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Doing The Right Thing By Rick Worthy: An Analysis

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“Courage is not living without fear. Courage is being scared to death and doing the right thing anyway.”(Chae Richardson). Everyone experiences fear at some point because horrible things happen and bad times strike. But a common theme in literature is that the worst of times can bring out the best in people. “Thank You, Ma’am” by Langston Hughes, “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost, and “Doing The Right Thing” by Rick Reilly are three pieces of text that can support this idea. After reading all three texts it is evident that all the characters have a role model, who help them find the courage to do the right thing, which challenges the reader’s assumptions and judgments. First of all, people who have the courage and do the right thing …show more content…

“Thank You, Ma’am” is a short story about a young boy named Roger who meets a woman, Mrs. Jones, after an attempt to steal her pocketbook. After getting a hold of Roger Mrs. Jones decides that she won’t turn him into the police and wants to be a role model for Roger. In paragraph 15 it says, “‘You ought to be my son . I would teach you right from wrong…”’(Hughes 15) It’s obvious in this paragraph that Mrs. Jones wants to be a role model for Roger and she influences Roger to make better choices later in the text. Next, in “Doing the Right Thing” four football players enter an unlocked, closed store in New Jersey. They needed to purchase some items when they realized no employees were there in the store. They also realized they could get away with stealing the items they needed but they didn’t. Instead, they paid for the items and left for practice. The reason these young men had integrity was because they had family, their role models, they didn’t want to disappoint. The text says, “‘If there’s one thing about parenting that I’ve learned it’s that the best gift you …show more content…

Also all three texts challenge the reader’s assumptions and judgements. In “Thank You, Ma’am” Mrs. Jones has to decide whether or not she will turn Roger into the police, and Roger has to decide if he will escape or not. The reader could judge these characters and say that Mrs. Jones would take Roger to jail, but the reader’s assumption is challenged because Mrs. Jones doesn’t turn him in. Also when Roger has the opportunity to escape he stays. The texts says, “The door was open. He could make a dash for it down the hall. He could run, run, run, run, run!”(Hughes 32) as you can see Roger had to make a decision about what he would do. Next, in “Doing The Right Thing” the players had to choose whether to pay or not. Most people even the manager judged the players and thought they were going to steal since they had the option. But of course they didn’t. According to the text, “‘My VP was looking at the video with me,’ Lederman remembers, ‘He saw those four boys and goes, ‘uh-oh that’s it. We’ve been robbed.’ But as the video played, they saw the oddest thing, integrity.”(Reilly 5) This shows that even the manager and her VP’s assumptions were challenged by the players. Finally, in “The Road Not Taken” the character has to make a big life decision. Some people could assume that he will take the path everyone else does and follow the group. But instead he chooses

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