How Does Bigger Thomas Deserve Sympathy

Altruism is an example of an expositional essay. Reasons to support this include the following: the essay talks about altruism and biology in depth, explaining everything, it then provides solid facts about the topic including observations, and it expresses an opinion of the facts/ideas about altruism while bringing issues into light.

| Shows no emotion to the murders and crimes that he committed. A heartless selfish man.

When Richard Wright completed his draft of Native Son, Robert Nixon was charged with murdering a woman by beating her with a brick. In his essay, "How Bigger Was Born", Wright admitted to copying details from press stories of the Robert Nixon case. By mixing his own “insight into the urban slum experience of African Americans,” Wright created the “disturbing portrait” of Bigger Thomas, who

Last week I read, “Big Jesse, Little Jesse,” of Oscar Casares’ fictional novel Brownsville. “Big Jesse, Little Jesse,” tells the story of a twenty-four-year-old father, Jesse, who struggles to retain a father-son relationship with his physically disabled son. Throughout the story, Jesse continuously treats his son, as a boy without a physical disability. His state-of-denial further blinds him of his self-pride that views his son’s disability as a public failure. Jesse has the same machismo characteristics of other characters of Brownsville however, Jesse’s story is the first time that we see a man become humiliated. In this post, I would like to analyze the characteristics of pride in Jesse, as well describe how his hubris becomes broken.

Guilt is a powerful emotion that can greatly affect the course of a person’s life. Dunny’s character, in Robertson Davies’ Fifth Business, first experienced guilt at an early age due to a tragic accident. A snowball that was meant for Dunny hit a pregnant woman, Mrs. Dempster, causing her to go into premature labour. Although her child, Paul Dempster, survived, the guilt that Dunny experienced from his part in the situation would stay with him for the rest of his life. Guilt stayed with Dunny’s character throughout his life, and continually affected all of his actions.

One of the main demonstrations of compassion, is towards Helen Robinson after the death of Tom Robinson. Atticus makes the choice to bring Calpurnia and tell Helen about the death. He could have decided to hire someone different to bring the sorrowful news, but his compassion towards the Robinson’s was too great to not be there in person to tell her. As well as this, Atticus shows compassion towards Tom Robinson simply by the sadness he exhibits after the case was lost. Any other lawyer in Maycomb would be grateful that the white man prevailed once more in the courthouse, but Atticus was different, as he cared for Tom and his situation deeply. Atticus was not obliged to feel compassion for Tom, but his conscience and heart chose to take note of the difficult situation and mourn after his fate was decided. When Atticus returns from the courthouse, he walks into the house and states, “‘I’m going to bed,’ he said. ‘If I don’t wake up in the morning, don’t call me’” (284). Atticus felt no need to wake up in the morning, as the loss of the case also declared the loss of someone who had become a friend. One of the other examples of Atticus’s compassion, is towards Boo Radley. When he discovers that the children have essentially been mocking the Radley family through the, “Boo Radley game,” Atticus makes it clear he no longer wants them to participate in such

It is easy to blame a child’s upbringing when something goes wrong in their teenage and adult life. However, both Wes Moore’s had a similar childhood yet still ended up with different fates. For example, both of them had absent fathers and were raised by a single parent One of them describes their situation perfectly by telling the other. “Your father wasn’t there because he couldn’t be, my father wasn’t there because he chose not to be “ (Moore 3). A situation where the father is absent is commonly blamed for a misguided life but it is later evident that although there was no father, one of the Wes Moore’s was able to thrive in a positive manner. Since there was a lack of fatherhood, both of them lacked role models, specifically ones that would lead to live positive lives. One Wes Moore chose to retaliate by almost stabbing a neighborhood kid because “it was a pride issue”(Moore 32) and

To kill a mockingbird, a novel which teaches us many themes like empathy by always following right morals and doing what is right. Inside those life lessons the novel also teaches us something important as well. Readers can see the power of an 8 year old to defeat a mob, making them acknowledge what they are doing and “stand in the shoes of another”. We read that a total stranger who is isolated from society (Boo Radley) helps a pair of kids and ends up saving their lives. People do bad acts because of power, maybe they don’t know better or (most of the time) people choose bad because if they do what is right it is not going to benefit them. People who do right when it doesn’t benefit them often do it because of morals and having a conscience

Sympathy, another theme in this book, can have the same amount of impact on an individual.  Instead of it having a negative reaction to the reader it has a superior reaction to the reader.  ?Lee Chong? knew he could not have helped it, but he wished he might have known and perhaps tried to help.  It was deeply a part of Lee?s kindness and understanding that man?s right to kill himself is inviolable, but sometimes a friend can make it unnecessary?(Page 2).  Lee was having compassionate sentiments for the man who committed suicide.  He had a deep feeling that he could of helped in someway to convince the man that his life was worth living.  A side story that was important to the theme of Sympathy was a story about Mrs. Kitty Casini a mouse and Mary Talbot ?Kitty Casini had a mouse?Daintily she stabbed the mouse through the back and drew it wriggling to her and her tail flicked with tense delight? ?I can?t blame Kitty Casini? said Mary. ?I?m just not going to like her no matter how much I want to??(Pages 155-156).  Mary had intense sympathy for that mouse that with no doubt died a tragic death.  She went to the extreme of disliking on of her favorite cat.  Sympathy can bring about the good in people.  Sympathy for loved ones or strangers can surprise one for their intense emotions.

