A Silver Dish
Add one extra variable Into the equation, and the entire solution has hanged, Just as well If you were to take one variable out. In this essay, I will be using the butterfly effect theory to explain how events will be altered when one characteristic Is taken out of the main character, after first identifying four of his characteristics and showing how it supports the development of the story as well as his character. What does it mean to have responsibilities and what is its importance in life? Responsibility consists of the duty or obligation that one owes to another or oneself.
One can direct the responsibility towards family, friends, and even God. Responsibility results in a positive character trait that shows a high degree of unselfishness. It teaches each person that there will always be something beyond themselves to care about. Responsibility can consist of moral, legal, mental or physical obligations. Woody, a businessman in Chicago, has an endless amount of responsibility. "He [father] came to Woody In the backyard one spring day and said, 'From now on you're the man of the house' "(Bellow 543).
At the age of fourteen, Wood's father had abandoned him, leaving Woody the responsibility of taking care of his mother and two younger sisters. He cares for his mother and his two sisters who are all mature adults. He also cares for his father and his father's wife, though he shares no blood with his stepmother. " Since his wife, after fifteen years of separation had not learned to take care of herself, Woody did her shopping on Fridays, filled her freezer. He had to take her this week to buy shoes. Also, Friday night he spent with Helen- his wife De facto.
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Saturday he did his big weekly shopping. Saturday night he devoted to Mom and his sisters. He was too busy to attend to his own feelings"(Bellow 541 Wood's countless obligations to his family UT him in a position of the dominant male, the caretaker. "Mother and the girls turned into welfare personalities and lost their individual outlines. Ah, the poor things, they became dependents and cranks. In the meantime, Woody, the sinful man, was their dutiful and loving son and 561). How would the story have changed If Woody had no sense of responsibility?
As a child, Woody had no choice but to take full responsibility over his family, seeing as nobody else would. During these hard times for Woody, his selfless acts were the glue that held his broken family intact. If Woody were to exile all selfless feelings from his body and replace it with pure selfish thoughts, only the worst would be in store for his family. "Woody, who took full responsibility for them all, occasionally had to put one of the girls (they had become sick) In a mental 541). If Woody had Ignored shadows, known only as the crazy women you tell your children to avoid.
The narrator went on to say that, " he paid for heat and light and food, and dressed them all out of Sears, Roebuck and Webfoot's, and bought them a TV, which they watched as devoutly as they prayed"(Bellow 561). With his mother in the hospital religiously, his sister checked into a mental institution, and his other sister unable to stabilize herself or her career, Woody had no choice but to take responsibility. If he hadn't done so, knowing that his father would never step up to his responsibilities, his family would have indefinitely perished to the harsh reality of poverty.
Woody had shown signs of true loyalty to his family, loyalty that will always be in existence, even for his father. Some people believe that loyalty makes one predictable. Others may say that being loyal means being unable to think for oneself. And some may even indemnify loyalty as a weakness. Loyalty is the willingness to make an investment or personal sacrifice to strengthen a relationship. Though it is rare to find, a loyal person is a valuable asset to anyone. Loyalty involves obedience, sacrifice, and compassion, a mix that is not easy to find.
Family requires undoubted loyalty from family members as well as friendships require friends to convey the meaning of loyalty to strengthen a bond between one and another. A loyal man can be described as a man who sacrifices his life for his family, his friends, and even his country. In his case, loyalty will be described as Woodsy endless devotion to his father. Woodsy father had, on every occasion, let Woody down, yet he has always stood behind his father. Mimi got to lend me money to buy gasoline- the caddie money you saved"(Bellow 543).
The only money Woody had been able to save up working a side job, Woodsy father had taken it as getaway cash. Woody had not hesitated upon giving his father what he had asked for, even though this meant Woody was an enabler for his father's wishes upon deserting his family. "Why had he let Pop have his way? Why did he agree to meet him that day, in the dim rear of the lorry? "(Bellow 549). Woodsy father had return for one purpose, he needed money. Woody had decided to take him to Ms.
Skulled, the woman who out of good faith, paid for Woodsy college tuition for two years to become a minister. Woody had taken a risk by bringing his father to the only person who supports him in life. What he did not expect is that his father was planning on stealing her personal belongings for extra cash. Even when his father had done so, Woody had stood by him and said, "He denied that he or Pop had touched Ms. Shouldn't property. The missing object- e didn't even know what it was- had probably been misplaced, and they would be very sorry on the day it turned up"(Bellow 559).
By staying loyal to his father, an admirable and rare trait, he had in fact proved himself to be deceitful and therefore disloyal to those who had supported him as he was growing up. Take one variable out of an equation, and the answer will be entirely different. Just as an equation, remove a character trait from Woodsy character, and the entire story will differ from the original. If woody had not been so loyal to his father, many things would have been different. To start, if Woody had not given his father the money to escape, His father could have never returned, believing that there was no warming welcome to accept.
