Anna's+Page



In relation to the main focus idea that "People who do bad things can still be good people", I hope to be "the best person I can be", as stated in my personal philosophy by being forgiving throughout my life, understanding of the imperfections of human nature. I have all along agreed that this statement is accurate to real life and story alike, citing Noah in //The Village//, Usher in //The Fall of the House of Usher// and the townspeople in //The Crucible//. Though it is incredibly hard at times, I hope to be able to forgive such well-intentioned but misguided people throughout the rest of my life.





“The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft a-gley.” - Robert Burns, "To a Mouse"

[|Travis Tritt's "Best of Intentions"] and [|Lyrics] [|"Forgive Me" by Evanescence] and [|Lyrics]



In //The Village//: //Edward:// **What was the purpose of our leaving? Let us not forget it was out of hope of something good and right.** //Importance: The people hoped to do something "good and right", but in their quest do do so, they did horrible and wrong.//


 * Danforth:** You must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between. This is a sharp time, now, a precise time—we live no longer in the dusky afternoon when evil mixed itself with good and befuddled the world. Now, by God’s grace, the shining sun is up, and them that fear not light will surely praise it. //Importance: Danforth wants to do good in the eyes of God by ridding Salem of witchcraft, but in doing so he condemns the innocent. He is unintentionally doing bad to achieve good.//
 * Hale:** Excellency, I have signed seventy-two death warrants; I am a minister of the Lord, and I dare not take a life without there be proof so immaculate no slightest qualm of conscience may doubt it.
 * Hale:** Why it is all simple. I come to do the Devil's work. I come to counsel Christians they should belie themselves. There is blood on my head! Can you not see the blood on my head?! //Importance: Here Hale is acting upon his realization of his mistakes- He knows he is doing the wrong thing for the right reason.//

"**The [Stanford Prison Experiment] guards were given no specific training on how to be guards. Instead they were free, within limits, to do whatever they thought was necessary to maintain law and order in the prison and to command the respect of the prisoners.** The guards made up their own set of rules, which they then carried into effect under the supervision of Warden David Jaffe, an undergraduate from Stanford University. They were warned, however, of the potential seriousness of their mission and of the possible dangers in the situation they were about to enter, as, of course, are real guards who voluntarily take such a dangerous job." //**This demonstrates that the guards wanted to do good by keeping order, but they went about it in a bad way.**//

In //The Fall of the House Of Usher//, by Edgar Allen Poe, Roderick Usher best demonstrates how people who do bad things can still be good people: "We sat down; and for some moments, while he spoke not, I gazed upon him with a feeling half of pity, half of awe. Surely, man had never before so terribly altered, in so brief a period, as had Roderick Usher!... In the manner of my friend I was at once struck with an incoherence --an inconsistency; and I soon found this to arise from a series of feeble and futile struggles to overcome an habitual trepidancy --an excessive nervous agitation." (**//To sum it up, Roderick Usher was an unstable man, a piteous semblance of a human being, and he wanted what was best for his sister//**.) "Here he sprang furiously to his feet, and shrieked out his syllables, as if in the effort he were giving up his soul --"MADMAN! I TELL YOU THAT SHE NOW STANDS WITHOUT THE DOOR!'" (**//Shows that he had unintentionally done the unspeakable. He was a good man, but his insanity had driven him into evilness. He honestly loved his sister, but in the end his troubled mind overtook him and his reason.//**)

The story //A Rose for Emily//, in which a lonely and insane woman kills her lover and then keeps his body, shows another well-intentioned person who uses the entirely wrong means to do something "good". This story can be related to another real life story of an equally disturbing nature: //**==DISCLAIMER: Disturbing content in this video, including a description of necrophilia.==**// [|"Graverobbing for Love": The story of a mad scientist and his corpse bride] This crazy scientist loved a woman so much that he was willing care for her beyond death. Though his necrophilia and clear insanity were **//definitely//** not the best way to express his love, he still had good intentions.

Four of Benjamin Franklin's Thirteen Virtues, relating to the fact that "People who do bad things can still be good people.": Each of these virtues can be connected to the idea that "People who do bad things can still be good people". Silence, for example, suggests that one never gossip about another, as this "good person" may have merely done some "bad things". Sincerity also relates to this- Franklin suggests never to willfully harm another person verbally or otherwise. He, therefore, demonstrates his understanding that one should forgive rather than fight, if at all possible or practical. Justice, again, relates to these same ideas, and tranquility suggests that a man not take small trifles to heart, but instead forgive the "bad person" and move on.
 * 2. SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.**
 * 7. SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.**
 * 8. JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.**
 * 11.TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.**
 * The combination of these virtues suggests Franklin's inner willingness to forgive, much like the willingness that I strive for.**

In his narrative/autobiography, Douglass shows both aspects of humanity (evil and good) and describes his struggle to see the latter in all people. As a slave, Douglass saw the worst of humanity, describing it thus: "It was the blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery, through which I was about to pass. It was a most terrible spectacle. I wish I could commit to paper the feelings with which I beheld it." Later on, however, Douglass shows that he struggled with and was able to forgive some people, showing that though they did bad things, they were good people. For example, Douglass described some of his childhood friends who were white: "These words [against slavery] used to trouble them; they would express for me the liveliest sympathy, and console me with the hope that something would occur by which I might be free." In this way, Douglass shows that he was able to see both the good and the bad in people.



