Enderson Filpo

Final Essay, ENG 2001 (O525)

The Truth, To Be Set Free

To begin with, Ethics defines our behavior. The story, “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” by Tony Parsons is one of my favorite stories and the main character Jaswinsder attitude fits her role in the story. Ethics fall within five different categories as in Virtue ethics, the type of person one should be. Global Ethics, the character’s fairness. Feminist ethics, depreciating women’s moral experience. Utilitarian Ethics, the right actions would benefit the most. Lastly, Deontology ethics in which one follows a set of rules therefore they are relying on those rules to approve their choices. There are perfect and imperfect duties within Deontology. Perfect as in one must always follow that duty as in never lying. Imperfect duty allows for middle ground. These ethics occur within the story as Jaswinsder is the one making these decisions. I would first be discussing important scenes where the main character makes decisions as she works as an Immigration officer for the UK border agency. Then demonstrate the type of ethics that the character follows.

The story, “Say Hello Wave Goodbye” by Tony Parson falls under Global literature. The term Globalization according to Manfred Steger simply is, “about intensifying planetary interconnectivity”. Jaswinsder is also known as Jazz, is an immigration officer for the UK border, her decisions are based on her job and the people’s honesty. Jazz handles her situations with honesty. She is the reason whether people’s entry to the UK gets denied or not. One decision she made in the story was to deny the entry of a man into the UK, a man that was lying about his passport. Another decision was allowing a girl that was getting married into the UK. A third decision she made was denying entry to a girl who was aggravating her about what she wanted to do in the UK while lying to her as well.

The first decision she made was denying a man entry into the UK. According
to the article, “Say Hello Wave Goodbye” Parson states, “She looked at him and
she looked at the passport and she read the biometric date on the micro chip
and somehow it did not fit” (Parson, 46). The man lying to her resulted in Jazz
denying his entry into the UK. This falls under virtue ethics for the man that
was lying. The man should have at least been honest, and she would have helped
him. Jazz expects honesty as it is her job. Jazz did not bother to argue with
him, “they looked at each other and she watched him work out and that it was
pointless to argue” (Parson 46). Jazz seeks actual reasons for people to
enter the UK. The second decision she made was letting a girl in a wedding
dress enter the UK. According to the article, “Say Hello Wave Goodbye” Parson
states, “it was not just the wedding dress, Jazz thought she was
beautiful…enjoy your big day” (Parson, 43). Jazz just found her to be unique.
She did not even know if the girl was telling the truth. However, Deontology
ethics impact the story as the main character does not really follow the rules.
In this case, she did not even question the girl that was getting married. Jazz
seemed happy that someone gave her a reason to enter the UK, “Jazz handed back
the dark green passport with a smile” (Parson, 44). This contributes to Global
ethics as she found it fair enough to let the young woman enter the UK.
Furthermore, she met a woman by the name of Megan. She thought she would not be a problem though she kept on aggravating Jazz with information on why she
wanted to go to the UK. The article states, “because every time she opened her
mouth, she made it more difficult for Jazz to allow her entry into the UK”
(Parson, 48). Megan did not have a return ticket though which led to Jazz
denying her. Utilitarian ethics is used here as Jazz denying her prevented her
from aggravating Jazz and lying to her. Parson states, “Because I don’t care if
someone lies to themselves, but I don’t like it much when they lie to me”
(Parson, 48). This swings back to Global ethics referring to fairness, why
couldn’t she just be honest to Jazz. Deontology ethics falls in here as well,
the fact that she wanted Megan to have a real passport with a valid reason.
Maybe, stating that she would go see her boyfriend can change Jazz’s mind. At
the end of the story, Jazz realized Megan was doing anything to try to get to
the UK. Megan threw her bag and Jazz found a card that stated, “Good luck with
your New life”. This was a turning point where Utilitarian ethics is followed,
Megan having truth by her side made Jazz approve her entry into the UK. The
article states, “Ever been in love?’ she said. ‘Once,’ Jazz said. ‘And do you
know what it’s like when you will do anything for him?” (Parson, 57). Jazz’s
attitude seem to change when speaking about love, not only that but honesty is
all she seeks. In the end, she asked her for Megan’s boyfriend name, and it was
Prince Harry. Prince Harry was what a lady she let past by earlier said was
going to marry.

In conclusion, the story, “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” by Tony Parsons involves a character by the name of Jaswinsder. She is an immigration officer for the UK border. Different categories of ethics were demonstrated within the story as in Virtue, Global, Utilitarian, and Deontology. These ethics defined Jaswinsder as it showed what type of woman she is. I summarized Jaswinsder decision making based on her role in her job. The Story expresses ethics as it defines the main character reasoning for allowing or denying entry into the UK. She does not tolerate lies; ethics is based on behavior. The ending has a plot twist in which Megan was marrying a man named Prince Harry. At the same time, she let a woman with a wedding dress pass by with the same reason to enter the UK. Could it be that she let the woman in the wedding dress in because her passport and her dress was a valid reason? Megan on the other hand had a fake passport. Though had access to the UK at the end of the story because of her boyfriend she wanted to meet, Prince Harry. Jazz’s attitude throughout the whole story also shows how strict of a woman she is.

Work Cited

“Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” by Tony Parsons SayHello-WaveGoodbye-ENG2000-2015

Steger-Globalization https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/profscanlan-english2001-fiction-f2020/files/2020/11/Steger-Globalization-Definition.pdf

Scanlan, S. (2020) Five types of Ethics https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/profscanlan-english2001-fiction-f2020/files/2020/11/Five-types-of-Ethics-fall-2020.docxÂ