Guilt Issues In Sam's Illness

Both Dolly and Sam are responsible for much of the hardship their family experiences, Sam through his relentless gambling and Dolly through her alcoholism and infidelity. Their belief that hardship is a matter of luck and not a result of their own actions, keeps them mired in misfortune. When Sam’s world is falling apart because Dolly has been unfaithful, his sons “sense he is a loser” and Rose is starving herself to death, Sam contemplates suicide because losing his family is “more than a man can bear.” Ultimately Sam does not take

Moral intentions can be explored while contemplating bits of memories. As the narrator reflects upon his past relationship with his father, he starts to acknowledge

Why is it that in My Brother Sam is Dead and in Colony of Fear there is so much hate between the characters? In this essay there I am going to compare and contrast two novels. The novels are My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier and Colony of Fear by Lucy Jane Bledsoe. The Topics to be compared and contrasted are the characters protagonists and antagonists and the conflict.

As Dunny grew into adulthood, the guilt that he felt grew and continued to affect all areas of his life. Dunny’s life became intertwined with Mrs. Dempsters, and he felt responsible for taking care of her. Dunny agreed to take care of Mrs. Dempster when her aunt and lawyer died. “So I began then and there to maintain Mrs. Dempster, and never ceased to do so until her death in 1959. What else could I do?” (Davies, 162). Dunny took care of Mrs. Dempster out of the guilt that he felt, even though he didn’t have any money to support her. Dunny then felt guilty for not being able to financially support Mrs. Dempster, and eventually having to put her into a mental hospital. “So much against my will I got Mrs. Dempster into a public hospital for the insane, in Toronto, where I could keep an eye on her. It was a dark day for both of us when I took her there.” (Davies, 163). Dunny didn’t have the resources to take care of Mrs. Dempster, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t escape the guilt. “I dared not look back, and I felt meaner than I have ever felt in my life. But what was I to do?” (Davies, 163). Dunny didn’t have a choice, he knew that what he was doing was in Mrs. Dempster’s best interests, but it still pained him to upset her. Dunny then felt guilty for telling Mrs.

“Right actions for the future are the best apologies for wrong ones in the past” written by Tyron Edwards. Sometimes changing your behavior is the only way to make up for a past, because you learn what are right actions, and what are wrong actions.

When Sam failed the exam, his mind could not handle the cold truth, he starts shutting himself out. Camille is the one that open Sam up “We were able to connect on an

“Can’t repeat the past?” He cried incredulously. Why of course you can! I am going to fix everything just the way it was before” He nodded determinedly. “She will see” - Jay Gatsby-

You can’t repeat the past. Yes, you heard right, as much as we want to stay in the moment it won’t last endlessly sadly. Now there are those that take to accept that reality and those who refute it and try to do their best to avert the inevitable. There is a great book that depicts this perfectly, and that is The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald. One of the main characters Gatsby believes you can repeat the past.

It often comes to pass that a person visits their past to try to relive a time in their life. However, as it will become clear to anyone wanting to attempt this, repeating the past is not so easy as trying to go back to how life was before. In fact, it is not even possible. One cannot repeat the past because situations in life, other people, and we ourselves permanently change as time goes on. There are events in people’s lives that are permanent; it is impossible for a person to “take back” something that is out of their control.

Often times we find ourselves thinking about the past only to try to force the memories away and return to our current delusion. We can never erase the past, but if the past is who we are, then should we just welcome pain back into our lives? Embarrassment, guilt, and pride betray us as we choose to bury our darkest memories in our head and look to a positive future without ever having to readdress them and acknowledge that they had ever happened in the first place. Thinking back now my weakest moment caught me by complete surprise.

“Love and Honour and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice”, focuses on the relationship between the protagonist, who is referred to as ‘Child’, and his father, referred to as ‘Ba’. The opening story follows the protagonist as he is struggling to overcome writers block, whilst dealing with his estranged Vietnamese father who is visiting. A number of flashbacks are used as a literary device to divulge into the protagonists past with his father as well as the fathers past. This reveals, not only an abusive past with his father, but also his father’s memories of the Vietnam war. It becomes clear that the son makes excuses for his father, with his girlfriend Linda also noting this, “I think you’re making excuses for him…You’re romanticising his past to make sense of the things you said he did to you” (pp.20). The protagonist reflects this himself, making the excuse that “he was a soldier” (pp.13), and that is why his father treated him as he did. The protagonist, despite once being able to admit to Linda that his father abused him, can no longer admit this, as his relationship with his father grows, and it can be argued that he is willing to overlook his past in an attempt to reconcile with his father. “It was too much these words, and what connected to them” (pp.13).

She is nasty and impacent with him and she ends up pushing him away. Dispite Clare’s efforts in seeking amnisty from her son, the only thing Clare achives is distance and more resentment. The only thing that occupies Clares mind is her past and her guilt but she cant move forward without forgivness from her son. Clare attempts to seek forgivness from Mark once againe when she tells him about he rrole in Lauras death or disaprecance. Although this story can not be taken as truth, Clare tells Mark because she is trying to connect emotinally with him and she wants to unburden her guilty concience in the hopes that she will be granted

Throughout the story, it is overtly shown how guilt can play a powerful role in one’s actions, which is fundamentally shown through our protagonist, Duncan. Duncan is a teen who suffers from a phenomenon known as survivor’s guilt as a result of him being unable to save Maya from drowning. Being tormented by his guilt for over a year, Duncan sees the discovery of Roach’s journal as an opportunity to redeem himself as he subconsciously cannot bare the thought of being accountable for another death. (McNamee 104) After the killer dies, he is able to find closure as he no longer feels responsible and vindicates himself for Maya’s death. Through this, readers are able to perceive how the redemption of guilt can be a pivotal factor to lead to a person’s gallant actions while they recuperate from their guilt, thus showing how the redemption of guilt can empower heroic actions.

“You can’t escape your past. Not completely. But you can deal with it” (Johnson, Joel). People continuously state, “The past is in the past,” or, “Do not dwell on your mistakes,” although, none of these statements hold any truth. The past is an inevitable part of our beings as a whole, notably shaping who we are, affecting our lives forever. This commonly used quote, “Learn from your mistakes,” is one of the many examples supporting the idea of not letting one’s past go. For example, if a child touches the stovetop, they will get burned and most likely never plan on touching one again because of past experiences. There is no evading our past, it surrounds us everywhere. In the challenging novel Great Expectations, Charles Dickens instills the message one’s past never truly leaves,

Even though a vast majority of us wish that it was possible to turn back the hands of time and change or rewrite history. However, the truth of the matter is that we simply cannot. Everything happens for a reason, and we should learn to accept it. Accept it for what it is, rather than what we would like it to be.