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The importance of courage
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The seventh man short summary
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In the short story The 7th Man, the narrator's best friend dies. He is swept away by a typhoon wave. Although the 7th man could’ve saved him, he didn’t. This man shouldn’t feel guilty for not saving his friend. He was surviving and didn’t know exactly what to do in that instant. He could’ve disappeared without a trace. He wanted to live his life. The seventh man was 10 years old at this time. To this man, his friend K was like his brother. He showed brotherly love to him in every way, more than his own brother (Murakami 134). One day everything changed. Radio signals vanished, wind howled like a great wolf, and the ocean had its eyes wide open ready to strike. “Perhaps an hour had gone by with the wind at it’s worst like this when a hush …show more content…
He could’ve ran and picked him up before the wave had hit him. The timing would’ve been perfect. The man shouldn’t feel guilty about this incident. He did what he thought was right and stayed behind the break wall. So many other tragic things could’ve happened to not only K but also to the 7th man. He was learning to survive. This man was filled with stress and anxiety. When you’re stressed your body doesn’t react the way it would if you weren’t stressed. He was anxious and his heart was beating fast. His mind was scrambling trying to figure out what was happening. Before he knew it K was gone and he was sadden. He didn’t save him and that’s okay. He shouldn’t feel guilt for what he did because he didn’t know what to do until after it had happened. He thought about the incident each time he was near water and each time thought of every possible way he could’ve saved K. He could’ve died beside his friend, but he didn’t want to leave his family behind, he wanted to live his life. This man would remember this for the rest of his life and it would change the way he lived. He would protect those more around him. He wouldn’t take things for granted. This taught him a life lesson. Although he believes that he could’ve saved his friend, he didn’t, therefore he shouldn’t feel
to the shore in the middle of a typhoon, making him guilty of K.’s death. This is inaccurate because K. followed the narrator everywhere, for they were best friends, and this time when he followed him, there just so happened to be an unfortunate situation unfold. Another question that might keep one from agreeing with me is when the narrator says he can “feel” that the wave is coming and needs to snag himself away from the ocean. In the flashback, the narrator reveals: “I knew the wave was coming, and K. didn’t know.” (Murakami 138).
To conclude, Guy ended his life because of a deep state of depression due to the inability to provide for his family. Guy chose death as a method to escape the destitute conditions he once witnessed. There are hardships that many families in Haiti face due to poverty that surround the country. The jobs are scarce and there is not much money in the country. Guy was a strong family man with moral and values, seeking the ability to provide for his family.
He could have turned the guilty party to the police, but he thought that it would end up hurting him.
It is natural for one to feel upset after someone fails to come to one’s aid at a time of need. This can lead to one feeling resentful and distrustful for long periods of time after the event took place. In the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, a young boy named Amir uses appeal for sympathy to justify his inaction to save his best friend from harassment.
This is not true because if The seventh man ran to get K, he might have also died. In moral logic of survivor guilt the author of Moral of Logic of Survival guilt, Nancy Sherman, states it is a flight or fight mentality. This is basic for survival. In this instance the seventh man chose flight. He should not feel guilty he would have died if he did run over and save his best friends life. Fighting in this situation or running over would kill both of them. When people say that he should have just gotten over his fear. This is very hard to do. How can someone simply get over their fear in a couple of seconds? How would the seventh man even know if the wave would hit . It was not his fault ; this wave was uncontrollable. Just because the seventh man is older it does not mean he ultimately responsible. In The seventh man the seventh man says how K would follow him every where. Even if the seventh man told K to go away he would probably still want to follow
In the article it talks about how it was a extremely ordinary day for the main character and he had no indications that today would be his last day on earth. With that in mind, this man chose to be courageous not knowing the consequences of his actions. "Every time they lowered a lifeline and flotation ring to him, he passed it on to another of the passengers". When the water was to take this mans life, it was unbeknownst to him, but he still had the courage to pass the rope to save another. Courage is not a attitude that one might claim in just a day. It is a characteristic that is made, created, and molded as you use it. With unfathomable courage, this heroic man passed the rope one last time, knowing he would never lay a hand on it again. Imagine the character he would have had to possess in order to utilize his agency, without hesitation, by passing on his chance of life to someone he didn't even
As the story, Hunters in the Snow, progresses, the egotistical behaviors of the characters become even more apparent given the lack of sympathy when Kenny is gravely injured. Both Tub and Frank, for example, do not react as most friends would; as moral and compassionate friends would. Surprisingly, Tub, the individual who shoots Kenny in self-defense, shows neither guilt nor regret for his action as he watches his hunting companion collapse in pain. Tub as well as Frank pays no heed to Kenny’s distress as he lies in excruciating pain; basically, neither man shows a degree of remorse for their friend’s pain. For instance, both men are in no rush to transport Kenny to the hospital since they decide to stop at a tavern to get warm and leave Kenny in the truck in utter anguish.
