A Comparison Of Argue And Merton's Strain Theory

Guilt is an emotion that affects everyone in a different way. In The Yellow Birds, by Kevin Powers, John Bartle, one of the main characters, struggles with guilt over the death of his friend Murph. It is not until the end of the book, the reader discovers the horrific truth about Murph’s death and why Bartle feels so guilty. Bartle had a good moral compass at the start of the book; somewhere he went off his righteous path of thinking through his decisions. Although Bartle is a good person, he is lead to make terrible decisions that ultimately leading to his demise. Bartle’s emotions caused him to make atrocious decisions that happen to have damaging consequences to his decisions and his actions.

It is important for one to be capable of feeling guilt over mistakes that he/she has committed but it is of the upmost important to not let it consume the person whole. In a sense the act of taking on guilt shows that one is human with a living conscience. Larry seems to be crippled with guilt, but he has his work, which is an enormous part of his identity and his life will go on while Jim Hammer even though he is free he has nothing to turn to and that in part is because of his

Guilt is part of people that convicts them for actions and thoughts. Guilt can lead a person to try and fix damage in relationships, change their behaviour, and see people differently than before. The feeling of guilt has changed Dunstan and Paul. Paul sees his mother differently and has to make decisions in his life because of the guilt caused by Mrs.Dempster’s insanity. Dunstan blames himself because of what happened to Mrs.Dempster during the snowball incident and lets the feeling of guilt control his actions and decisions. In the novel Fifth Business by Robertson Davies, guilt impacts Paul and Dunstan to make important decisions that changes their life drastically throughout the novel. The guilt caused by the snowball incident,

What is guilt? Guilt is defined as "the fact or state of having done wrong or committed and offense." (Definition, 5) In Fifth business Guilt is considered to be a theme placed within the pages of the Novel, Fifth Business. It is shown through main events taking place, as well as being shown through the main characters of the story. For many guilt can be a powerful emotion, leaving people to question the fact on why they are feeling "Guilty". It can be considered as the "price we pay" (letting go of guilt, 4) after doing something in the wrong. "Guilt can also be considered psychological relating back to a previous childhood event or actions".(4) For most guilt is a feeling/ emotion that is completely unavoidable.

Guilt can be the most damaging force to people who have morals. Guilt is a force that can control people’s lives and even kill them. In the novel The Fifth Business by Robertson Davies he develops the theme that during a characters search for meaning and redemption in their life it can bring upon them large amounts of irrepressible guilt . Davies develops this theme through the use of the character Dunstan as he faces massive amounts of guilt throughout the entire novel in his search for absolution.

Regretful, ashamed, and sorry. Feeling responsible for a specified wrongdoing. Guilt. Have you ever felt guilty? Do you ever blame yourself, or wish you could turn back time to change just the smallest of details, knowing that your life will be so much better because of it? Yes or no, or whatever your answer may be, many people, and many characters have. The Book Thief is a prime example in which many of its characters experience guilt. They blame themselves for the fact that someone died while they are still alive, yet they find many ways to deal with this guilt. Throughout The Book Thief, the author demonstrates how survivor’s guilt continues to provide motivation for the characters to alter their lives in many ways.

Jesus, Jimmy, I came down here thinking the whole idea was nuts, but I can see it in your face, man.” (Lehane 531). It is extremely evident that crime is involved with the loss of innocence in Jimmy’ case as he is a perpetrator of crime. Jimmy is even accepting of this and, “The truth [is], Jimmy had never felt much guilty for anything he’d done.” (Lehane 553).

Exploring the role of negative emotions among murderers in a population of federal offenders: the General Strain Theory

On the sunny day of June 4, 2014 in Monkton, New Brunswick, 24-year-old Justin Bourque loaded his rifle, drove his truck to a local gas station, and brutally murdered 3 RCMP officers. In the aftermath of this shocking crime, criminologists ask themselves two questions: why did this happen, and even more importantly, how can we prevent it from happening again? Hirschi’s Control Theory and Merton’s Strain Theory suggest that Bourque’s failure to properly bond with our society and his inability to succeed within it directly led to the most extreme form of social deviance: murder.

In The Things They Carried, characters Tim O’Brien, Lieutenant Cross, and Norman Bowker deal with guilt in various ways, much like soldier might experience. In the chapter Ambush, O’Brien felt completely guilty by killing a Vietnam soldier with a hand grenade, where he possibly could’ve let the soldier pass by. In the chapter In the Field, Lieutenant Cross felt guilty by leading his soldiers into an unsafe place, that lead to Kiowa’s death. In the chapter Speaking of Courage, Bowker feels guilty by letting Kiowa, a good friend of his, die in the mud field. All three soldiers have had different circumstances, but all three feel guilt in different ways.

The guilty feelings result from the wrong act a person believes he/she have done (Whitbourne). Sometime people are forced to do things they do not believe it is right. This is what happened with Okonkwo when he killed his adopted son, Ikemefuna. Oknokow did not believe what he did was right, but however he was forced to do so, in order to maintain his respect among his people. This caused him to regret what he did, and feel guilty:

When one does wrong, the common reaction is to hide it and pretend as if nothing happened. Because of the human conscience it is difficult to completely forget about a wrongdoing. Through our conscience guilt is built up and eventually that guilt shatters enough

The proposal of Robert Agnew’s General Strain Theory in explaining criminal deviance is based on three concepts. The first concept is that people

Robert Merton, argues that society was structured in a manner that encouraged deviance (Haines, White and Asquith, 2012). He proposes that socially accepted goals, for example, ‘The American Dream’, put pressure on the individual to conform and force the individual to work within the structured rules of society, or instead become part of a deviant subculture to attain these goals (Haines, White and Asquith, 2012). Merton named this Strain Theory. He suggested the genuine means of acquiring wealth was unfairly accessible throughout the class structure (Haines, White and Asquith, 2012). Strain Theory argues that some individuals have experienced ‘blocked opportunities’, and therefore are unable to attain their objectives through regular or genuine means (Haines, White and Asquith, 2012).

Introduction: Throughout history there have always been many different theories of crime and why people commit crimes. In the late 1930s a new theory rose to the forefront; this theory was called the anomie theory. Anomie means a lack of ethical standards. The anomie theory was proposed by Roberton Merton. It stated that society, as a whole, generally shares the same goals relating to having success in life; whether that is having a family, wealth, power, or just happiness. Society generally agrees that these are things that are to be sought after. Furthermore, Merton proposed that society, as a whole, also has a list of generally accepted ways to achieve such goals (Merton, 1938). Criminal activity, such as robbery, murder, and corruption, are among the things that are not accepted by society as appropriate means to achieve these goals. Merton’s anomie theory was built upon in 1992 by Robert Agnew who developed the general strain theory. General strain theory argues that when members of society are unable to achieve the general goals that society has set forth, they will, in order to avoid further rejection, further alienate themselves from society. Agnew also argued that if these individuals feel as if their shortcomings were a result of their environment failing them they will likely develop very negative feelings towards society, causing them to