Wyndham, there are individuals willing to die for one another just to keep each other safe from the society trying to hunt them down.
This quote relates to the theme importance of love and relationships. As Offred sees the Commander more and more frequently, she starts to think about what her close friend Moira would think of it. She remembers how Moira disapproved of her relationship with Luke even though they were in love, simply because he was married. Offred also constantly thinks of her, which shows us the power of human bond and love between friends. She used to talk to her for reassurance, advice and insight. However, that being said, another theme I see present in this quote is the lack of individuality and independence. When Offred was with Luke, it was her choice. She did not belong of him when she made that decision (she was her own individual) and she
The prince family are ever changing with their values and their ideals and this is very evident in Leah’s character. Her values are tested when the indigenous residents of the Congo display features of kindness in which Nathan Price lacks. The Price family is patriarchal and is run by Nathan who leads through intimidation and a demeaning attitude. Multiple times the neighbors of the Price family are shown to be unselfish and caring even offering food even though they have little “then you may have it for dinner” (270) The Congolese people have been influenced by Brother Fowls to treat their wives with respect but contrasting to this Nathan is condecedening and believes that he could do no wrong. Women are inferior to him and he has never thanked Orleana once even though she kept the family alive. Leah slowly starts to see that way that he treats her mother is unprincipled and barbaric. He believes that women are less and have no future in the area of education “Sending a girl to college is like pouring water in your shoes”(68) This is where Leah’s view of her father and her value of justice changes. While she still tries to latch on to the religious values of her father because she seeks his approval ,she becomes distant and sees his wrongs. She is able to notice the injustice of the racial barrier and how Mr. Price is reluctant to listen to the people opinion. “QUOTE” Leah sees the
Loyalty can be expressed in many ways whether it be by doing anything for someone else or just being very trustworthy person overall.
By the beginning of the book, readers already are aware that there is a negative connotation that follows the narrator’s husband. Orleanna describes her husband as a conquerer and goes as far as to say, “I rode in with the horsemen and beheld the apocalypse (Kingsolver 9).” The audience has not even met the villain himself but are able to conclude that this man had an excruciatingly negative change in this novel. However, what makes this detail more interesting is that Nathan Price represents the United States government. Nathan is demonstrating what happens when people try to get involved in a community they do not understand and refuse to adapt to that community.
Loyalty is one of the only things that can hold the bonds of family and friends.
There are many examples of where being late for something could cause dire consequences, such as showing up later than the appointed time for guard duty could cause a breech in security and cause a brutal massacre of the base. Being punctual also helps your leaders to know where you are at all times. If they do not know where you are, they might not know you are sleeping in your bed and might think that you were in a car crash or even kidnapped by terrorists because you chose to display your name or rank at your house. Loyalty is defined as a strong feeling of support or allegiance. I fully agree with this definition.