If he had indeed returned though, and asked Woody once more for money, I believe that Woody would have turned him down. Woody was well off in his life, entity from himself. When his father returned again, if Woody had thought in more of a selfish manner, he would have turned his father down, and would not have dealt with the pain of his supporters giving up on him. By being more selfish, Woody would have been seen as a more respectable character, without weakness for the man who mined his life. Woodsy loyalty to his father had been the variable in his life that continuously forced a downfall in his life.
Loyalty is comprised of many things, but one thing loyalty does require is honesty. Honesty is another quality that is rare to find in this world, a quality that should be treasured. Honesty is the ability of being sincere, truthful, trustworthy, honorable, and fair. When you look at being honest and telling the truth it would seem as a simple task to practice. Being honest means keeping a friends secret unknown, admitting to your mistakes, and telling the truth despite the consequences. When you make a statement, make a truthful one. However, it seems that being entirely honest can be more difficult than one may perceive it to be. Woody was moved when things were honest. Bearing beams were honest, undisguised concrete pillars inside high-rise apartments were honest. It was bad to cover anything. He hated faking"(Bellow 542). Everything in his life that Woody had been able to appreciate had been honest. Woody had tried to learn from his father's mistakes, and instead being an honest man. After bringing his father to the house of the woman who could possibly help Woody and his father with their money issue at hand, Woody witnessed his father stealing a silver dish from the kind lady. 'Before they come down, pop, will you dig that dish out of your long Johns. ' Pop turned stiff on him. He became absolutely military. He said, 'Look, I order you! ' Before he knew it, Woody had Jumped his father and begun to wrestle with him"(Bellow 556) Being an honest man, Woody must go against his loyalty for his father and stop him from committing theft towards the one person who can help them. Woody does his best to be honest with everybody around him, but to be honest with one may result n dishonesty towards another. Dishonesty is a word used to describe the absence of honesty.
If Woody would have been known as a man with the absence of honesty, the Woodsy life may have been altered entirely. If he had allowed his father to continue on with his theft, he would not only have felt guilty for allowing the terrible deed to continue, he would have been an accomplice. He must have to choose a side, to stand behind his father or against him. By standing with him, it could have ignited a spark within Woody, causing him to follow in his father's footsteps as a kleptomaniac. He old have gone on to lead a life of crime, forgetting his mother and two sisters at home to starve.
Truth and honesty are not easy qualities to come by, yet truth can always be found in religion. Religion can be defined as a system of beliefs, symbols, and values that provide a group of people with the solution of the question of the ultimate meaning. Religion is a way to acquire a higher feeling of self-importance. Man unites himself with the Infinite and feels ennobled. Through religion, men and woman are able to give their lives purpose. Religion is the central element in the life of civilization. Woody, immersed in Christianity, is known to be a man deeply connected to his religious roots.
Woodsy religion is what put him on the path for a new life, a path opposite of his fathers. Religion is the one source of comfort that Woody is able to find in his life. It gives to get up and tell a church full of Scandinavians that he, a Jewish lad, accepted Jesus Christ"(Bellow 545). Woody testified of his faith to Christianity and went on to say that, " he moved his own heart when he speak up about faith"(551). Woody had been known to the general public as a faithful Christian boy, servant to none except God. Although Woody had studied for two years in a seminary, preparing to be a minister.
Two years of college during the Depression was more than most high-school graduates could afford"(Bellow 539). Without his father in his early years of life to show him the way, religion introduced him to the right path. Religion is what paid for his college tuition, taught him the meaning of honesty and how to take responsibility. Just like the rest of the character traits, take religion out of Woodsy character and the story will drastically change. Ms Skulled, out of good faith, had paid for his auction for two years in hopes of Woody becoming a minister.
If Woody had chosen to be a nonbeliever, he would have undoubtedly lost his opportunity to go to college. By doing so, he could have lost his future opportunities to be able to support his mother and two sisters, as well as his father and his fathers spouse, Haling. Without religion, Woody might have not been able to find truth in the world, and therefore have no reason to be an honest, truthful person. If he had chosen the path to be free of religion, he might have not cared for being a sinner and in fact turned into his father, a gambling, stealing, irresponsible man.
In conclusion, there had been many attributes that describes Woodsy character. The four character traits that I had chosen to talk about were his responsibility to his family, loyalty to his father, honesty in life, and faith in his religion. All of these characteristics help develop their story in their own way, and I have proved this using the theory known as the butterfly effect. Change one detail in the past, and entirely alter the outcome of the future. Each characteristic helps develop the story in its own way, each critically changing the story when it had been removed from the list of his character traits.
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A Silver Dish. (2017, Nov 17). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/a-silver-dish/
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