First and foremost you must understand what the seventh man is going through. What he is going through is called survivor guilt. Survivor’s guilt is really common with soldiers that are returning from war with a feeling of guilt because they are coming home alive while their buddies aren’t. “Survivor’s guilt being perhaps the kind most familiar to us. In war, standing here rather than there can save your life but not your buddies. It’s flukish luck, but you feel responsible” (para 2, The Moral Logic of Survivor's Guilt). Survivor’s guilt mostly happens when there’s an accident where there is little to no culpability with the death of that person or people like what happened with the seventh man. “I knew that I could have saved K. if I had tried. I probably could have run over and dragged him out of the reach of the wave “ (para 41 The Seventh Man). The seventh
What good would it do if both of them died, then not one but two families would’ve lost a child. He tried his hardest to save K. and to save himself. Even though that’s true, the narrator still deals with survivor guilt. It begins to affect his life, for something he couldn’t have prevented. He starts having nightmares and can’t stand to live at home. “I stayed away from my hometown for forty years. I never went to that seashore--or any other,” (Murakami 139). There is nothing he could’ve done, yet he still blames himself. “A person feels guilty about what they perceive they could or should have done,” (What’sYourGrief?). The narrator on goes survivor’s guilt because he feels guilty that he should’ve done something differently so K. would be alive. The narrator should condone that it wasn’t his fault and forgive
In the story the seventh man was frightened, he didn’t know what to do so he did the only thing he could think of, yell. As you can see he tried to help K, he did his best. The seventh man shouldn’t give himself up to unforgiveness just because his best wasn’t good enough. He was ten and unable to do anything else in this traumatic accident. Being young and scared should not constitute
Survivor guilt is when a person perceives himself to have done wrong by surviving a traumatic experience that another wasn’t fortunate enough to survive. The author of “The Seventh Man” Haruki Murakami felt survivor guilt for 40 years for his failure to save K. He should feel survivor guilt because he claimed to be K’s protector and he failed to do so, he allowed K to follow him and when he looked back he realized he could have saved his life. Within a hour of the hurricane winds the author decided to go outside to wander around which he knew it could be dangerous because his dad said that he can only stay outside for a little bit. “...It’ll stay quite like this for a while, maybe (Murakami 15). K saw the seventh man through the window when he went outside so he had asked his parents if he could go outside with him.
The narrator of "The Seventh Man" should forgive himself for is failure to save K. He made an unfortunately, faulty attempt, but shouldn't use subjective quilt on himself. The narrator sets of a calm tone when his family emerges into the eye of a typhoon storm. His friend named K. and him chose to take a stroll on the beach and stayed seconds too long. K. was killed with the storm, therefore the narrator felt blameworthy.
We continued down the infinitely long interstate towards our destination. Thunder clouds continued to rumble in, like an ocean tide rolling closer and closer to the beach front. Within minutes the entire landscape was calm and dark. It looked like a total eclipse of the sun, and the once ...
More often than not forgiving yourself is easier than forgiving others who hurt you, but what if you had to forgive yourself for the destruction of your best friend’s life. That doesn’t seem so easy when I word it that way. In the essay “ The Seventh Man”, the seventh man was unable to to save his friend and some may say that he should forgive himself, I argue otherwise. The seventh man should not forgive himself for not rescuing K. K was his best friend, but when you love someone you need to put some effort into meeting their needs, especially if it concerns whether or not their life will continue. The narrator obviously did not prove his love for his friend when he stood and watched his friend be taken away by the wave, that ended his life just as quick as it began.
This shame plays into his anger shown later in the