Category: Final Essay (Page 2 of 2)

Luis Fajardo

ENG2001

Professor: Sean ScanIan

Dec 14, 2020

Proper ethics of a MONK

Ethics is defined as the set of theory of moral principles. There are 5 types of ethics Deontology ethics, Virtue ethics, Utilitarian ethics, Feminist ethics, and Global ethics. Deontology is a set of rules that assess our choices. Virtue Ethics addresses the important question what kind of person do I want to be? Utilitarian Ethics is the moral right action is the action that produces the most good. Feminist ethics is ethics that value non-masculine traits. Global Ethics is about equality for all. In the story “A Good Fall,” by Ha Jin, I ask myself what types of ethics does each character follow. I am also going to go into details of each character’s important scenes and determine their ethics. Then I will be talking about Ganchin’s gothic actions. I will also start off by giving a small summary of the story.  

The story “A Good Fall,” by Ha jin, published by Pantheon books in 2009, takes place in Flushing Queens New York where we meet the main character Ganchin who teaches Kong fu and is a monk for the Gaolin temple. Some of the other characters in this story that play a role are Master Zong, Cindy, and the owner of Teng’s Garden. We learn that Ganchin is fired by Master Zong because his visa expired, and Master Zong refuses to pay Ganchin his salary. Ganchin needs the money to pay off his debt back in China and threatens to kill himself if Master Zong does pay his salary. Master Zong kidnaps Ganchin and tries to send him back to China but Ganchin escapes and makes his way to Tang’s Garden where the owner tries to convince from committing suicide. Ganchin jumps off a building and survives and the whole Chinese community realizes that Master Zong is a fraud.

I will be discussing the following major scenes in “A Good Fall,” and discussing the characters ethics. The first major scene is when Ganchin is fired we learn what type of person Master Zong is. The second Major scene that I want to focus on is when Ganchin goes to Teng’s Garden and meets the owner in which he tries to convince Ganchin from committing suicide. The third major scene is when Ganchin jumps off the building and breaks his legs when can determine that Ganchin’s ethic has changed as the story goes along.  

The first major scene is when Ganchin is fired from his Job because his visa expired, and we learn that Master Zong is refusing to pay Ganchin his salary even though they have a contract. In this first scene I will focus on Master Zong ethics. Master Zong is the master for the Gaolin temple and has a “wife” although he’s not married because he swore to not take a wife when he became a monk. Master Zong has a brand-new BMW and a brand-new house in Long Island. Master Zong told Ganchin “From now on you’re on your own, and you must move out tomorrow. I don’t care where you go” (345). Therefore, Master Zong doesn’t follow the rules of being a monk because he breaks so many rules like not showing compassion the Ganchin and not paying him what he owes to him. The type of ethics that Master Zong follows is Utilitarian ethics because he doesn’t care about being a good person as long as he’s making money and living good.

The second major scene is when Ganchin arrives to Teng’s Garden and asks the owner to pass along a message to Master Zong in Ganchin tells the Owner “Tell him to say prayers and make offerings for soul tomorrow before sunrise” (353). Basically, implying that he’s going to die tomorrow in which the owner seems puzzled by his request. In this scene I will focus on Teng’s Garden Owner’s ethics towards Ganchin. The Owner decided to listen to Ganchin’s problems in order to hear his pain/struggles and try to convince him not to commit suicide by telling him to think about all the good things in life. The owner tells Ganchin “Young Brother you shouldn’t think like this You mustn’t give up so easily” (354). Basically, telling him that giving up isn’t the best thing to do because it won’t resolve to anything and that he should continue fighting for what is owed to him. The owner also shows his kindness when he offers to make Ganchin a meal and not charge him for it. Ironically, this would have been Ganchin’s last meal if he were to have died from jumping off the building. The type of ethics that owner of Teng’s Garden is Virtue ethics because he tries to persuade Ganchin to not killing himself by telling him “to think about all the good things in life” (355). By doing so the owner asks himself what sort person I should be when he’s listening to Ganchin’s troubles because he could have easily not given any care about a Ganchin’s troubles and not provide him with free food but instead he decided to be a good person and try talk Ganchin out of doing something bad.

