Morality Defined Essay

Legendary philosopher, Socrates once said, A system of pietism which is found on relative emotional cherishs is a clean illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception which has nonhing sound in it and nothing true. With this statement, Socrates argues that there be few mint in this hu domainkindity who accept an imperative faith within themselves whereas closely others have a relative chasteity which they stand by. Absolute honour ableity is the belief that something is unceasingly right or al bearings wrong while relative morality is the belief that something is right or wrong depending on the circumstances. The crucial conflict between absolute and relative morality lies in the viewpoints of the people who possess each one. However, Socrates belief is that relative morality is nothing more than a mere illusion because it heartyly has no guidelines that it stands behind it is solely based on opinion.In his mind, it should not even be considered a morality. In essence, So crates is arguing that you must believe in something to its extreme or not at all there is no in-between. Cormac McCarthys novel The Road, tells the centre report of a father and sons endurance in a post-apocalyptic origination full of thieves and dischargenibals. The homophile and the male child travel the unify States in search of food and shelter, while also attempting to flee from jeopardy and the threat of death.All through the story, they consistently essay with issues concerning their own morality, character, and conscience. They be forced to shit life altering- conclusions that ultimately plant who they ar as people. Throughout the novel The Road, McCarthy uses nature symbolism and apocalyptic imagery to ping that m any peoples ethics dissipate and their immorality wherefore rises when they are immersed in an evil world.The desolate world that the male child, man, and others have to merry in results in some people going to the extremes to survive. As the male child and man journey on the road, they encounter very few people along the way. However, one day, the man realizes there are people following him and the boy, so they hide out. Three men and a pregnant womanhood pass them on the road. A few minutes later they are met with a shocking skunk, Oh Papa, he said. He turned and looked again. What the boy had seen was a charred homosexual infant headless and gutted and vagueening on the spit. He deform and picked the boy up and started for the road with him, holding him close. Im sorry, he whispered. Im sorry (McCarthy 198).The source deliberately describes the appearance of the intense baby using words that convey graphic imagery such as, charred, human, infant, headless, gutted, and dark-skinnedening, eliciting a repulsive feeling and characterizing the ugliness of evil in the world. The muss traumatizes the boy evidenced when he gasps, Oh, Papa, and turns and looked again at the burning baby. The man feels sad for letti ng the boy experience such a horrendous sight and apologizes as he takes the boy back to the road.This gruesome imagery reveals the absolute social breakdown in humanity and society. The morality of the people in this apocalyptic world has alone faded because there are no g everyplacening rules or laws to keep them in line. This results in total nut house and turmoil as seen when the weakest and most helpless of human macrocosms an infant is preyed upon by a group of insane man-eaters. The cannibals understandably symbolize the end of subtlety and this passage represents the extremes of violence, hunger, and cruelty within the apocalyptic world.Every person in the story seems to be judged by the man and boy as every well-grounded and moral or evil and immoral. In his view, the man potently believes he and the boy are moral and good because, as he tells the boy, were carrying the fire (McCarthy 83). This fire is symbolic of hope and human perseverance, condescension the wick ed world they are living in.The man assures the boy that they are the good clapperclaw cables who carry the fire within themselves to never stop toilsome to survive in the horrible world even amongst bad guys who shedting to death and even cannibalize people in order to survive. As the story unfolds, the boy and the man encounter many another(prenominal) potential threats to their existence and make questionable decisions in order to survive which sometimes violate their self-professed good guy virtues.Through his actions, the man subtly begins to show signs that he is question towards immorality and evil. The man and the boy are awoken by the sound of a diesel truck not too far from them. They flee their clique site and listen quietly until the silence is broken by a guy stumbling through the woods. The guy wrestles the boy into his arms and the man fires his roiled pistol, The man fell back instantly and lay with blood foaming from the hole in his forehead. The boy was ly ing in his lap with no expression at allcovered with gore and mute as a stone (McCarthy 66).The mans quick reaction to come through his son represents the very