"I didn't mean to do it! Can you forgive me?"








 * "Noah is acting in the ID stage still and only acting on impulse. **Since he is human he has flaws, but I don't think he is evil.**" - Kent


 * "Evil and change are inevitable; they left normal city because of fear of death, crime; they create perfect society, but **Noah ends up doing what they're escaping...*** Innocence is everything; evil is bad--Noah represents both." - Tom


 * Was the goal behind these accusations [against Cheryl and Violet Amirault] the same as those in //The Crucible//? "No- These accusations were more indicitive of mass hysteria than of ulterior motives. The public had nothing more to gain than the safety of their children in this situation, whereas in Salem the accusers could gain power //and// the safety of their children. **In this situation, they honestly meant well.**"


 * "Lucius and Noah are the physical representations of the Elders' misguided, well-meaning intentions. The Elders meant well in trying to run away from the evil inherent in society, but they overlooked the fact that they could not completely escape it. **This idealistic, naive choice to overlook the facts and deny that evil could occur in their utopia indirectly led to Noah's loss of innocence and Lucius's suffering. In essence, their good intentions and misguided hopes led to bad repercussions.**" - Myself




 * "__|Observation:|__ Reverend Hale regrets his actions. __|Suggests that:|__ He understands that he has started a horrible chain reaction, leading to the deaths and sufferings of many people and their families. __|Deeper meaning:|__ Hale represents //The Crucible's// motif of bad repercussions; he had good intentions at first (wanting to "re-purify" Salem and rid it of evil), but tried to do so in the wrong way."


 * "__|Observation:|__ Danforth thinks he's doing the right thing. __|Suggests that:|__ He is incredibly naive and idealistic... __|Deeper meaning:|__ Danforth represents mass hysteria. He wants to do the right thing, but he loses sight of this as things progress."


 * "The guards were trying to keep things orderly and productive, but their methods were not ethical. They meant well, but they didn't act on it."





People mess up because, frankly, they're human. Just because someone does something bad, he or she is not defined as a "bad person". For example, a friend who unintentionally hurts another friend's feelings has done something bad, but he or she is not necessarily a horrible, mean, uncaring person. Just as the townspeople in //The Crucible// did something bad, they still had good intentions. Roderick Usher in "The Fall of the House of Usher" also did something horrible, but his insanity rendered him unable to define right and wrong, good and bad. To sum it up, a person who does a bad thing is doing what every person on earth does each day: he has made a mistake, demonstrating his humanity. In understanding this inevitable fallibility of humanity, I hope to be better able and willing to forgive those good people who do bad things, thus living up to the "be the best person that I can be" part of my personal philosophy.





< http://www.earlyamerica.com/lives/franklin/chapt8/ >.
 * Archiving Early America. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Chapter Eight. 26 November 2007.

< http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/evanescence/forgiveme.html >.
 * Azlyrics.com. Evanescence Lyrics- Forgive Me. 6 Dec 2007.


 * Cowboylyrics.com. //Travis Tritt, Best of Intentions Lyrics//. 6 Oct 2007.


 * Darnton, Nina. "Justice Denied?" September/October 2000: 145-147.


 * Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass an American Slave. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1845.


 * Edwards, Jonathan. "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." Connecticut, 1741.

< http://www.ariyam.com/docs/lit/wf_rose.html >.
 * Faulkner, William. "A Rose for Emily". 1930.

< [|See link here] >.
 * Google Image Search. "Forgive". 6 Dec 2007.

< [|See link here] >.
 * Google Image Search. "Forgive me". 6 Dec 2007.

< [|See link here] >.
 * Google Image Search. "Forgive me". 6 Dec 2007.


 * Homevideos.com. //The Village - HomeVideos.com//. 7 Oct 2007.


 * Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. Penguin, New York: 1982.

< http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/POE/fall.html >.
 * Poe, Edgar Allen. "The Fall of the House of Usher". 7 Oct 2007.


 * The Village. Dir. M. Night Shyamalan. Perf. Bryce Dallas Howard, Joaquin Phoenix, and Adrien Brody. Touchstone Pictures. 2004.


 * //To A Mouse, On Turning Her Up In Her Nest With The Plough//. 7 Oct 2007.

< http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuFVY75DGQ4&amp;feature=related >.
 * You Tube, LLC. //Forgive Me//. 6 Dec 2007.

< http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r0Bq-6_5TM >.
 * You Tube, LLC. //Travis Tritt-Best Of Intentions//. 6 Oct 2007.

< http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cyfvf5bc0Vo >.
 * You Tube, LLC. //Weird US Investigates Necrophilia in Key West//. 15 Nov 2007.


 * Zimbardo, Philip G. //The Stanford Prison Experiment: A Simulation Study of the Psycology of Imprisonment//. 7 Oct 2007.


 * I also used my A/P Dialetical Journal and my notes from class discussions.