Saturday, August 21, 2010

Right and Wrong in Grapes of Wrath

Situations like those that arise in Grapes of Wrath bring up all kinds of gray edges when it comes to right and wrong. When neighbor start turning against neighbor and the whole entire philosophy of the town becomes survival of the fittest, right and wrong can no longer fit into black and white categories. There are too many factors and variables to consider for one person to even attempt to be able to decide fully what can be considered right and wrong. What may be one person's right because it is in the best interest of their own family might be somebody else's wrong because in doing that thing the other person is somehow making getting by in life very difficult for them and their family. These situations put bystanders in difficult positions when they are forced to take sides or something to that affect.

For example, to those men standing by watching a fellow townsperson bulldoze and destroy everything they and their family have worked to earn and accumulate for generations, it may seem just and right for them to pull a gun and likewise destroy everything that that person holds dear or at least everything that the man with the gun has access to destroying. But, as you can well imagine, things look considerabloy different to the man sititn gin the driver's seat of the bulldozer. To that man he is simply doing what he has to do to get by adn putting a bullet in him would be a huge aim not to be tolerated. And if there happens to be a townsperson who knows a both people that will put him in a difficult position to decide just exactly what is just and what is not because he can see both sides.

In times like these, when nobody can be entirely impartial, it would have been very difficult for somebody to turn something black and white and decide just what was and waht was not right.

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