The Third major scene is when Ganchin jumps off the building and his ethics changed from the beginning of the story. So, let start off by talking about Ganchin ethics in the beginning of the story and then his ethics in the end of the story. In the beginning of the story Ganchin follows Deontology ethic because he follows the rules of being a monk. Ganchin never has a girlfriend or gets married and Ganchin never has eaten any types of meats because monks need to be vegetarians. When Cindy jokily said, “If worse comes to worse, you should consider marrying a woman, a us citizen” (346) and Ganchin’s response is that he can’t because he’s a monk is a prime example of him following the rules of being a monk. Now let us talk about Ganchin’s ethics changing as the story goes along. Ganchin’s ethics change to Virtue Ethic because he starts to question what sort of person I should be. Ganchin begins to ask himself how he’s going to be able to live in America without knowing English. When Ganchin moved in with a “friend” named Fanku he started to eat meats like pork and seafood because that’s what Fanku would bring back left over from when Fanku when go to work. Therefore, Ganchin really didn’t have much of a choice because if he didn’t eat what Fanku brings him then he won’t eat anything that day. So, he had to decide if he wanted to starve or eat meat even though he was a monk wasn’t allowed to eat meat. Next, he starts to question his worth of living because being a monk and working for the temple is the only thing he know how to do. Then he goes to Master Zong and threatens to kill himself if he doesn’t pay his salary. Then he goes through with his plan to commit suicide and jumps off a building and breaks his legs. Ganchin jumps off the building because he feels like a disappointment because he wasn’t able to send money back home in China to help pay off debts. In the end of the story one can assume that Cindy and Ganchin get together therefore breaking another rule of being a monk. When Ganchin tells Cindy that no other temple will ever take him as a monk anymore Cindy tells Ganchin “That also means you’re free to date a girl” (357) Ganchin replies with “Well, I hope that’s something I can learn” (357). Therefore, Ganchin realizes he can’t be a monk anymore and question his future of what kind of person he can be. Ganchin is basically reinventing himself and moving away from being a monk and having a normal life.

A gothic action is defined as doing the forbidden, acting irrational and/or going against prohibition. Ganchin begins to act irrational after confronting Master Zong about being fired from the Gaolin temple. Ganchin threatens to kill himself if Master Zong doesn’t pay him what is owed to him. Ganchin tells Master Zong “Master you’ve pushed me to the edge of a cliff—I have no way out now and may have to follow Ganping’s example” (349) Ganping being a monk that killed himself because of unpaid salary. The reason this is an irrational act is because an average person wouldn’t threaten to kill themselves after not being instead, they would threaten to sue. But Ganchin is hoping that by saying this Master Zong would have a change of heart and pay Ganchin his money. The second irrational act that Ganchin does is when he jumps off the building breaking his legs. This is an irrational act is because you don’t gain anything if you kill yourself and, in the end, if Ganchin were to kill himself Master Zong still wouldn’t pay Ganchin anything because he won’t be alive and there would be no one to prove that Master Zong owes money to Ganchin. Also, he knows that nothing will probably come from this if he were to have killed himself because when Ganping killed himself for the same reason Ganchin wants to kill himself there was no positive result that came out of that for Ganping. Master Zong wasn’t held response and the media never knew the real reason why Ganping killed himself. But In the end, everything worked out for Ganchin as Master Zong was exposed for being a bad monk that doesn’t pay his employees. 

Inconclusion I discussed the important main character in “A Good fall,” by Ha Jin, and their decisions in which I discuss the characters ethics. I also discussed the charters important scenes and Ganchin’s gothic actions.

Work cited

Jin, ha. (2009). A Good Fall AGoodFall-Globalization.pdf (cuny.edu)

ScanIan, S. (2020). A short introduction to five types of ethics. https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/profscanlan-english2001-fiction-f2020/files/2020/11/Five-types-of-Ethics-fall-2020.docx

ScanIan, S. (2020). Gothic Definitions  Gothic Definitions

Isiah Ellison

Final Essay, ENG 2001

Professor: Sean Scanlan

December 14^th, 2020

The Woman with the Sixth Sense

            This essay will be about the ethical decisions made by Jaswinder ‘Jazz’ Smith in the short story “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” by Tony Parsons. The main character in this short story Jazz, followed deontology ethics, thus making her a deontologist. A deontologist is one who makes choices according to a set of rules or guidelines. Jazz is a deontologist of the imperfect duties’ category, which means that although she has a set of rules that she follows for her work, she does not take an all or nothing approach to it, and she can be quite flexible as opposed to being an absolute justice authoritarian. Jazz is an immigration officer with a sixth sense/intuition for detecting those who were trying to gain entry into the UK for the wrong reasons. “Jazz liked to say that it wasn’t her job to refuse entry to the UK. It was her job to have an inner alarm bell […] and when someone wasn’t coming to the UK for the right reasons, it was her job to hear that bell ring” (Parsons, 2011, p. 46). Throughout the story Jazz had encountered several people with whom she had some sort of conflict and resolution with. What I found to be interesting is the interactions she had with her coworkers Ken and Norm.

            Ken and Norm also played a role in the interactions Jazz had with some conflict causers. Jazz’s coworker Ken was a UKBA officer that one would go to with what they called ‘questioned documents.’ Ken was a fellow deontologist like Jazz however, Ken seemed to take a perfect duty approach as opposed to Jazz’s imperfect duty approach. This became evident as Ken critiqued the passport of the man in black. Ken was slightly impressed with what was done to the altered passport, but had said that it was not in the league of some of the other altered passports he has examined, and even went into detail about what alterations were made down to the least noticeable one in detail.  Norm follows utilitarian ethic, thus making him a utilitarian; which means that Norm makes decisions based on what he believes is the morally right thing to do in a situation. This became evident when Norm wanted to prioritize seeing Megan because Megan was making a fuss, as well as when Norm went to the bathroom with the Asylum-seeking man because he had eaten his passport and Norm believed the man was going to puke. 