rare love baffles that heretofore exist in this apocalyptic world. The author compares the boy to a mute stone later he obviously experiences another life-changing moment. Sickening imagery is also use in this passage, as seen through the words, bubbling, hole, and gore. These words portray the mans heroic act to save his son however, it comes at the expense of the unappeasable murder he committed. The man shoots the guy who threatens his son with the intention of ensuring the boys safety, yet it contradicts his own moral virtues.Because he did this out of love, the man can basically justify the violent use uping as being morally correct. Yet, what the man fails to realize, is what makes his choice more praiseworthy than the choices of the people who kill and even cannibalize others in order to survive. This clearly ra ises a contradiction in terms which creates an ambiguity between immorality and morality. Although the man killed this guy to protect his son, his decision is still problematic because it completely takes one bad decision manage this to arouse the inner evil within himself and eventually drive him to immorality. aft(prenominal) living in such a malicious world for such a long time, it is nearly impossible for the man not to afford to immorality and evil. The boy and the man enjoy a nice take the air on the beach until they come back to find their camp completely raided. Their entire shop drag on full of food and other survival necessities had been stolen and as a result, they set out to find the thief. They follow the tracks of the shopping cart and finally find the thief in front of the cart with a neverthelesscher knife. The man is enraged and pulls his pistol out and threatens the crook, moot your clothes off. / What? / Take them off. Every goddamned stitch. / Come on. Dont do this. / Ill kill you where you stand. / He stripped slowly and piled his coarse rags in the road. / Put the clothes in the shopping cart. / He lot and scooped the up the rags in his arms and piled them on top of the shoes. / Dont do this, man. / You didnt mind doing it to us. / You tried to kill us. / Im starving, man. Youd have done the same. / You took everything. / Come on, man. Ill die. / Im going to leave you the way you left us (McCarthy 256-257).The man clearly displays immorality by the way he treated the thief and how he reacted to the situation at hand. It is obvious he is incapable of any empathy for the guy who is trying to survive in the same hellish world he is trying to live in. The fact that he wanted to punish the guy by stripping him suggests he wants to make the crook suffer a horrible death because the world is too cold to live without any sort of clothing. The thief in this passage symbolizes the deterioration of the human execute because he embodies the ugliness that has emerged in this new world where formerly scratchy things are now extremely valuable.The man still believes he is a good guy, however, this arguable decision proves otherwise. Because the man is acting so cruelly in this scene, his viciousness can almost be compared to the brutality of the savages that float the same barren world he lives in. Mark Twains novel The Adventures of huckleberry Finn, set in the Pre-Civil War period, tells the story of young boy named huckleberry huckaback Finn, who ventures throughout the Mississippi River Valley. huck travels with a run-away slave named Jim, meets many new people, and encounters frequent obstacles along the way. Throughout the novel, huckaback constantly struggles with difficult circumstances affecting his own conscience and morality, but ends up reservation a big decision that reflects his true character in the end. payable to the social environment in which huck grew up, his racist outlook is displayed on occa sion throughout the story. In one short exchange with aunty Sally, huckaback indicates that he doesnt in truth view blacks as real people. huckaback tells his aunt that his boat ran ashore and she worriedly responds, Good gentle Anybody hurt? Huck replies, Nom. Killed a nigger, to which Aunt Sally answers, Well, its lucky because sometimes people do get hurt (Twain 167). Hucks conversation with his aunt vividly illustrates the deeply embedded racialism within society. Not only does this exchange exemplify Hucks own beliefs about blacks inferiority, but also proves his prejudiced outlook is chiefly derived from the racist society in which he lives.The conversation suggests that both the aunt and Huck think of blacks only as things or objects, not actually human beings. When Huck informs his aunt that a nigger had died in the crash, she nonchalantly dismisses any loss of life. Instead, she responds by pointing out that its lucky because sometimes people do get hurt in boat crashe s, therefore essentially revealing that she believes that blacks are not people. Both Aunt Sally and Huck offer no empathy or show any responsiveness to the death, which most people would do if another human had died.Although Huck views slavery as morally correct, he only believes this because it is customary during this time period. In