In the short story Thank You Ma'am by Langston Hughes, the main character Mrs. Jones is kind. In the story a young boy named Roger tries to steal from her. She catches him, confronts him, realizes that he is poor and has no family and immediately takes him in. She cares for him, teaches him right from wrong and feeds him. She gets him back on his feet with what she could give and sends him off back into the real world. Mrs. Jones is kind because she teaches Roger a lesson, she helps him, and she wants a good future for him.
Mrs. Jones is kind because she teaches Roger a lesson. “Mrs. Jones said, ”You ought to be my son. I would teach you right from wrong.” (Pg. 1) She is offering to help him out and trying to teach him that stealing is wrong. She did this almost right after he tried to steal from her. Mrs. Jones first confronted but then almost immediately forgave him and started offering to help him out. She did this because she knew that he didn't have anybody that would teach him right from wrong or even feed him because he had nobody. Kind means having or showing a friendly, generous, and considerate nature, therefore Mrs. Jones is considerate and friendly to Roger because she knows that he doesn't have a family or a home. This scene shows that Mrs.
…show more content…
Jones is kind because she comforts him so that he isn't as scared and to show that she forgives him and that she’ll help him out. This is significant because she just almost got robbed him and she already forgave him. Mrs. Jones is kind because she cares for Roger. She knew that he didn't have a family or a home or probably anything to money to eat. “So she did not ask the boy anything about where he lived, or his folks, or anything else that would embarrass him.” (Pg. 3) Roger was forgiven almost immediately after he tried to steal from her, she took him into her house, she fed him, and to top it off she didn't embarrass him and hurt his feelings. This scene shows that Mrs. Jones is kind because she doesn't want to hurt Roger’s feelings by embarrassing him. Even though Roger tried to steal from her, she still took him, fed him, and was considerate to him by not hurting his feelings. It is important to notice that she had a great opportunity to harass and embarrass him about how he didn't have money, food, or even a family. But she didn't, she just stayed silent and let him eat in peace. Mrs. Jones is kind because she wants a good future for Roger. He tried to steal from her and “when they were finished eating she got up and said,” Now, here, take this ten dollars.” She knew that he didn't really need the money to buy suede shoes, he really needed the money for food. So she figured that out and gave him the money in hopes that he would use it wisely and so he wouldn't starve. This scene shows that Mrs. Jones is kind because she cares about his health and wants him to be okay. This is significant because it relates back to how she talked about how she has done bad things too, and that maybe she didn't have anybody to help her out and she didn't want that upon Roger because she cared about him. Even though Roger tried to trick her that he wanted the money for suede shoes, she was smart enough to give him the money because she secretly knew that the money wasn't for shoes, it was for food. She knew that he just didn't want her to feel bad for him or know that he was poor and homeless. We see that Mrs.
Jones changes throughout the story. She shows her dark side when she catches Roger stealing from her. She confronts him and makes a big deal about it on the street. But then she breaks down into her sympathetic and gracious side when she figures out that he has no money, no family and no home. She teaches him the lessons of not stealing and being kind. She does this because she was in this kind of situation when she was younger and she doesn't want that upon Roger. We can all learn from Mrs. Jones that you can always forgive, you can always be kind and that what you see in someone is almost never the whole picture. So you should always be kind even if you think that the person doesn't deserve
it.
In a short story called, “Thank you ma’am”, the author is trying to convey the theme, or message, of the importance of showing random acts of kindness towards others to help institute change. Mrs.J show one act of kindness when she washes his face. Another when she makes Roger food at her house. Mrs.J is kind and shows multiple examples throughout the story.
Miss Strangeworth did indeed care for the people. In the story it says she always would stop and ask about someone’s health or say good morning to all the people in the town. In the grocery she saw one of her friends,and asked if she was feeling alright because she didn’t look good. In the story it quotes,”Carrying her little bags of groceries, She came out of the story in a bright sunlight and stopped to smile down at the Crane baby.” She is a polite person around people, but isn’t a polite person when she is home alone. Clearly the narrator wants you to think she is a good person until u keep reading and see how evil she
In the end, Judy Jones didn’t end up with the lifestyle she always wanted. Perhaps some readers may think she deserves what happens to her. Jones ended up with a man who was a drunk, an abuser, and a cheater, but she continues to forgive him. Judy Jones’ dream, much like the dreams of children, doesn’t actually happen in real life. There
Kindness can really make a difference in a person's attitude. In “A Christmas Carol”, the Cratchits and Scrooge's nephew Fred show kindness to Scrooge, even though Scrooge showed quite the opposite to them. Or in “Thank you M’am”, when Ms. Jones makes Roger food and gives him money to buy his shoes, instead of reporting him to the police. Even in “Little Things Are Big”, when Jesus decides to help people even if he has to face prejudism. These stories all show turning points, and these examples show
It is important to include cultural issues in the helping process to be more effective. We also need cultural competence because the U.S. is becoming more diverse. Therefore with diversity comes different beliefs, norms, and values. Eurocentric values dominate sciences and began cultural universals which puts the clash of dominate and non-dominate cultural behaviors in motion. In 1996 the NASW Code of Ethics increased the recognition of cultural competence. It is important to know diversity exist within ethnic and cultural groups because social workers need to know that relationships between helping professionals and clients may be strained. This happens because of the distrust between groups. Another important aspect is that the professional realizes their own values, biases, and beliefs. The reason for this is because they must value diversity to start with and understand the dynamics of difference. Culturally competent practitioners have to go through developmental process of using their own culture as a starting point to meet all behaviors. Striving for cultural competence is a long term process of development. The literature on cultural competence is theoretical and conceptual. They have not been evaluated in a systematic way. Roughly there are 2 million Native americans in the U.S. Which survive decimating disease, over-repressed in child welfare system, suffer from health problems, and are among the poorest people in the United States. Working with them clearly falls within the social work clearly mandate to serve vulnerable and oppressed clients. However, we do not know how many people from this group is actually receiving help from social workers. Even though it is important to train social workers to provide care in th...
