Why Was The Experience Shameful For You?

Profoundly interpersonal, the experience of shame is also therefore social and cultural. Shame is the result of feeling deficient, whether in relation to a parent, an admired friend, or a more powerful social group (39).

Unacknowledged Shame Theory is seen in a perspective that shame can cause a destructive emotion and can promote crime instead of preventing it if it is not managed positively. By using apology in return for forgiveness symbolises that reparation can commence (Braithwaite, 2004).

Esperanza’s situation is a reminder that shame can have a positive effect on people’s lives by being a source of motivation and inspiration.

Other issues of shame are those constructed by the Jim Crow system. For example, African Americans being a “shamed race” by being forced into

Shame is unspoken, it is the main secret behind different forms of broken behaviors. The aspiring researcher Brene Brown, in her earlier talk, “The Power of Vulnerability”, which became a viral hit and the most favored TED Talk video, explores what the possibilities are when people confront their shame. Along with her most recent video “Listening to Shame”, Brown speaks of both shame and vulnerability throughout the presentation. She digs into the uncomfortable, unacceptable, and human emotions that we keep deep within us and dares us to show our authentic selves. The presentation includes the rhetorical appeals of ethos, logos and pathos to build the fundamental objectives of the talk. In which throughout her talk, Brown portrays great credibility

Shame clearly takes a toll on the emotions, thoughts and actions of the person affected, no matter how big or small the issue one dealt with is. Emotions can affect someone

Dr. Sandra D. Wilson (2001) asks, “Have you ever felt as if you were the only caterpillar in a butterfly world? Do you often feel as if you have to do twice as much to be half as good as other” (p. 16)? If you answered, yes, then that is what Wilson (2001) calls binding shame. “Shame is the soul-deep belief that something is horribly wrong with me that is not wrong with anyone else in the entire world. If I am bound by shame, I feel hopelessly, distinguishingly different and worthless (p. 16).

It is widely said that the level of being shamed are decreasing along with the increasing age, this situation is hardly seen after people being retired after 60 years old. The reason for this fact may that people in this age group are not able to remain their belief as they expected when they are young. At that time, family and children become the most crucial factors in their life. From the quantitative research, majority

*a. Shame is a belief that something is wrong with me. (Wilson, Chapter 1, p.16, para.7)

People can feel shame towards themselves because of poor decisions they have made and knowing that others are looking down on them.

Shame is a powerful feeling that will drive people to do extreme things to prove their strength. O’Brien wanted to

Both shame and guilt follow the soldiers into war, and it makes them do crazy things. In the chapter “The Dentist,” Curt Lemon faints when an army dentist treats him, to his own shame (O’Brien 82). To prove to his fellow men that he is “man enough,” he decides to go see the dentist in the middle of the night and have him pull a perfectly healthy tooth. That is a great example of what guilt and shame can do to a guy.

The Things They Carried Analysis In the The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, he uses shame and guilt as somewhat of a theme. He carries this theme throughout the book giving prime examples such as:”For more than twenty years I’ve had to live with it,feeling the shame”(pg.37 O’brien). A lot of the time it is interpreted that he feels guilt or shame for something he's done or a choice he has made, other times he comes right out and says it.

The short story “Shame” by Dick Gregory, describes that poverty can bring a lot of hardships as well as a great deal of shame. However, there are still so many ways to gain pride and rejoicing. This story shows that by emulating somebody even a poor person can take pride from small actions. In this story, Richard was a poor boy without a father who living in the Ghetto.

“Shame corrodes the very part of us that believes we are capable of change”(Brené Brown). In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a woman is publicly shamed for having a child with a man who is not her husband. Another example of public shame can be seen in modern day articles “Florida ‘Scarlet Letter’ Law is Repealed by Gov. Bush,” by Dana Canedy, and “Houston Couple Gets ‘The Scarlet Letter’ Treatment.” Both talk of public shame that people have had to endure in the present day. Public shaming is not an effective punishment because it is a cruel and unusual punishment, it does not deter crime, and it can emotionally traumatize the one being shamed.