P3+CRuehman

An individual’s role in confronting justice and judging between right and wrong will vary from one person to the next. However humans often approach situations and make decisions based on the same ideals and conceptions. Throughout Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience, Perkins’s Homeless: Expose the Myths, and Quindland’s Homeless examples of both injustices and judgments may be seen. An individual chooses between right and wrong when confronting injustice through their instinctual nature, the ethics they have been taught and the experiences they have endured.

The presumptions that people make usually are direct reflections of their upbringing. The author of Homeless reflects upon how her morals decide what was considered wrong before really knowing what was actually right or wrong. “You are where you live. She was somebody.”(Homeless) As seen in the case of Ann, our ethics dictate right from wrong, often before we are endowed with the facts of a situation. People who are homeless are individuals without a home. We turn the idea of homelessness into an ‘issue’ rather than look at it as a collection of human beings because we have been raised to think this way. The morals that we are taught from the people around us and our environment also affect the way we confront injustice to a great extent. “And now a light truck approached, and as it came near, the driver saw the turtle and swerved to hit it.”(Grapes of Wrath) The truck that purposely poses a threat represents hardships an individual must face. It also symbolizes the evil that the human race transmits. "Man, unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, and emerges ahead of his accomplishments." (The Grapes of Wrath) Man is inherenley given the right to choose and the a set of ethics that is picked up throughout life, because of this we are set apart from any other creature on this planet.

It is human nature that drives the need to further our own success while jeopardizing the success for others. In a harsh environment only the strongest and smartest will survive or perhaps it is only the ones who care little about anything else other than the need to survive “Now look here. I’m givin’ you my shirt, and you took all this time. I might a made three sales while I been talkin’ to you. I’m disgusted.”(Grapes of Wrath) The salesman was so concerned with making a sale that he clearly pushes his values aside. He sacrifices justice in order to further his chance of survival. Injustice can be a much simpler mode than integrity in the face of harsh times, when life is often centered on survival of the fittest. The customers could have confronted the car salesman, but they too were so desperate that they pushed their moral standards aside as well. “Salesmen, neat, deadly, small intent eyes watching for weakness.” (Grapes of Wrath) Not only do individuals betray others in order to survive, but they also abuse and exploit their rights. The salesmen exploit the weak in society in order to heighten their survival and in doing so they loose the qualities that make them human. The way Steinbeck describes the salesmen makes them seem as if they were deadly predators rather than individuals, yet even though we see the actions the salesmen take as unjust, they feel that their exploitations are necessary to their survival.

Experience is the best education. Through personal experiences we are able to place judgments on most situations in life, and thus make a decision based on what have learned. “By linking homelessness to poverty, advocates obscure the real root of the problem. If we really wanted to help the homeless, we would pay far more attention to their mental health and substance abuse problems.”(Homeless: Expose the Myths) Our desire to help the homeless has been unsuccessful because we are trying to approach injustice in the wrong way. We wish to help, but rather than find the root of the problem to the homeless epidemic we instead settle with a common conception. Everyone has a different perception of what is right and what is wrong. Yet one thing remains constant, the individual’s role in confronting justice that is solely to stand up for their beliefs and do what is right. Thoreau stands up for his beliefs and decides not to pay his taxes, even through the time he spends in jail. Thoreau stated that he would, “quietly declare war with the state, after my fashion, though I will still make what advantage of her I can, as is usual in such cases”(Civil Disobedience: part 3) The government did not allow freedom of choice. Thoreau proves that an individual can use their ethics to stand up for injustices done against them. “Fear the time when Manself will not suffer and die for a concept, for this one quality is the foundation of Manself, and this one quality is man, distinctive in the universe." (Grapes of Wrath) Men become mechanic souls when they loose sight of standing up for their beliefs and live solely for the purpose of survival,

To conclude, our environmental influence such as our experiences and morals manipulate our own interpretation of what is right from what is wrong and what role we play in confrontation of justice. However our instinctual needs can sometimes corrupt the decisions we make and affect our moral standards. Throughout Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience, Perkins’s Homeless: Expose the Myths, and Quindland’s Homeless many examples of both injustices and judgments may be seen. Each individual is outfitted with the power to choose and a distinct role in confronting injustice, yet ultimately the individual is the one to differentiate between what is right and what is wrong. Which will you choose?

Chauntelle Ruehman Period 3 APLANG April 20, 2008