Deconstruction of Thank You, Ma’am. & nbsp ; There are a million acts of kindness each day. Some young man gives a stranger a compliment, or a teacher brightens a students morning. But, in the world we live in today, these acts are rare to come by. In this short story Thank You, Ma’am, the boy, out of mysterious luck, gets taken in by the woman whom he was trying to steal a purse from. Her actions, following the incident towards the boy, may have seemed very as complicated as life is, there will not always be someone for you to lean on and depend on. The first and most foremost thing that would come to mind when reading this story is how caring Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones was, that she took in the boy and nurtured him; she tried to teach him between right and wrong. She gave him food, a nice conversation, and even a chance of escape, which he chose not to take, but these methods are still an immoral way of handling the situation. If a boy were to come up to an everyday woman on the streets, that victim would not be as sensitive as Mrs. the boy she caught. To teach a young man that if you steal and you are going to get special treatment is not an effective method of punishment. First of all, the boy told Mrs. Jones that he tried to steal her purse for one reason, to buy blue suede shoes for himself. She then replies, “Well you didn’t have to snatch my pocketbook to get some blue suede shoes.
Beginning with Mrs. Hopewell, the title of the story comes from what she likes to call the poorer and less fortunate people that live off the land and work their whole lives just to hang on to some scrap of a life. This is how she views these people. She believes that they are good country people not a bad seed among them, that they are all eager to help out and bow in humility to the upper class. The gullible nature of Mrs. Hopewell betrays her true vision of a situation. She is one of those people who are all goody-goody to people who they view as less fortunate. She’s a person that commends or speaks for the people she knows nothing about. Altogether this is her true weakness that is taken advantage of by Manley Pointer. One of ...
...t the beginning she dislike the man and towards the end she actually feels sorry for the man and tries to help out. Mae changes differently in the story like when the chef was mixing the potato salad said to give it to him and she looked at the truck drives as to tell them what she needed to do next. Another example is when the man asked her for penny candy which might have been more expensive than that she offered to give them 2 for a penny because she didn’t want the man to disappoint his two sons who were eager to taste candy. With this type of humility the man is able to accomplish to get food for his family and not rip-off someone in the process. What I believe about humility is that you need self-esteem and that humility is from a deep confidence in who you are, and what you are capable of and it also requires the courage to stand back when you could stand out.
“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see” – Mark Twain.
Through these endeavors, she is further treated poorly for being a woman. Martha is treated as little more than a beggar. The housekeeper greats her with condescension by suggesting that “my lady is very good-natured; for she knows that people come with their books as a genteel sort of begging, and she generally pays them handsomely for their trouble” (Robinson 230). Martha is not taken seriously and is offered money for her suffering instead of for her artistic ability. Even when a publisher accepts Martha’s work, she is given a small sum and sent on her way. Martha later discovers that the publisher made sufficient profit off her novel, to which she saw none
My personal weakness of being too nice compares to Hester Prynne’s in the sense that it affects how I look at myself and cuts me off from society. Being too nice can be a bad thing at times, and committing adultery also has a big effect on how you look at yourself. Either way, learning how to deal with your problems, small or big, and working to fix them is the only thing that matters. Even though our problems are nowhere near the same level, it still affects our daily lives knowing that we have those
The virtue of kindness is not meek it is not niceness. Kindness holds firm to its foundation and values, but it does it in a way that is gentle. Kindness is not naïve, it is wise and discerning (Corey, 211). People confuse being nice as kindness because on the outside both are soft. The inside is what shows the difference. Niceness has no substance, it will go wherever society takes it. Kindness is different, it has a firm, solid center (Corey xv). The components of soft edges and firm centers make kindness warm and inviting and yet it remains deeply rooted to its core beliefs.
In regard to dealing with difficult people, Beverly told the story about a neighbor of hers. This neighbor has a bad attitude and used to upset Beverly so much that she would cry every day before work, but now, she has learned not to let it affect her. She said that she also does not hold grudges.
Kindness is the key to most everything. Being kind means taking the high road, even when someone has wronged you. It means serving other people, even under inconvenient circumstances.It involves looking for the good in others, and even helping them to see the good in themselves. Kindness is spreading happiness to make other’s day better and by making them smile. Kindness is defending those who are picked on by others, sitting by those who are lonely, and saying hi to someone in the hall. Kindness is being someone who wants to build up those around them.
If one person holds the door open for somebody else, basically, the receiver of the kind act is benefitting by not having to open the door. Although the example sounds very simple, the act is still helping somebody. If people did not hold the door open in the modern day society, the combined amount of times one would have to open the door would be significant. Secondly, showing kindness builds character. If somebody shows kindness, the people around would start to see the type of person the giver is. Good character is very important in life, and it will earn somebody a lot in life. On the third hand, there is always an opportunity to show kindness. Showing kindness every day is a very good habit to develop, and it would start to make somebody a better person. Every act of kindness will benefit others, and kindness is a great way to bring people