Theme Of Selfishness In All My Sons

It is important for this essay that the definition used for selfishness and for cowardice is clear. Selfishness is the feature of doing that which brings you welfare, luck or even pleasure. This is not the same as taking care of yourself, as selfishness includes others who are a victim of your deeds. Someone who is selfish doesn’t act to others’ feelings or needs.

“Why did Joe kill James?” No one knows. There is “no apparent reason,” but there certainly are reasons (Dixon 474). Dent depicts very dynamic reasons in the play, from family to social conditions that led to the murder. Joes’ teacher, Mrs. William, states in the play, “They come to class improperly dressed, from homes where they don’t get any home training, which is why they are so ill-mannered” (475-76). Is this true? Joe Brown Jr. comes from a broken family. His father lives with his other family, and he himself had not seen Joe for about four years before the event happened. His mother believes it's one of those things that often happen in a colored bar. It's like a disease, and the Lord is the only protection (478).

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

A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry shows how people’s actions can be perceived as both good and bad. In this play, the Younger family is trying to achieve the American dream, “the ideals of freedom, equality, and opportunity traditionally held to be available to every American”(cite dictionary.com). The Youngers are a black family living in a poor part of Chicago. The family inherits ten thousand dollars from a relative. Each family member has their own idea about how to use this money to fulfill their dreams. The play uses the decisions of the family members to make the reader think about what are the right choices. Mama is the matriarch of the family, and she wants to use the money to buy a house in a white neighborhood. She wants to move to this neighborhood because it is a better environment for her family. Lindor is a man who lives in the white neighborhood and he appears to make decisions for the benefit of the family. The decisions that Mama and Lindor make and the actions they take can be viewed as good or bad for both the individual and the community.

The characters selfish ways can be noted from the beginning and the end of the story. In the beginning, it is noted how selfish the grandmother is because she does not want to

Philosophers have debated for centuries the question “Are humans are selfish or selfless?” There are two main arguments for debating human nature, ethical egoists and ethical altruists. Ethical egoists believe that “even though we can act in others’ interests because we are concerned for others, we ought always to act in our own interest” (Solomon et al 2012 p. 460). Ethical altruists believe quite the opposite; ethical altruism is the belief that “people ought to act with each other’s interests in mind” (Solomon et al 2012 p. 461). In discussing the four theories, psychological egoism, psychological altruism, ethical egoism, and ethical altruism, with my husband, there was not a clear dividing line for whether humans are selfish or selfless in nature. After much debate, we concluded that humans are born ethical egoists; however, ethical altruists are made through proper training, care, and nurture.

Through self-centered and narcissistic characters, Emily Bronte’s classic novel, “Wuthering Heights” illustrates a deliberate and poetic understanding of what greed is. Encouraged by love, fear, and revenge, Catherine Earnshaw, Heathcliff, and Linton Heathcliff all commit a sin called selfishness.

Many people go through different moralities in there life some that they believe can change their life for the better but don’t know the consequences. This ties in with issues involving money. Many people believe that money is the way to happiness and do what they can to get money even if it means to hurt your loved ones. In the play “Raisin in the Sun” Walter Lee Younger is man that lives in South Side Chicago and at point in life that he’s in, he wants to do something in his life and make a difference for colored people. The way he believes he can accomplish that is by opening a bar to make money for his family while believing money is the only source of happiness. Walters ideal morality was to make sure he got his hands on the insurance money so he could open up the bar even if it meant his family would suffer when things went wrong.

Selfishness and greed would have to be a common trait for humans. Milkman, in Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, happens to demonstrate both of these traits. Milkman is selfish and would never stop to help others. He goes on a journey in search for gold, which this journey helps milkman to not only change his view of life, but also to find out a few things about his family. Greed lead Milkman to this journey and finding out about his family’s history. The original plan for this journey was for milkman to stumble over some gold, which later transforms his personality from self-important and mean to caring and thoughtful.

Despite the fact that human beings are oftentimes reluctant to admit it, it is a fact of life that one of the most fundamental aspects of human nature is self-interest. Selfishness pervades everyday life, no matter what efforts are made to deny and rationalize its existence. In the novel As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, the unique method handling the death of Addie that each character uses exemplifies the inherent selfishness apparent in human nature and outlines the various emotions that accompany the death of a loved one.

If it is just complaining about one person’s doings or about leaving someone they love behind, selfishness is shown everywhere throughout the book which mostly is developed by suffering. When someone is dying or being executed the first thing people usually think of is sorrow or guilt, but when one of the men were being hung by the Nazi’s the first thing Juliek said was, “This ceremony, will it be over soon? I’m hungry…”(62). This shows that Juliek and most likely a lot of the others suffered so much that they cared more about eating than someone’s death. Pain is an efficient way to test someone’s breaking point for being selfless. Even if it is

Stephen Kendrick once said, “Almost every sinful action ever committed can be traced back to a selfish motive. It is the trait we hate in other people but justify in ourselves.” The nature of human selfishness comes in various forms, distinctly different in the eyes of an individual but with similar mindsets. To put differently, there are many definitions defining selfishness, but under the surface, everyone has similar, selfless intentions.

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.

As Chris reads the letter from his brother, Larry, in the falling action in Act 3, it becomes apparent that Joe Keller’s actions have significantly affected his family. Larry cannot “bear to live any more” and cannot seem to “face anybody” because of the choices his father has made. This invokes a heartbroken mood for the ending of the play because the audience can feel how drastically Keller’s choices have impacted his son, as he commits suicide. Unlike Williams’s use of motifs, Miller’s change in mood causes the audience to realize that there is a connection between the individual and society as they can feel the pain that Larry has experienced because of Keller.

In A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, the Younger family is trying to achieve the American Dream, which is “the ideals of freedom, equality, and opportunity traditionally held to be available to every American”(cite dictionary.com). The Youngers are a black family living in a poor part of Chicago. They inherit ten thousand dollars because Mama’s husband died. Mama is the matriarch of the Younger family. Each family member has their own idea about how to use this money to fulfill their dreams, and the play uses the decisions of the family members and other characters to show the reader that people’s actions are not always motivated by what they appear to be. Mama wants to use the money to buy a house in a white neighborhood, because she thinks it is a better environment for her family than their current living conditions and will benefit her family. Although there are a number of people in A Raisin in the Sun who appear too want to help the Younger family, Mama shows through her decision to buy the house that she is the only person that is looking out for the best interests of her family.