            In this short story, Jazz was sort of a lie detector for people “she felt the flash of ice-cold irritation that came when she knew she was being deceived;” (Parsons, 2011, p. 50) however, she was not able to detect the lies in a passport. Ken however, with the help of the VSC40, was essentially a passport lie detector “Ken and his VSC40 saw through them all” (Parsons, 2011, p. 49). Ken with the VSC40 was able to read microchips, assess paper quality and read surface features such as visa stamps. Ken had confiscated passports that were stolen, forged, borrowed, expired, had pages removed and inserted, visa stamps removed and bogus ones inserted, as well as other altered or substituted passports. The most interesting interaction between the two deontologists Jazz and Ken, was when Ken asked Jazz if she thinks the man in black is importing controlled substances, to which she replies yes by giving her own theory of what she believes the man has done to import the drugs. Ken finds a flaw with Jazz’s theory and then questions Jazz once more. Jazz answered Ken’s question with yet another theory which seemed to be based on her intuition.

            Jazz’s interactions with Norm showed that there was a huge gap in overall experience between the two giving off the impression that Norm was wet behind the ears, or a greenhorn if you may. Jazz noticed how Norm was shaking with nerves and how Norm would wipe his sweaty palms on his trousers. Jazz would tell Norm to take a deep breath, calm down a bit, or assure Norm that everything will be fine. Jazz informed Norm that they would temporarily ignore Megan to go after a man that Jazz knew was seeking asylum and would try to destroy his passport shortly after landing. Shortly after Jazz and Norm apprehended the asylum-seeking Afghanistan man, Norm had lost sight of him, even after Jazz said ‘Just don’t let him out of your sight’. Jazz used her experience and intuition to accurately predict what the man might do. “Jazz headed back towards the gate, guessing that the man would try to land himself, meaning arrive at one terminal and then attempt to clear immigration at another. […] Sooner or later, Jazz thought, you bang your head up against my border” (Parsons, 2011, p. 54).

            Both Jazz and Ken used Deontological ethics to determine that the man in black was trying to smuggle in drugs. “The inner alarm bell rang loud and long when she looked at the passport photo of the young man dressed in a black T-Shirt, […] She looked at him and she looked at the passport and she read the biometric data on the microchip and somehow it did not fit. [..] She was not an expert in forged passports, but she knew a man who was” (Parsons, 2011, p. 46). Part of being a deontologist and a professional is knowing the scope of your field. Jazz’s sixth sense alerted her beforehand that something was not right, however she still got another professionals input on the situation. “Nothing feels right about this guy, […] what do you think?” (Parsons, 2011, p. 49).

Norm used his utilitarian thinking in ways that suggested that he was prioritizing the needs of the conflict causers instead of imposing the rules. Jazz was definitely more sarcastic towards Norm in the story and it felt as if Norm was her sidekick. “It’s same sex for searching, so I will not have the pleasure. Have you done your nails, Norm?” (Parsons. 2011, p. 57). Jazz did her job well but was noticeably stricter on anyone tried to deceive her. “I don’t care if someone lies to themselves, […] but I don’t like it much when they lie to me” (Parsons, 2011, p. 48)

References

Parsons. T (2011). Say Hello, Wave Goodbye. In Departures – Seven Stories from Heathrow. Harpercollins.

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.docx 

Tyler Queylin

Professor Scanlan

ENG 2001 O525

December 14, 2020    

Technology on Psychological Health

            In society there are set boundaries for morals and values that individuals consider incorrect or correct. Individuals in society however have their own sets of morals and values in their own mind and also when it comes to decision making. Society usually judges others’ actions and decision making if the individual makes it public. In this course, I’ve learned that ethics control an individuals’ decision making because those are the principles that the individual lives by. There are a few specific ethics that were covered this semester that is seen in literature when it comes to characters’ actions and morals. In the short story “The Veldt” by Ray Bradury, we see two of the specific ethics was brought up this semester, Virtue ethics and also Utilitarianism ethics.  Virtue ethics is when the individual chooses their decision or action y thinking of the consequences and “what kind of person” each decision would make them be. Virtue ethics can both be positive and negative and does not give the individual a conscience to go by. Utilitarianism ethics is when the individual uses their conscience to make the morally correct decision because doing the right thing will bring the most good energy out. Ray Bradbury’s “The Veldt” portrays these two specific types of ethics with his characters and what they base their decision making on throughout the story.

            The short story is about a family that has a very advanced and expensive house that has a built in system that does everything for the family. George and Lydia the parents allow the “Happy Life Home” to do chores for the children, tuck them into bed, dress them, and a lot of other necessities an individual would have to do on their own. However, the children Wendy and Peter’s favorite part of their technologically advanced home is the Nursery. The Nursery is a room in their house that allows the children to think of any place or situation and they will be able to instantly live in their desired location. George and Lydia don’t have the closest relationship to their children because their home system does all the bonding that a parent would do with their child. George and Lydia also don’t really enforce any rules to their children about the house, the children are used to doing whatever they please which makes them stubborn. As the story goes along the parents start to get worried about Wendy and Peter spending too much time in the nursery and thinking of crazy situations that can mess their young and developing minds up so they suggest that they shut down the house’s system. Of course the children are not content about the decision that their parents are making because George and Lydia always base their decision making off of what the children desire. Since the children are so stubborn and feel as the house’s system and nursery are their parent figure, the story takes a twist and the children actually end up murdering their parents in the nursery by thinking of a situation with lions trapping them and eating them at the end of the story.  