There are many ways to decide what makes a man guilty. In an ethical sense, there is more to guilt than just committing the crime. In Charles Brockden Browns’ Wieland, the reader is presented with a moral dilemma: is Theodore Wieland guilty of murdering his wife and children, even though he claims that the command came from God, or is Carwin guilty because of his history of using persuasive voices, even though his role in the Wieland family’s murder is questionable? To answer these questions, one must consider what determines guilt, such as responsibility, motives, consequences, and the act itself. No matter which view is taken on what determines a man’s guilt, it can be concluded that

Atticus Finch in “To Kill A Mockingbird” did no conforming to the town when he chose to defend a black man, which was obscene back then. Being a lawyer, Atticus felt it was his responsibility and duty to defend the man and would feel ashamed and remorseful if he didn’t. Even when his own children questioned his actions, ‘"If you shouldn't be defendin' him, then why are you doing' it?"’ He answered them with what he knew they would understand and respect. ‘"For a number of reasons," said Atticus. "The main one is, if I didn't I couldn't hold up my head in town, I couldn't represent this county in the legislature, I couldn't even tell you or Jem not to do something again. […] Scout, simply by the nature of the work, every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally. This one's mine, I guess."’ (p.100) Atticus fought for what he thought was right, but ended up losing the lawsuit in the end. Nevertheless, his actions and choices earned him respect from every African American in that little town. Filled with gratitude for what Atticus had tried to do for one of their own, they wanted to give all the respect they could. The whole court house stood as he passed, and Reverend Sykes even said “Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father’s passin’.” (p.283) to have her understand her father was a great and noble person.

According to Merriam Webster, the definition of sympathy is an affinity, association, or relationship between persons or things wherein whatever affects one similarly affects the other. Sympathy is shown all throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by, Harper Lee. To Kill a Mockingbird is set in a small, lonely town called Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s. To Kill a Mockingbird is about two kids named Scout and Jem. Scout and Jem’s father, who they call Atticus, took a case to defend a black man. The black man named Tom Robinson was accused of raping a girl named Mayella. Throughout the novel, Tom is treated unfairly because he is black. Tom does not get a fair trial and is later accused of raping Mayella, even though all the evidence pointed to her father, Bob Ewell. During this novel, Scout and Jem learn that the world is not as innocent as they thought. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird sympathy is shown through putting yourself in someone else’s situation. The characters that sympathy is shown to are Tom Robinson, Boo Radley, and Mayella Ewell.

“Men can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread”, this is a quote from the author of Native Son, Richard Wright (399). The quote speaks volumes of truth that should never be overlooked. It can be said that Bigger Thomas was destined for a mediocre life that could have ended him up in prison, although he eventually did. A plausible reason for his mediocrity was due to the fact that he did not know himself. On the other hand, Bigger Thomas may just be a product of his environment. A product of a system that subliminally did not want Bigger Thomas to succeed, and if this is true then a question is at hand. Did Bigger Thomas kill because of the system and because of the hate that he had or did the system force Bigger Thomas to kill?

Therefore, unlike Dr. Thomas one can suggests that Peter is arrogant and selfish. As I mentioned, it was Thomas idea to build the Spa Bath in the middle of the town. However, Peter refused to give Tom any credit. In order to show how selfish Peter is, he himself stated, “It is a curious fact that people from the working classes never seem to lose their want of tact”. Although Tom’s wife tried to convince him to share credit and honesty with his brother Thomas, Peter still say no. (You Tube Broadway “An Enemy of the People”). Meanwhile, speaking about arrogant and selfish, Peter also seems to be cheap. Dr. Thomas thinks it is a wonderful thing to spend on his family and to see young people eat. Peter thinks it is just a waste of food and money.

When analyzing Bigger Thomas, Richard Wright’s protagonist in the novel Native Son, one must take into consideration the development of his characterization. Being a poor twenty-year-old Black man in the south side of Chicago living with his family in a cramped one- bedroom apartment in the 1930’s, the odds of him prospering in life were not in his favor. Filled with oppression, violence, and tragedy, Bigger Thomas’ life was doomed from the moment he was born. Through the novel, Bigger divulges his own dreams to provide for his family and to be anything but a “nobody.” Although Bigger struggled to fight through obstacles to pursue his dreams for the future, his chase for a better life came to an abrupt