Saint Augustine's Shift Of Pears In The Confessions

During that time, not only did he face numerous bouts of “soul searching,” he also engaged in intellectual examinations of events often viewed as acts of dissidence. Whether by acting out his erotic desires or by playful thievery, Augustine delved into examining the nature of sin as a means of understanding man’s true intentions with every action. As Augustine discussed and acted out his sexual desires, he stood firm to his idea that he did it out of an innocent need for love. In addition, Augustine’s pear theft acted as a means of showing that one who commits a criminal offense may not fully understand all of the implications it may hold for that person.

In this summary response we are summarizing the article “On Punishment and Teen Killers”. In this article Jennifer Jenkins talks about her sister’s experience and how it was caused by a teenager. And what she is basically trying to make a claim on how teens do deserve to go to life sentences. But yet she does not have any experience since she is just a teacher.

In Augustine’s Confessions, he confesses many things of which we are all guilty; the greatest of which is his sadness of not having a relationship with God earlier in his life. He expressed to us that to neglect a relationship with God is far worse than the pity he felt for Dido. In reviewing his life, he had come to examine life and how there are temptations in this world that can keep us distracted. He tells to us how he became aware of this fact; everything is negligible except love for God, and his own guilt at not having found this truth sooner.

Confessing his sins Augustine recalls the first sin that he can remember, thievery. As a boy Augustine “and some other wretched youths” had gone and stole pears from trees. Augustine himself having no need to steal out of poverty or hunger, as the boys end up disposing of the pears to pigs in the end (Augustine, 30). Augustine explaining that “I loved my sin - not the thing for which I had committed the sin, but the sin itself” (Augustine, 31). This task of thievery seeming to be trivial, is a significant obstacle as Augustine is not only discovering why he and others sin. As well as the important difference between what Augustine describes are lower and higher goods. Augustine explains that while following worldly law, we also have to keep in mind and not stray from the Lord’s law (Augustine,31). With the aspect of worldly honor and greed, sin was committed for the reason in acting due to the love of something

As I had entered into my boyhood around the age of five or six, I noticed that my selfish human condition had grown and manifested itself into a more complex process. That urge to attain power and authority over people and things had grown stronger and more sophisticated. The desire I once had to benefit myself by crying as an infant grew into a desire to benefit myself by cheating and stealing as a young boy. One of my earliest memories as a boy is stealing from my families close friends. The part that troubles me most is the fact that I was fully aware of the healthy relationship that existed between my family and the family I stole from. The bag of quarters I stole from them was not out of hatred or vengeance; I stole because the thought of doing something illegal while getting away with it was too enticing to resist. I saw the stealing of the money as an indication that I am a power seeking person. The fact that I would steal from friends to benefit myself proves that I have been deceiving and greedy in nature since my infancy. Although I do agree with Augustine when he introduces very

This legal loophole is based on the theory that if he had not participated in the robbery, his partner wouldn’t have been shot. Because Geri is over sixteen, his transfer to adult court is certain, where he will face a harsh prison sentence. These cases are just two of many sad and unfair stories featured in this work. Other than the juveniles themselves, the reader will also meet several juvenile court officials. Humes introduces his audience to a frustrated and burnt out juvenile court prosecutor, an intimidating, reform-minded judge who shows his distaste for transferring youths to adult court by simply refusing to do it, even when it is required by law, and a patient juvenile probation officer who manages to find small successes within a job that can sometimes seem futile at best.

From watching kids my age attempt to recover what respect they have lost from committing a crime, It has been reinforced in my mind how important good choices are. I have a vivid memory of my first time on the jury of Teen Court where the defendant was only 9-years-old. He had committed such a serious crime that officials considered sending him to a real court to await sentencing, but instead of pleading for his innocence he accepted that what he had done was wrong and began to speak about his future. This young boy spoke about his dreams to become an NFL football player, but his mistakes could jeopardize it. This memory is a constant reminder for me to follow a path that will be beneficial to my future instead of damage it.

However, Augustine has another agenda- his confessions are also meant to show his praise and love for God. He says this in the fifth book with: "Accept the sacrifice of my confessions by the agency of my tongue, which Thou has formed and quickened, that it may confess to Thy name... But let my soul praise Thee, that it may love Thee; and let it confess Thine own mercies to Thee, that it may praise Thee." This is a clear declaration of his praise to God, and ​almost another underlying message of the text to the audience. So as he is writing about his life, he is trying also to set an example to the audience about how his choices were not always the best and use this as a guide to their own lives. And finally through his story, use his conversion and change as a way to praise God to show that even someone who "strayed off" the path was able to redeem themselves and how merciful and good God is to accept someone even as sinful as he was.