            George and Lydia decision make based on their children, they feel that they need to make decisions to make the children happy and please them. This is because the children are stubborn and are always used to getting whatever they want at any time because of how their life is ran with their technologically advanced house. Towards the beginning of the story George and Lydia talk about the special room they got for the children in the house which is the nursery and how it was expensive but if it’s for the kids they’re determined to do anything to please them. “ it had cost half as much as the rest of the house. But nothing’s too good for our children, George had said.” (Bradbury 1) This quote shows how George and Lydia aren’t typical parents and don’t have morals that parents should have, when your children are growing up, as a parent you have to teach them discipline and how to deal with the answer no sometimes. However from this quote we see the parents don’t have a conscience when it comes to their decisions as long as the kids are happy with what their parents decided. George and Lydia’s decision making represents Utilitarianism ethics because we see that they both don’t decide for themselves but they decide based on their children’s reactions and feelings. The parents must think that if they keep pleasing their children repeatedly with anything that it will produce more good for the family which is wrong and it makes the kids stubborn and messes up their young developing minds psychologically. “They walked down the hall of their soundproofed Happylife Home, them thirty thousand dollars installed, this house which clothed and fed and rocked them to sleep and played and sang was good to them.” (Bradbury 1) This other quote from the beginning of the story shows how much money the parents have invested on their home for the children. The children cannot even do simple tasks like dress themselves or feed themselves. Peter and Wendy rely strictly on the technology in their house but their parents don’t see anything wrong with that because they believe and use Utilitarianism ethics to choose their decisions. They don’t see that relying and buying this house will not let their children develop and grow but they think they are making the correct decision because they want to bring the most pleasure to produce the most good. George and Lydia do not understand the principles and morals that you have to take as a parent when raising their children correctly which is why the story ends how it does.

            Throughout the story and towards the ending we see more representation of Virtue ethics, the biggest one is when the children make the decision that they are going to rebel against their parents from turning off the technology in the house. The children are very stubborn and are used to always having their way so when George says he is going to turn off the house they do everything they can to stop their parents, eventually killing them. “Daddy, Mommy, come quick! They went downstairs in the air flue and ran down the hall. The children were nowhere in sight. Wendy? Peter! The door slammed…. Why, they’ve locked it from the outside!” (Bradury 8) This is when Wendy and Peter trick their parents into running into the nursery and they lock them inside. We can see Virtue ethics being portrayed here because Wendy and Peter are selfish and will do anything to get their way, they have no morals or principles and have no problems doing this to their parents as long as they get what they want which is their Happylife Home. “The lions on three sides of them, in the yellow veldt grass, padding through the dry straw, rumbling and roaring in their throats. The lions. Mr. Hadley looked at his wife and they turned and looked back at the beasts edging slowly forward crouching, tails stiff. Mr. and Mrs. Hadley screamed. And suddenly they realized why those other screams bad sounded familiar.”(Bradbury 8) This quote is when George and Lydia get murdered by the lions that their children had produced with their imagination with the nursery. The screams that George and Lydia heard earlier in the story were actually their own screams because Wendy and Peter had actually already thought about murdering their parents and finally executed it when something didn’t go their way. Virtue ethics is more about self-centered decisions and these ethics don’t provide any morals or guidance which can be seen when Wendy and Peter make a cruel and selfish decision to their parents.

            There is a moment in the story that represents both Utilitarianism ethics and Virtue ethics. When Lydia talks about how the house is more of a mother than her and she feels depressed and miserable because she feels like she isn’t there and important to her children. George decides to step in and he tells the children later at dinner that he will turn off the technology in the whole house for a while. “”I wouldn’t want the nursery locked up,” said Peter coldly. “Ever.” “Matter of fact, we’re thinking of turning the whole house off for about a month.” (Bradury 6) This is when George breaks the important news of what he is deciding to do to the house for a month to the children. However, I’m sure this represents Utilitarianism ethics because he is basing this decision off of his wife and how she feels useless because she doesn’t have a role as a mother due to the house being there for her kids more than her. He is doing this for Lydia but also at the same time we can say that this decision of shutting the house down is a Virtue ethic because he does not consider what his children feel and saying. George is doing this for himself as a parent also which can be considered a selfish decision and more of a choice for himself.

