The Non-Sympathetic Character of Byelinkov in The Man in a Case Essay

The Non-Sympathetic Character of Byelinkov in The Man in a Case  Ã‚     It is hard to sympathize with a person who has a complete lack of happiness in their life.   In Wendy Wasserstein's The Man in a Case, Byelinkov lives a dull, uneventful life, which only he is content with.   He performs the exact same routine every day and has rendered this routine almost his entire life.   Byelinkov's tedious life is expressed throughout the play by way of comments made to Varinka, as well as through his daily habits and rituals.   Byelinkov is a Latin and Greek teacher at the local school in the village of Mironitski.   He is well respected and known by many people throughout the village for his extensive knowledge.   Byelinkov translates numerous stories and documents each week and can only concentrate on his work if he is alone, so most of his time is spent in solitude.   Byelinkov is engaged to marry Varinka, whose personality, on the other hand, is completely opposite of his own.   She lives moment by moment, where as he plans out everything.   Varinka has an almost childish personality...

A Loaf of Breasd Essay

â€Å"A Loaf of Bread† by James Alan McPherson is a story about a man named Harold Green who is accused of cheating customers due to his overpriced products being sold at one of his supermarkets. Throughout the story, Green is faced with a plethora of different obstacles that he has to overcome in order to prove not only to his family, but to himself that he is a honest and caring man. There are many different lessons and themes you can pick out from this story, but one in particular that I feel is important is the relationship between Harold Green and Nelson Reed. Both men are introduced as complete opposites of each other, but as the story progresses they both discover that they are very much alike and the animosity they once shared was nothing more than a mere misunderstanding. By the end of the story, they both learn a lot from each other and that judging someone without knowing their position or seeing things from their perspective can often lead to false verdicts. â€Å"I did not make this world,† he repeated. â€Å"I only make my way in it† This quote perfectly describes Harold Green and his perspective on life. In the beginning of the story, Green is introduced as a selfish but honest man. He knew that he was overcharging customers in his store, but to him it was something he had to do in order to provide for his family even if it meant losing them. â€Å"What is the color of these people?† he asked. â€Å"Black,† his wife said. â€Å"And what is the name of my children?† â€Å"Green.† The grocer smiled. â€Å"There is your answer,† he told his wife. â€Å"Green is the only color I am interested in.† This furthermore shows that Green starts off as a selfish man. He chose to ignore the needs of his customers due to his lust for cash. Nelson Reed on the other hand, was introduced as a very proud and caring Christian man. He believed that what Green was doing was wrong, and felt the need to stand up for his people. Although both men seem to be complete opposites of each other, they still shared similar characteristics. They were both very stubborn and determined to stand up for what they believe in. Green at first, did not want to give in to his wife and give away his products for free. He refused to because he believed he was right, and that he needed to stand up for himself. Reed, although different from Green, shared a similar perspective about the whole situation. He felt the need to stand up for himself and his people. As the two characters progress, they both come to terms on one thing; money rules the world. â€Å"The only thing that matters in this world is money.† This quote by Reed depicts a better understanding between the two. Reed is finally starting to see things through Green’s eyes and realizes that he would’ve done the same thing as Green if he had owed the store. â€Å"Place yourself in my situation†¦ Say on a profit scale of fifteen to forty percent, at what point in between would you draw the line?† â€Å"Forty? Maybe even forty-five or fifty?† the grocer breathed in Reed’s ear. â€Å"In the supermarkets, you know, they have more subtle ways of accomplishing such feats.† Reed slapped his coffee cup with the back of his right hand. The brown liquid swirled across the counter top, wetting the books. â€Å"Damn this!† he shouted.† Although Reed is reluctant to believe he is like Green, he is now putting himself in Green’s shoes. In a way, it’s almost like Reed is giving in to himself. Green does the same thing. One morning Green decides to give in to himself and give out his products for free. In the end, as Green is in the middle of giving out items, Reed walks in and insists that he pay for the loaf of bread his wife had taken for free earlier. â€Å"I think it was brown bread. Don’t that cost more than white?† â€Å"In my store, yes,† Harold Green said. He rang the register with the most casual movement of his finger. The register read fifty-five cents. Nelson Reed held out a dollar. â€Å"And two cents tax,† the grocer said. The man held out the dollar. â€Å"After all,† Harold Green said. â€Å"We are all, after all, Mr. Reed, in debt to the government.† This last quote from the story sums up the change we see in both characters. Green has now learned that there is more to life than just money and himself, whereas Reed learns to respect Green’s profession. The fact that Reed paid full price for the bread shows that he understands Green’s position in contrast to the beginning where he saw it as a crime how Green had overpriced his items. In the end, both men had learned valuable lessons, and although at first were very different and opposing of each other, came to terms that they are no more than two similar people making money for the government.

The Decision That Should Matter But Don t - 1521 Words

Dean Styx Due Date ENG105 Jenny Downer WAII the Decision that should matter but don’t The modern era, politically, has been defined by the right of everyone’s own decision, for who’s in power, what they do in power and how to stop them if they get too powerful. It was the individual’s decision to let one into power. Of course if a country did not do this, we as Americans would see that as backwards and not right to the point of military intervention when in our own nation we do not get full say in who become president. The decision making does not include world leaders but also includes the day to day decisions and our own life decisions we make every day, such as our job decisions. But it would seem that all these decisions are pointless†¦show more content†¦He describes how the western philosophy has described how to make a better world by just simply giving the individuals more choice in the world. Schwartz then later in the lecture goes on to explain how this ever growing amount of choice can lead to a â€Å"paralysis† of choice. According to Schwartz this paralysis is being exemplified by the amount of choices given to them. This has led to an opposite effect where instead of giving more choices equals a better life, now more choices means no choices at all leading to no choice at all. Schwartz gives another example of cellphones doing Ludacris things such as nose trimming, toothbrush and even a lighter. Here exemplifies how the growing number of choices has led to the elderly simply not getting cell phones or televisions because they cannot understand how to use the call feature or how to change the channel of the television. The vast amount of choices has also lead to the agency of our choices to decease as well. With so many options our decisions rely totally on us according to Schwartz, that if our choice in anything is so much as not perfect, then our decision was a bad decision and one could have made a better decision. Which leads to a loss in agency in oneself as well as