The acclaimed soccer player Lionel Messi once stated, “You have to fight to reach your dream. You have to sacrifice and work hard for it.” This quotation emphasizes that making sacrifices is an essential ingredient in achieving a worthy goal. To reach notable desires, one must set aside something. This theme is clear in the novel Scythe, where characters make crucial sacrifices to attain their goals. For instance, Citra, in the tracks of becoming a Scythe, had to give up her bond with her younger brother, Ben. For Rowan, he had to kill Goddard and his elegy to safeguard others, even at the expense of his reputation. Scythes must cede their humanity, as they are required to maintain the population. As shown by Citra gleaning Ben, Rowan’s murder …show more content…
Defending others by speaking out against injustice, for instance, can lead to reputational damage. One can accomplish this by prioritizing their morals over their reputation and standing up for others. As Gaylord Nelson famously said, “The ultimate test of a man’s conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.” This statement underlines the significance of even a seemingly small sacrifice and its impact on future generations. It further emphasizes how safeguarding individuals and making sacrifices for future generations supersedes immediate gain. As Rowan decided to kill Goddard in Scythe, he was protecting others from his arrogant and unjust actions, which led to mass gleanings. “Rowan reached down and yanked the ring off Goddard’s finger. You don’t deserve this. You never did” (Shusterman, 392). Rowan's action benefited both future generations and Scythes. Goddard was a corrupt and conceited Scythe who was eager to murder anyone. Knowing this, Rowan decided to stop Goddard directly before he could harm more people. Rowan chose to sacrifice his own life and reputation as a Scythe and kill Goddard despite knowing the consequences and that he would be hunted for what he did. By doing so, the Scythedom was reinforced, and the value of making sacrifices to protect others was demonstrated. Rowan showed that sometimes preserving people and future generations may be more essential than maintaining our reputation by performing this truly heroic
Accusations became widespread, and, since confession was the only way to avoid a hanging, confessions became widespread as well. When only a small group of stubborn resisters were left, the main character John Proctor had to make a difficult decision on whether he should confess or hang, and ends up hanging along with a few others to help save the integrity of their community. In his play The Crucible, Arthur Miller demonstrates that while some may view self-sacrifice as a pointless loss due to pride, the decision to sacrifice one’s life for the good of his community and the elimination of conformist attitudes is very noble. The enormity of this decision can instill a feeling of guilt and responsibility upon another, as occurs to the protagonist John Proctor, and can cause one’s views and actions to be altered.
John Proctor is, at first, willing to offer up a false confession that his life may be spared. Inevitably, John Proctor possesses that fateful attribute known to fall fatal to many human beings - pride. While he has, indeed, been ashamed of his many sins throughout his life, Proctor's soul still clings to his pride and his good name, however soiled it may have become. On the morning scheduled for his execution, Proctor wrestles with the realization that one more sin so heaped upon the rest in his life will make precious little difference in the end; "I cannot mount the gibbet like a saint. It is a fraud. I am not that man.... My honesty is broke... I am no good man. Nothing's spoiled by giving them this lie." (126) He attempts to calm his pride by telling himself that the other accused witches who will not give false testimony to save themselves from the gallows have every right to do so; they led lives free of blame. He, however, he tells himself, did no such thing; what right has he to hang among the righteous? "Let them that never lied die now to keep their souls. It is pretense for me, a vanity that will nor blind God nor keep my children out of the wind." (126) Thus the conviction first reached by John Proctor is to save his life rather than to throw it away in mock martyrdom.
Anyone with knowledge of current events must be aware of times when society has seized upon a scapegoat as means of resolution. Countless politicians, military leaders, corporate executives and school administrators frequently use this proven technique. The people of the small village were very similar to the leaders of our society. The village people believed that someone had to be sacrificed to insure a good crop. "Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon", said Old Man Warner. It is scary to realize the similarities in the reasoning of the villagers and the reasoning employed today. The villagers are aware that the sacrifice is inhumane but none want to stand and voice their opinion, for fear of going against society?s standards and being outcast or being stoned. "It?s not the way it used to be," Old Man Warner said clearly. "People ain?t the way they used to be." The population fears that if they go against society they might be chosen as the lottery winner OR disrupt their corn season. "Some places have already quit lotteries," Mrs. Adams said. "Nothing but trouble in that," Old Man Warner said stoutly. "Pack of young fools."
Sacrifice is giving up something that is apparently good in order to achieve something of greater good. Let us all strive to be more like Johnny Appleseed. He taught us many things.