            In conclusion, the short story “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury is a perfect story that represents both Virtue and Utilitarianism ethics. Bradbury portrays this through the plot and most importantly through the actions and decisions of the characters. Peter and Wendy are two stubborn and undisciplined children whose minds were messed up due to relying on technology and always getting their way which is why they make such crazy self -centered decisions like murdering their parents as long as they get what they want. George and Lydia are parents without any principles and do anything for their children as long as it pleases them because they think it is going to bring out more positive and good for their family however in the story it’s the complete opposite and it actually gets them killed at the end. Bradbury does an amazing job with the characters explaining how they make their decisions and why they make their decisions by developing the characters throughout the plot. The Veldt is a short story that portrays the two ethics throughout the characters’ morals and principles.

Work Cited

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.docx 

“The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury http://hthcvfolks.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/3/6/13360453/the-veldt-ray-bradbury-pdf_1.pdf

Aiden Rivera 

ENG 2001 O525 

12/05/20 

What I Want or What’s right? 

Here I’m going to explain the ethical decisions made in “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri. The two characters that make these decisions are Mr.Kapasi and Mrs.Das. The most important form of ethics that is shown in this story is Utilitarian ethics. A utilitarian is someone who believes something is morally correct as long as the end result is positive. The process doesn’t matter, everything before the end does not impact the decision on something being morally correct, only the ending proves if it’s moral or not thus showing the self-interest of a utilitarian. Mr.Kapasi is the guide for the Das family. He takes them to different sites to show them a good time. While taking the family around he notices unspoken tension in the family while also getting an attraction to the wife Mrs.Das. He assumes there’s a distress in the marriage and begins making more assumptions. Because of his newly grown feelings towards Mrs.Das he is put into a decision. Does he share his feelings disrupting the already broken marriage, possibly making it better, or does he stay quiet and let the marriage crumble and resolve itself.  

With Mr.Kapasi’s tough choice he must decide what to do because after this encounter, he may never see this family again. Does he show his feelings towards Mrs.Das or not and does Mrs.Das try to resolve this tension in the family that Mr.Kapasi obviously notices. First, I will look at Mr.Kapasi’s unspoken feelings towards Mrs.Das, then I will explore how Mrs.Das plans on resolving the tension of her family, finally I will discuss what ethics both characters follow in the both the scenes these moments occur. By the end you should have a clear understanding of the ethics both Mr.Kapasi and Mrs.Das follow, being utilitarian ethics.  

In the first scene let’s discuss Mr.Kapasi’s daydreams. In the story Mr.Kapasi has a scene where he reminisces on a secret life between him and Mrs.Das. In his thoughts Mrs.Das and him become pen pals. She writes about how bad her marriage is and he does the same, including stories about his work. He dreamt that their friendship would grow and flourish until it became more:  

“She would write to him, asking about his days interpreting at the doctor’s office, and he would respond eloquently, choosing only the most entertaining anecdotes, one that would make her laugh out loud as she read them in her house in New Jersey. In time she would reveal the disappointment of her marriage, and he his. In this way their friendship would grow, and flourish.” (Lahiri 53). 

These thoughts began because of Mrs.Das interest in Mr.Kapasi’s old job at the doctor’s office. He wasn’t used to someone being interested in that job since his wife associated that job with the death of their child. This is what sparked the interest of Mr.Kapasi in Mrs.Das, other than the fact she was a good-looking woman. It’s obvious that Mr.Kapasi likes Mrs.Das and wants more with her. But there’s the fact that him and her are both married. What is he to do? Keep his feelings to himself and let both them be miserable or release them and possibly make life better for everyone. 

Now let’s discuss the scene with Mrs.Das and Mr.Kapasi in the car. In this scene Mrs.Das explains why there is such a tension between her and her husband. It in fact comes out that Mrs.Das had an affair with one of Mr.Das’s friends and the younger son Bobby is in fact the friend’s child not Mr.Das. She goes on to tell Mr.Kapasi about her whole life with Mr.Das and how everything over the years led to that moment of the affair. She goes on and on about her life till Mr.Kapasi finally asks her why she was telling him all this and responds with, “I told you because of your talents” (Lahiri 63). She was telling all of this to Mr.Kapasi because she felt he could help her. She completely misunderstood what Mr.Kapasi’s old job was and believed he could help her. 

