The Selfish Giant

In our book groups we discussed two essays “The Connection Between Strangers” by Miles Goodwin and the essay “The People Who Love You When No One Else Would” by Cecile Gilmer. In my group we said that “no matter how big or small your act of kindness is, it could change someones life” was demonstrated in both essays. In the first essay, “The Connection Between Strangers”, shows this because this little girl walked up to this solider and congratulated him. Little did she know, that the small action had changed the soldier’s life, as he said in the essay, “That girl undoubtedly has no memory of what happened years ago… It doesn't matter why she gave me the magazine. The important thing is she did” (Goodwin 83).

Selflessness is the idea that one is able to be more concerned with the needs of others over themselves. The value of selflessness is crucial in the Younger household, and is exemplified by Mama who plans on using the insurance money selflessly to buy a house for her family, rather than taking a vacation. Despite this excellent guide, Walter has a sense of entitlement to the insurance money as he says, “He was my father too.” (Hansberry 38). Due to his poor economic conditions, Walter

Selfishness is being concerned for oneself or one’s advantage and welfare regardless of others. Selfness is demonstrated when a person leaves and does not tell anyone where they are going. In Into the Wild Jon Krakauer tells the story of Chris McCandless’s selfish quest for “ultimate Freedom”. Chris is selfish because he takes his privileged life for granted. Then, Chris decides to leave and he totally ignores and blocks out his family. Finally Chris builds relationships with people, then leaves when they are no longer needed. Chris taking his life for granted, his ignorance and the fact that he is an absentee is why Chris McCandless’s quest for “ultimate freedom” is selfish.

Anyone who is selfish is an enemy. Many wise people have left behind words for this generation to help guide it along the right path. "Every heart is filled with light. But to find it, you must first venture through darkness..." (Anonymous). These words have gone into vain as selfishness has placed itself among people’s thoughts. The actions that selfishness leads people to do has no other purpose to serve than to benefit themselves. Even if it seems to help someone, the true intention is to make themselves feel better. When combined with pride, it becomes the consumer of a person’s behavior. The author James Hunt wrote the short story “The Scarlet Ibis” which the main character is selfish towards his younger brother. Brother, the main

Further evidence against selfless altruism comes from the evidence that individual attributes appear to effect prosocial and altruistic behaviour being displayed. Ruggiero et al (1981) found that taller, heavier and physically stronger people are more likely to put themselves in harm’s way to help others in an emergency. This would suggest that an individual has first considered the cost to themselves of helping,

I wasn’t aware of the importance of doing good for others, until recently that I witnessed it with my own eyes. It all started when was at Chicago, a random man helped out a homeless man and bought him some food. I noticed as I was in line that the cashier then gave the helping man a free choice to pick something he wanted due to the action he did. After that day I began to make an attempt at helping out more and being a better person in general.

Another example of how altruism can be viewed in today’s society can be seen in the works of Mother Teresa and her plethora of altruistic acts throughout the globe. Although her focus was in India where she persued her novitiate (training), her organization has opened over 500 centers around the world helping the dying and the destitute (Moore 2002, pg. x). She took in the “untouchables” of society and gave them care and made sure that they were comfortable. Mother Teresa is often used as the benchmark when determining whether a selfless act is truly altruistic.

The word “Selfish” is a term that most people do not want to be identified as. The word is often associated with negative characteristics. Jon Krakauer explores selfishness within Chris McCandless in Into the Wild. Chris was a good man, but when he met people along his travels, he left them without notice. He was self-indulgent and dismissed good opportunities for his future. Chris also completely abandoned his family, leaving them worried sick about him. Chris McCandless’s quest for ultimate freedom was done selfishly - concerned only about himself, and disregarded the feelings of the people around him.

Steve Lopez is a columnist, who makes a living by making deadlines. Life for him is a constant race against time, scarcely leaving time for family or friendships, until he meets Nathaniel. Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, is a homeless man who is severely mentally ill, but has an intriguing past, that allows Lopez to create many successful (probably his most successful) columns. Throughout his experiences with Ayers, not to mention his experiences in life, he has been constantly debating wheter or not what he was doing was right. “There is no such thing as a selfless act” is a completely true statement in this sense, seeing as Lopez created his most successful coulomb off of Ayer’s story and おはようございます、わたしわ おなまえわあなやです。わたしわ、すし を食べ ます。すし を 大子きですか？

Selfishness is defined as the act of being someone who lacks concern for others, only caring for personal gain. Often, people are selfish due to a lack of empathy, misinformation, or a lack of information. The ability of literature to have us experience different worlds through different perspectives is fairly useful for combating this. In fact, literature can shock us about the idea of selfishness and give us pause and new insights into it, if not necessarily cause us to realize our own lack of selflessness and shock us out of it.

One innate characteristic of the Nature of Man is selfishness. For example, in the book “Night” by Eliezer Wiesel, one event that occurred that relates to the theme is when Eliezer witnesses a young man murder his own father. In this particular scenario from the book, the man murders his own father over a loaf of bread, which he obviously benefits from. This shows that humans are selfish and will even be disloyal to their own family if they see that they will benefit in a way. Another example of selfishness is from the movie “The Schindler’s List” when the great Oskar Schindler, who saved an estimated of 1200 Jews, takes advantage of the relocation of Jews into ghettos which leads him to inhabit their home and property. However, although I recognize that Oskar Schindler is an honorable person for his courageous acts during WW II, that doesn't overlook the fact

The other section where symbolism is evident is “Small Porch in the Woods.” It is divided into several poems. In the first one, there is the mention of “unshifting star” which represents a change that is undisturbed. It is the turning point of the society. Despite the challenges communities face in their life, their ambition leads them towards achieving their objectives in life. The second poem under this section is about a heavy rain that fell in the month of April. Heavy rain is the representation of unhappy moments. The description presented by the narrator shows that it is a sad moment where everything is carried away. Throughout the poem, the rain is seen, as a lesson

Absolute good can not be achieved without selflessness. This is seen in every form of fictional literature through the situations that the characters are placed in. For example, the book Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien follows a group of adventurers attempting to destroy a powerful ring in an effort to rid Middle Earth from evil. Additionally, the movie Interstellar similarly follows a crew looking for a planet to replace a dying Earth for a humanity that is suffering widespread famine. In both of these adventure many acts of heroism are displayed, and all of these acts require selflessness from the hero. In examining these acts, it is seen

I didn’t truly understand it at the time, but as I grow older and mature I am beginning to understand more and more. Also, in that same conversation, my father told me about some of the people he works with and works for, and how they give back but often only in the spotlight. They will donate money when the attention is on them, or they will do charity events when the media is involved. Looking back at it, this is a very selfish idea. When do we hit that point in our life where we are so selfish that we can not help others; is it a conscious decision or are we just not aware of our actions? I have seen this same of idea of selfishness in my own experiences. I went to a very wealthy private school, with many students coming very wealthy families. Often these families would donate money to the school, but in return they expected a plaque or they expected something to be named after them, some kind of recognition. Some people will say this is not selfish because they are giving back; however, others will say this is a selfish action because they are only giving looking for a return.

Or, consider the envious individual who tries to get you to feel guilty for your hard-earned success. "You are lucky to have done so well," the envious person says. "Now you have a duty to share some of your success with others." Ce rtainly, a selfish person wants to share his success with those he genuinely cares about—his family, friends, or children (greater values). But why should he make sacrifices to individuals he does not know or care about (lesser values)?