The book is laced with vignettes that are compelling emotionally that profiles the circumstances of the arrest of the children, their stigmatization and traumatic ordeals when they were incarcerated, and their experiences during their trial in the courtrooms. At times dramatic and painful, the vignettes create an emotional connection that is compelling between the reader of the book and the victims as they narrate the paralyzing and persistent trauma the scandal had on their families and the youths involved.

In St. Augustine’s Confessions, Augustine’s worldly experiences throughout his autobiography are crucial to his understanding of Christianity. Augustine reflects on his childhood experience of stealing pears from his neighbors to understand his sinful nature. Augustine struggles to understand his motivation for taking the pears when he knows that the pears are not necessarily better than those at his own home. He finally recognizes that this transgression is of the most wicked nature because he was sinning for the sake of sinning. “Now let my heart tell you what it was seeking there in that I became evil for no reason. I had no motive for my wickedness except wickedness itself”(29). By reflecting on a worldly experience, he is able to reach a

possesses the competency to recognize that the act of stealing is visibly unlawful, whereas a juvenile might not understanding why taking someone’s possessions is morally unjust. In addition, children do not fully understand the complete consequences that will transpire from their actions. In the essay “Little Adult Criminals,” Nathaniel Brazill, a 14-year-old, was convicted of second-degree murder. When Brazill was sentenced to twenty-five years of life in prison, his reaction was,” Not too bad,” proving the boy did not fully grasp the implications of his proceeding (New York Times 599). Without a doubt, a naïve child is clearly not as mature as an adult, which is why the contrasting ideals of moral judgment and the barrier between youth and adults needs to be taken into account in the order of criminal justice.

Humans all make mistakes, it is a part of life that no one can avoid. However, young adults are more likely than the older generations to make bad decisions and take part in things that they may someday regret. Some people say that making mistakes is just a part of growing up. But what if just one wrong decision could mean the difference between a normal childhood and spending the rest of adolesence behind cold steel bars with cruel and vicious adult criminals? Unfortunately for a growing number of young teenagers, their reality is never being given a second chance to change or correct their mistakes. Why? Some may ask, because instead of attending school, learning the difference

In today’s society there has been an increase in the crimes committed by juveniles. Most juveniles have underlining factors that have caused them to choose this type of lifestyle. Many children in the juvenile system have come from impoverish stricken neighborhoods and are festered with gang activity which has made them a product of their environment. The minds of adolescents do not allow them to see how they are affecting their lives. A study was conducted, and according to the article, “Adolescents in Adult Court: Does the Punishment Fit the Criminal?”, when children mature, they will look back at their past and possibly leave their surroundings. Think about two people committing the same crime, both with the same thought process and ability to make decisions, except one is a juvenile and the other is grown. Due to the lack of experience in decision-making or the time to evaluate the situation like the adult, the youth should be viewed as irresponsible. The fact that a child’s mind is still maturing should reassure people that they will not be the same person incarcerated a few years later.

Many young adolescents who have committed horrendous crimes have been a huge topic amongst the Supreme Court. Whether young adolescents are viewed as innocent, naive children to the public, this not changed the fact they can commit brutal crimes. In spite of the fact that adolescents have committed brutal crimes such as murder, one needs to understand that their brains are not as fully developed as an adult brain would be. Adolescents should not be trialed to a life sentence or attend adult prisons; however, they should be punished for their actions and undergo rehabilitation programs to help them be prepared to fit in with the rest of society.

Augustine is our exemplar to human nature, as well as the guideline to what it means to be human. He demonstrates both the good and bad qualities that humans obtain and show that not everything can always be all-good. In the Confessions Augustine talks about how he knows about his own imperfections. He states “At one time in adolescence I was burning to find satisfaction in hellish pleasures” (Augustine, Confessions, pg. 24). Many of his imperfections have brought a new way of thinking about the human being. In the Confessions, Augustine focuses on his autobiography and how sin comes from inside us humans. From this we have learned about the term introspective conscience and how it depicts when someone is constantly looking at him or herself and looking at the motivation to sin.