Since you have an understanding of what happened in the two scenes let’s discuss how both Mr.Kapasi and Mrs.Das both showed examples of utilitarian ethics. Let’s begin with Mr.Kapasi’s thoughts. He showed a self-interest in wanting to help himself and Mrs.Das. When he had these thoughts of being pen pals with Mrs.Das it was for his own wellbeing. As said before a utilitarian believes that as long as the ending is good then it was an ethical decision. These thoughts showed where his mind was headed with Mrs.Das. He felt that she had feelings towards him and because of this it led to his intoxicated thoughts: “Her sudden interest in him, an interest she did not express in either her husband or her children, was mildly intoxicating. When Mr.Kapasi thought once again about how she said ‘romantic,’ the feeling of intoxication grew” (Lahiri 53). These thoughts show how Mr.Kapasi was following more of a utilitarian way of thinking. The next scene in the car also shows how Mrs.Das shows a utilitarian way of thinking. The only reason Mrs.Das was speaking to Mr.Kapasi about the affair (mind you she never told anyone else before, not even close friends) was because she thought it was his job to give her advice and make her feel less guilty. Cause that’s all it was. She felt guilty and needed someone to make her feel better: “It means that i’m tired of feeling so terrible all the time. Eight years, Mr.Kapasi, I’ve been in pain for eight years. I was hoping you could help me feel better, say the right thing. Suggest some kind of remedy” (Lahiri 63). You can see how yes; she wants to do the right thing by letting out the secret but because she is telling this to a stranger instead of her husband it shows the self-interest of the situation. The self-interest being that as long as she feels better than everything will be okay because she can be happy with her family again in the end. Also, would like to mention that during this car scene Mr.Kapasi starts to lose feelings for Mr.Das and doesn’t seem to want to help anymore showing it was also for his self-interest: “The feeling he had toward her, that had him check his reflection in the rearview mirror as they drove, evaporated a little” (Lahiri 63). It was always his feelings towards Mrs.Das that made him want to help. Once those feelings began to diminish, so did him wanting to play hero.  

Mr.Kapasi and Mrs.Das being utilitarians also played an impact on the story having a modernist ending. Modernism is a new way of writing, normally having a not so normal ending. The ending of this story isn’t normal because Mrs.Das a mother purposely put her own children in danger. No mother would do that and on top of that when she goes to fix her child’s hair, she pulls out a brush. When she pulls out the brush the paper with Mr.Kapasi’s address falls out and blows away. Symbolizing how he will no longer be with this family, not even a picture to remember them. There wasn’t a happy ending instead it kinda left us sad and at a cliffhanger. 

In conclusion Mr.Kapasi and Mrs.Das both showed examples of utilitarian ethics in the story. It was always their self-interest that made them make the decisions they did. The scenes given were clear examples of this. It was always their self-interest that led them to choose what they wanted or what was right. 

Work Cited 

Lahiri, Jhumpa. Interpreter of Maladies. HarperCollins Publishers India, 2017.

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.docx 

Angela Vargas
English 2001 Final Essay
Every Action Has A Consequence

Would you rather have a person lied to you or be completely honest with their life decisions or action? The story “Say Hello Wave Goodbye” By Tony Parson analyzed exactly the topic of the question. The story is based on immigrant officers in the airport and what it’s like in a day with them. The story shows many parts of their jobs such as the questioning and the importance of them paying close attention to the answers and the passports. The main character Jaswinder Smith ethic overview the person lies or honesty with her. The ethic that connects to Jazz ethic would be the Virtue ethics and Utilitarian ethics. Virtue Ethic focused on the three main stands of a person which are Human flourishing, performing one’s function and the ethic if caring. This virtue is more to the emotions that a human goes through on their live. Utilitarian ethics is making a decision with the morality good side will make the outcomes good. If people use their morals to take an action the universe will return the favor with good and not bad outcomes.
The main character Jaswinder is one of the immigration officer in one of the airports of London in the story. Jazz is known throughout the story to investigate every single passenger that she gets she has no favorites in the story and is very professional when it comes to her job. The first passenger Jazz took was a Korean lady who was wearing a wedding dress and stated that she was marrying Princes Harrys. As unreal it sounds the Korean lady actually had all the required paperwork to enter the country and answer all the questions correct. Jazz job was to choose between letting her enter the UK or denying her access to the UK but Jazz allowed her in the country. For Jazz the truth counts more than being lied to and in this situation she was being told the truth. The next immigration officer in the story “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.” By Tony Parson, Published in London in 2011 indicates that other women has tried before entering the country to marry Prince Charles “I remember when it was Prince Charles they all comes over to marry.” (44). This statement is interesting and truthful since the Korean lady with the bride dress isn’t probably lying about wanting to and marry Prince Harry since there has been past history of other women going to the UK to marry Prince Charles.
In the story other characters were denied the enters in the UK because their information didn’t match and they were lying to Jazz. One of the characters was the American girl; she was about 18 years old and had a sweet personality. When the girl when up to Jazz window she didn’t answer the question with honesty. One of the questions that Jazz asked the girl was what brought her to the UK? Right away the girl answer she wants to go and see the wax museum. That answer is common for people who wants to enter the UK to stay there also when Jazz asked if the American girl had a return ticket and she answer no. Jaswinder had to make a decision whether to let the American girl inside the UK or not. She decided not to let her into the UK which made the American girl very upset. The American Girl in the story “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.” By Tony Parson, Published in London in 2011 question Jazz on why letting the Korean lady in and not her so Jazz answer “Because I don’t care if someone lies to themselves, said Jazz But I don’t like it much when they lie to me.” The quote explains a lot Jaswinder ethics and how much she respect those who don’t lie to her. Even though is part of Jazz job top question and go through steps with every passenger she does take seriously the passenger answers and how truthful they are.
Actions required consequences if a person does good, then good will come back as well if they do bad. Jazz ethics can be connected to Utilitarian ethics since she believed in people being honest even though her job is strictly control she understand those who enter the country. In the third ethics in the Short Introduction to Five Type of Ethics by Professor. Scanlan, 2020 it explains that every decision has a consequence “One thing to note is that this theory is a form of consequentialism: the right action is understood entirely in terms of consequences produced.” If the person does something he or she will have to pay the consequence. An example of the story “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” By Tony Parson is the American man in the story who was accusing Barack Obama of inserting a microchip into is brain and ended having a fake passaport and lying about his identity. He ended up being deported again to U.S. The ethic comes into place because all the bad decisions have consequences. . The American Girl in the story “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.” By Tony Parson, Published in London in 2011 told Jazz she was a “bitch” which made her situation even harder for her. “Bitch… “I’ll start with her, Jazz said she swiped the card that let into the holding room.” This quote from Megan “The American girl” is important because instead of treating Jazz nicely and trying to figure out Jazz decision Megan insulted her and that made Jazz take decision as to check Megan bag and discover Megan was going to the UK to stay.
In Conclusion the story “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” Tony Parson specify a lot ethic that the characters have. One of the main character was Jaswinder Smith that throughout the story she tried to be professional but at the same time follow her ethics to make big decisions. Other characters as to Megan and the other American man are an example of every decision have a consequence. Even though Jaswinder allow the Korean lady to enter the UK even though she had a overboard excuse she didn’t lied and there was history on other people actually doing the same thing. On top of that the Korean lady had all her document in place and had proof she was going to go back to her homeland. Ethics such as Virtue and Utilitarian ethics helped the character of Jaswinder to be understood whenever she took a decision.

