“The Man in the Well”, by Ira Sher is a short story that describes a situation where a group of children find a man stuck in a well and have no intentions of helping him.The children heard screams coming from a well while playing a game in an empty lot. The group proceeded to the edge of the well and decided not to help him. The story is written as a memory, which indicates the possibility of the regret of leaving the man in the well. Therefore, the theme of this story could be that adults may not forgive themselves for something they did in the past, even if they were children. The short story starts with, “I was nine when I discovered the man in the well. . .” (597). Immediately, the speaker announces himself as a nine year old child. The words, “was” and “discovered”, indicate the use of past tense meaning that the speaker is recalling the story, instead of living through it in the present. The speaker strengthens his memory by writing, “I remember that we were still full of games and laughter when we called down to him” (597). The words used in the text …show more content…
Once the man knew their names, they could not remain anonymous and were exposed to the possible consequences they were once protected from. Even though the man did not know them individually, he still posed as a threat to the group. The children, perhaps realized their mistake and felt guilty of their actions. As stated, “After that we didn't play by the well anymore; even when we were much older, we didn't go back. I will never go back” (601). As the years passed, the speaker seems to show remorse. Not being able to go back represents the feeling of guilt and the knowledge of wrongdoing. Not wanting to see what they have done, the group of friends were not able to go back to the well. The speaker was not able to forgive himself for the action committed with his
What was the author’s purpose in including this memory at the beginning of the text? (page 289) Answer:
In the essay, All Over But the Shoutin’, Rick Bragg, the author, depicts the painful strain a father's pursuit of his own selfish ambitions had on his son and household. He warns of the enduring effects holding malice can have on a person’s emotional state of mind. The author shows that there is always room in one’s heart for forgiveness through his use of rhetorical moves such as tone, stance, and imagery.
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
Individuals can be seen responding to the circumstances they endure in a myriad of ways. The individuals may choose to take revenge on the people that caused them to suffer or they may choose to forgive the individuals that caused their hardships. However, when one chooses to forgive the wrongdoer, he or she chooses to release the burden and pain the wrongdoer has caused them. In The Glass Castle, a memoir by Jeanette Walls, Walls describes her parent’s shortcomings but does not condemn them in anyway.
The townspeople were grateful and relieved to have the children back in their lives because they truly believed they had lost them forever. I would have reacted the same way as the village because losing something you care deeply about has a major effect on your life. Twain’s descriptive detail helped me imagine the town’s emotions. The emotions expressed in this passage remind me of many television dramas where the child goes missing and is found without any physical harm done to them. I’m certain the children will never truly understand the worry they had caused. All of the children should have been more considerate and thought about the consequences they would face in the future. This passage shows me that the town cares for the children
Authors often create texts that share common themes to teach readers importance of certain aspects and hardships of life. Theme may be expressed through an author’s use of rhetorical devices and many other contributing factors such as figurative language and repetition. The essay, “Once More to the Lake” written by E.B. White and the poem “Forgetfulness” written by Billy Collins, both contain a theme of identity loss. In “Once More to the Lake” E.B White connects to a lake at young age and when returning with his son years later is unable to identify himself. In similar theme “Forgetfulness” describes different factors of human life and everyday things being forgotten and lost. Both White and Collins use repetition and metaphors to further push the theme of identity loss throughout the texts.
Imagine you and your group of friends were responsible for a man's life who desperately sought for help, but your group mocked or even ignored him instead. This was the major plot that occurred in the story "The Man in the Well" by Ira Sher. An interesting theme of this story is that groups of people tend to act based on their groups impulse and not their own. Though the negative effect of peer pressure might be the cause of why groups, cliques, and gangs do what they do, their behavior alone tends to be much different than when they are alone. It's as if each character themselves goes through a sudden temporary transformation. However, an interesting p three key concepts, which are personality, actions, and decisions, tend to be influenced
In the story “The Scarlet Ibis” the theme is something very intense to think about. Sometimes, by the time we realize what we have done wrong, we can no longer fix the mistake; people have dealt with this sort of conflict in their lives before, many times. Personally, I have dealt with situations like this before in my lifetime. It’s difficult, because by the time we realize our fault, it’s too late to repair the damage.
The things we do as children are often irresponsible and reckless. Yet we do them for fun, and because others are watching, judging, and expecting us to fulfill our 'friendly,' peer-pressure driven responsibilities. There are times, however, when these things lead to something bad, something unexpected. During such times, it is difficult to get over what once was, and to go on with life, especially if the said occurrence is a tragedy, which often times, it may be. Such an event happened in the story "Samuel" by Grace Paley, where a boy died because of his and his friends' reckless behavior, but also because of the actions of the individuals surrounding these boys. This paper will thus analyze the story, in order to determine who was responsible, in this case, for the tragedy that occurs in the story.
First and foremost, the children in the novel are presented as more perceptive and more honest than adults. Children in general tend to be portrayed as innocent in literature. Unlike adults, they don’t really know why things seem to be the way they are and don’t know from right or wrong. In this case, the author might have included these children to act like “judges” in the book. He could have also wanted to bring out some aspects of the novel using the kids.
While in the room where the old man was is buried, the narrator is sitting on a chair, which is above where the old man’s body parts are. He engages in conversation with the policemen. In the narrators mind, he starts to feel guilty his anxiety rises. He believes he starts to hear the old
In the aftermath of a horrific experience, it is not uncommon for a survivor to feel guilty about their survival. The most difficult thing for survivors can be finding the ability to move beyond what has happened and look toward the future. An individual is often shaped by their past experiences. If ensuing guilt is not dealt with, however, the past can hinder the ability to achieve in the present. In Art Spielgelman’s MAUS II, Vladek and Art struggle to live in the present and are laden with guilt from their pasts. When not properly dealt with, guilt can become an overpowering emotion, governing decisions and depleting self motivation. To move successfully past debilitating guilt one often must learn to be accepting of the past and
Susan Griffin, a feminist writer and finalist for the Pulitzer Price in non-fiction, explores the concept of forgetting in her chapter “Our Secret”. Unlike Foer, Griffin (1992) doesn’t seem to be too much a fan of remembering, describing memory to be like “a long, half-lit tunnel, a tunnel where one is likely to encounter phantoms of a self, long concealed, no longer nourished with the force of consciousness, existing in a tortured state between life and death” (p. 258). In fact, Griffin might argue that there are several benefits to forgetting, and that the collective memories of a traumatic past should not be remembered or preserved. Failure to retrieve memories may not always be a bad thing, in fact, unwanted memories – of childhood trauma, emotional rejection, or any of life’s inevitable disappointments - have the ability to torment and mentally exhaust a person. Throughout her essay, Griffin explores the hidden shame and pains that several characters carry, herself included, and the consequences they bring. She writes of one woman’s memories of the cold war, who, as a young child, witnessed “shoes in great piles. Bones. Women’s hair, clothes, stains, a terrible odor”, all of which left her sobbing and screaming in fear (Griffin, 1992, p. 233). Another gruesome account Griffin (1992) writes of, is as
“I groan to remember it, and when we started to die, then I refuse to remember”
The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells gives an account of a man’s descent into madness as the result of his scientific feat, invisibility. Griffin, the invisible man, first appears as a mysterious stranger, bandaged and seeking shelter and recluse but progressively transforms into a lawless individual with a proposition to initiate a reign of terror. The change in Griffin’s character occurs due to his invisibility and the power it provides because “there is no one, on this view, who is iron-willed enough to maintain his morality and find the strength of purpose to keep his hands off what does not belong to him, when he is able to take whatever he wants from the market-stalls without fear of being discovered, to enter houses and sleep with