Whatever it is, most people cannot do anything on their own without making sacrifices, especially if they want to do something that goes above and beyond. For example, Lady Macbeth wants to gain a power that Macbeth didn’t have earlier. This power comes with more than a few sacrifices from everybody in the book. In Macbeth Shakespeare illustrates that to achieve any goal in
Whether attempting to maintain safe relations, keep family out of harms way or to die with honor, each character placed reputation above religious morals to keep a good name in society. The importance of reputation makes a prominent appearance in today’s society as well as in the Crucible. For example, if a politician makes one bad move, it can end their career for good, which reflects what Parris’s fear of losing his place in society because of accusations of witchcraft in his family. Reputation is immensely important in 1692, and possible even more so, in modern
In today’s society, sacrifices play a big role in our everyday lives. They range from small, such as sacrificing that piece of cake to keep you feeling healthier and a little better about yourself, to big sacrifices such as a firefighter sacrificing his life for a complete stranger. At the end of the day, they all all make a difference for better or for worse. In the play “The Crucible”, many various sacrifices were made during the process of exposing the possible witchcraft that was going on in Salem. These sacrifices were a result of fear. People were afraid that they would be accused of witchcraft and would do anything to avoid being pinned. A few of the sacrifices that were made were people 's lives, the happiness
With Sidney’s end of irony as the solution to the madness that desire had brought upon the speaker, it establishes that the want of material things should be tossed out and internal rewards should be kept. One should only desire to “kill desire” (14 Sidney).
In Achebe’s Novel Things Fall Apart one of the themes is that striving after titles, trophies, and status in general is rife with sacrifice – some too great to overcome. The status symbols in the novel and in the modern world are often sought after heavily. This leads to great strife amongst people and causes damage in multiple ways. One of the ways that striving for status makes one sacrifice, is that of their own personality, instead of being themselves, they feel as though they need to act a certain way to gain status. It can also cause people to sacrifice relationships to maintain their version of status and the way they perceive others think of them. Lastly, it can cause people to sacrifice their morality to achieve their goals of fame
The sacrifice of a man’s honor can save his family and their reputation. A man’s ultimate sacrifice would be losing his life for his family. In Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible, a hero named John Proctor redeems himself after having brought distress and shame to his marriage. He defies higher authority in the town of Salem and in doing so; it leads to his demise. John Proctor is a hero because he sacrificed his life for his and his family’s honor.
An individual's inclement to uphold his or her responsibility to his or her community depends greatly on society’s treatment towards their own self, changing them to become selfish or selfless towards their peers. Abigail Williams, who has been neglected by someone she loves, can feels an insatiable hunger for vengeance towards her community, whereas John Proctor, who live a respected lifestyle, is encouraged to consider the value of the loss of innocent lives compared to the loss of his own.
Abigail Williams is willing to disregard her morals, lie, and kill someone else to restore her good reputation in Salem. John Proctor is willing to lose his integrity and life before he gives up his reputation. Judge Danforth is to proud and concerned about his own reputation to admit that he made a mistake and save seven people’s lives. This is relevant for humanity today because it shows that if we are selfish and put our reputation as our most important concern that only problems and bad things will come from
Imagine having a memory of a very traumatic event resurface in your mind after forgetting about it for twenty years. That is what happened to Eileen Franklin in 1989 when she had recovered what is called a repressed memory of her father, George Franklin, killing her friend in 1969, which eventually lead to her father getting a sentence of life in prison (Beaver, 1996). A repressed memory is a memory that is not forgotten, but is a memory of something traumatic that is blocked and not recovered unless triggered by something. Although her descriptions of the event were very vivid, describing colors and sounds, most of what she described could be proven inaccurate. Some of what she described was information that was misreported in newspapers that she had probably read or been told about in the past. This is an example of the misinformation effect. Misinformation effect is when someone is misled by information about an event that they witnessed and has an effect on how they remember that event later. This is just one example of how the misinformation effect can change how an event is described.
John Proctor, the protagonist in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, refused to lie and confess to witchcraft, a crime he did not commit. Because of his reasoning he hanged for what he believed for. Proctor felt that his two main principles were more important to respect and uphold than life itself. These two beliefs were to keep his reputation clean and just and the second was to keep his personal integrity. It is my belief that these two reasons were and still are valid principles to die for. John Proctor and the others that were hanged, who believed in these same two principles, should be regarded as martyrs; true heroes who died for what they believed in.
Recent studies on parental involvement in education have found that there are many benefits for both the student and the adult when parents become involved in their children’s education. Without parent support, it is very difficult for a child to be motivated. From what I have seen growing up, only a small percentage of students are self-motivated, so it is absolutely vital that parents assist in the motivation process. I found this table to be particularly interesting and important.