Alicia Rajcoomar  

Final Essay, ENG 2001  

December 3, 2020 

For the Children 

As members of society, we all follow a set of ethics that essentially govern our behaviors. We use these ethics to determine what is “good” and what is “bad”. Ethics can fall into 5 categories: Deontology ethics, Virtue ethics, Utilitarian ethics, Feminist ethics and Global ethics. Simply, deontology ethics are following a set of rules and using those rules to make your choices. Virtue ethics are based off the type of person you want to be. Utilitarian ethics is the theory that the right action produces the most good. Feminist ethics are ethics that value non-masculine traits. Lastly, global ethics are about fairness and equality for all. These ethics aren’t just present in our real lives, but also the lives of fictional characters in stories.  In “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury, we encounter characters that make interesting and extreme decisions that begs the question, “What set of ethics does each character follow?” In order to answer this question, first I am going to summarize “The Veldt” and discuss the genre because I believe it is significant to the character’s lives. Then I am going to analyze the characters that make important decisions in some of the most important scenes of the story and finally I am going to select the ethics the characters seem to follow in each scene. At the end, I am going to summarize every important point mentioned in this essay and discuss how ethics control our lives. 

“The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury is a form of modernist literature, meaning that it rejects the 19th-century traditions. According to the Oxford definition of modernism, “Modernist writers tended to see themselves as an avantgarde disengaged from bourgeois values and disturbed their readers by adopting complex and difficult new forms and styles.” So even though “The Veldt” is a form of modernist literature it still aims to disturb their readers by using unique techniques much like Gothic literature. This is significant to the character’s lives because the characters live a dark life and the parents of the story meet a dark demise, set up for them by their own children. In “The Veldt” parents, George and Lydia live in a house that is powered to do everything for them. Their children, Wendy and Peter specifically love the nursery of the house because they can turn the room into whatever they imagine. George and Lydia’s decisions are always made based off what their children want, until they’ve had enough of feeling useless and want the whole family to go on a little vacation, so they make the decision to turn the power to the house and nursery off. The children become furious because of this and demand that the power be turned back on. George and Lydia give in to their children and restore the power to the nursery. The children lure their parents into the nursery where they are then eaten alive by lions and killed.  

From this short summary we can identify a few main decisions that were made, that prove to be significant. One decision would be that of George and Lydia deciding to give their children whatever they want because this behavior makes the children believe that they can do whatever they wish to do. Another decision would be Wendy and Peter’s decision to imagine the Veldt scene in the first place because this shows that they already had something in place for their parents just in case they didn’t get what they wanted. The major decision would have to be George and Lydia turning the power to the nursery off because it prompted the children to lure them to their death. The last decision would be, Wendy and Peter luring their parents into the nursery because it resulted in their parent’s death. All these decisions are made in the most important scenes of “The Veldt” but what kind of ethics do the characters follow in order to make them?  