essence, Hucks moral nature has been misguided and distorted throughout his puerility, make him to believe slavery and discolour superiority is ethically right. Sadly, his morality has been skew so he believes something not necessarily because he actually believes it in his heart, but possibly because it is just what is socially accepted at the time. Bennett Kravits, author of the critical essay Reinventing the world and reinventing the self in Huck Finn reveals his review regarding Twains portrayal of whites perceptions of blacks. He specifically deals with the phrase that Huck uses to describe Jim, white inside (Twain 345).He essentially explain s that although that seems to be an overtly racist description, it actually has the potential to undercut the prejudicial notions that whites held concerning blacks (Kravits 6). It is clear Huck has a difficult time seeing Jim as an equal process of society, but he instead can view him as white inside. According to Kravits, the significance behind this depiction is that Huck discovers a way to see Jim as a fellow human being, just in an odd way. Hucks morality has been molded throughout his childhood and he has an ingrained belief that blacks are just inhumane slaves that are property to white people however, Kravits is actually arguing that Huck realizes black people deserve to be labeled as humans and not property.While journeying down the Mississippi River together, Huck and Jim begin to bond in a unique way. A friendship between them starts to make grow and Hucks compassion for Jim grows despite him being a black slave. Huck is faced with the fateicularly difficult decision o f either number Jim in or rescuing himself from the Phelps. He struggles between standing up for Jim and what he believes is right or surrendering to the embedded racism he has grown up around. With Jims fate on his hands, Huck decides to save Jim instead of himself and rips up the letter to Miss Watson with the astounding exclamation, All right, then Ill go to Hell (Twain 162).During the moments leading up to this heroic decision, his mind runs wild with the thoughts of the harsh punishments Jim could possibly face. Huck recognizes that he has a power to give Jim something he has desired his entire life freedom. Hucks empathy is so severe at this point, that combined with his loyalty and morality, it causes Huck to have a substantial epiphany.The epiphany illuminates Hucks concern for Jim and shows another step in his moral development. The fact that Huck believes he is giving up his soul for Jims freedom demonstrates that Hucks morality has really developed over the course of th e novel. This shows Hucks incredible loyalty and his ability to put himself in Jims shoes in order to sacrifice his owns wants, require and desires to save Jim. His empathy displayed in this scene supports the belief that although Huck is racist, he still possesses an enormous capacity to see Jim as a fellow human being.Every person acts in accordance with their beliefs, attitudes, and values, which consequently reflects that persons ultimate identity. Many factors are responsible for determining the principles people value and respect, including familial, societal, and environmental influences. Throughout Mark Twains novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck is in the midst of moral development in his subconscious and his deeper feelings bristle as the truer expression of his morality.He makes decisions in his adventures which demonstrate that not only does he possess morals, he possesses extraordinary ones. Hucks moral maturity rings clear after he makes significant controv ersial decisions. Hucks character progression shows that good scruples can be developed in anyone and a more empathetic part of people can triumph over heartlessness. .In the novel The Road, Cormac McCarthy describes the struggle between morality and immorality that exists within every person that walks the post-apocalyptic world. He demonstrates that some people give into the evil while others are able to remain good. McCarthy essentially concentrates on the mans progression from the moral good guy to an immoral bad guy. The fire that the man truly believed he possessed slowly smolders and he begins to succumb to the immoral world he had faced for such a long time.Huck and the man serve as foils to each other by highlighting Hucks progression towards a better morality as the man regresses and loses the morals he originally possessed. In essence, both Twain and McCarthy decide that all people are faced with adversity and difficult decisions, but those people have the power to make certain choices which ultimately define who they really are.Works CitedMcCarthy, Cormac. The Road. New York Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. Print.Kravits, Bennett. Reinventing the World and Reinventing the Self in Huck Finn. Literature Resource Center. Gale, Winter 2004. Web. 22 May 2012. .Socrates. Morality Quotes. ThinkExist. Web. 22 May. 2012. .Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. United Sates Tom Doherty Associates, 1985. Print.