To answer this question, I am going to start by analyzing George and Lydia’s first decision. In the very beginning of “The Veldt” the narrator tells us what kind of parents, George and Lydia are. “They stood on the thatched floor of the nursery. It was forty feet across by forty feet long and thirty feet high; it had cost half again as much as the rest of the house. But nothing’s too good for our children, George had said.” (Bradbury, 2) From this quote we see that George and Lydia are willing to do anything to make their children happy, this includes having an expensive, grand and high-tech nursery that brings the children’s thoughts to life. Another example of George and Lydia’s parenting is shown on page 5, “At dinner they (George and Lydia) ate alone, for Wendy and Peter were at a special plastic carnival across town and bad televised home to say they’d be late.” (Bradbury, 5) The age of the children is never revealed but George and Lydia allow them to be out late on their own doing what they please. These decisions that they make are for their children and appears to be following the Utilitarianism ethics. This ethic states that one should maximize the overall good for others as well as yourself. It also states that it rejects moral codes that consist of commands. A lot of parents discipline their children (moral code that consist of commands) and avoid giving them whatever they want so that they don’t become spoiled. George and Lydia reject this moral code and instead gives their children everything they want to make them happy. While they make decisions for their children, Wendy and Peter make decisions for themselves and are willing to defend this ability by any means possible.  

The next decision I want to analyze is Wendy and Peter creating the scene of the Veldt even before their parents turn off the power to the nursery. At the beginning of the story Lydia tells George to come and see the scene that the children had created because she found it disturbing and scary. “The walls began to purr and recede into crystalline distance, it seemed, and presently an African veldt appeared.” (Bradbury, 2) This is the parents first encounter with the veldt, they visit it while Wendy and Peter are at the carnival. It appears, they wanted their parents to discover it while they weren’t at home because when their parents asked about it, they lied and changed the scene of the nursery. “I don’t remember any Africa, said Peter to Wendy. Do you? No.” (Bradbury, 6) Peter then tells Wendy to run and check and when she returns, she says it’s not Africa. When George and Lydia go to inspect the nursery they see, “a green lovely forest, a lovely river, a purple mountain…” (Bradbury, 7) The children lie and play mind games with their parents in order to convince them that they hadn’t seen the veldt scene in the nursery. This behavior follows virtue ethics because it is self-centered, and Wendy and Peter only care to make decisions for themselves. As the story progresses George and Lydia begin to make decisions following virtue ethics because they realize that they need to start making decisions for themselves in order to be happy.  

Initially, Lydia admits that she feels useless because their house does everything for them, and she feels like it’s more of a wife and mother than she is. Later on, in the story George begins to feel this way as well and they decide to turn the power to the house and nursery off and take a family vacation. “Matter of fact, we’re thinking of turning the whole house off for about a month. Live sort of a carefree one-for-all existence.” (Bradbury, 9) This decision follows the virtue ethic because even though George is making the decision for his family, he doesn’t take what the children want into consideration and this aspect of it is self-centered. This is the moment that solidifies the children’s plan for their parents because Peter warns George not to consider turning the power off to the nursery and when George says he won’t be threatened by his son, Peter says “Very well” and strolls of to the nursery. (Bradbury, 9) The children already decide their parent’s faith and continue to follow virtue ethics to murder their parents.  

This last decision of the story by Wendy and Peter prove that they are self-centered and are willing to do whatever it takes to protect their own happiness without really thinking about what they’re doing and the consequences their actions will have. Wendy and Peter are well aware that they have their parents wrapped around their fingers, so they use this to lure their parents into the nursery. “Just then they heard the children calling, Daddy, Mommy, come quick-quick… They ran into the nursery. The veldtland was empty save for the lions waiting, looking at them… The door slammed.” (Bradbury, 12) After making their final decision for their children, George and Lydia meet their demise as they are torn apart by lions. “Mr. and Mrs. Hadley screamed. And suddenly they realized why those other screams bad sounded familiar.” (Bradbury, 13) After their parents are murdered by the lions, Wendy and Peter sit down together to share a cup of tea, unaffected at what they had just done. They were so blinded by wanting to be children who could do whatever they want and have whatever they want that they murdered their parents for trying to get in the way of that.  

In conclusion, all the decisions made by each character played a role in what the other characters were going to do next and as we saw, it ultimately led to the death of George and Lydia. They cared and loved their children so much that they reject the moral code that consist of commands and gives their children everything they want. They realize too late that their children are spoiled and out of control but in an attempt to save their family they turn to being self-centered and don’t take what their children want into consideration. In the end we see that Wendy and Peter have always been following virtue ethics in order to make their decisions and from the beginning they were ready to get rid of their parents if they got in the way of them getting what they wanted, which was the nursery. When they were threatened by their parents, they decided it was time to get rid of them and used their parents love and care to their advantage. George and Lydia’s want for their children to be well and happy drove them to their death because they fell for the trap Wendy and Peter set for them. “The Veldt” shows us that ethics can control our lives. For example, when someone feels their ability to do what they want is at risk they will do whatever is necessary to defend it, some would even go as far as Wendy and Peter did and kill out of being self-centered.  

Work Cited  

Bradbury, R. (1950). The Veldt.  https://repositorio.ufsc.br/xmlui/bitstream/handle/123456789/163728/The%20Veldt%20-%20Ray%20Bradbury.pdf 

Oxford University, P. (2008). Modernism.  https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199208272.001.0001/acref-9780199208272-e-737?rskey=zxk3Q6 

Scanlan, S. (2020). A short introduction to five types of ethics.   https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/profscanlan-english2001-fiction-f2020/files/2020/11/Five-types-of-Ethics-fall-2020.docx