8th September, 2010
16th August, 2010.
Second Chances Allow for Improved Behavior
Second chances allow for improved behavior is a theme in the story ‘Thank You Ma’am’. Thank You Ma’am is a story of change. A boy named Roger attempts to steal from the large woman named Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones. Instead of releasing or fleeing the boy, Mrs. Bates brings him back to her home to wash his face that she finds is unacceptable. While Roger is there, he listens to the stories of her life and finds out she was just like him and did very bad things too- and too bad to be told exactly what they were. Roger gains an understanding from Mrs. Bates about how his action was unethical and meanwhile defined the line between right and wrong. “ ‘Then it will get washed this evening,’ said the large woman starting up the street, dragging the frightened boy behind her.” In this quote Roger receives another chance to apologize and make it up to Mrs. Bates. Since she has felt what it was like to be caught in action, she also knows that those people deserve a second chance to try change or fix anything, if not everything. “ ‘Now, here, take this ten dollars and buy yourself some blue suede shoes.’ ” Mrs. Bates gave the 10 dollars to Roger with the intention to make Roger think about the way any person would act if you simply asked for something as well as to think about the different effect it would have on the person if you asked instead of interfering and rummaging through their space. By giving this act of kindness, Mrs. Bates is giving Roger a second chance at choosing his life path- if he wanted to carry on being immoral or instead- sensible. Second chances can influence change in a person to think again about their future actions and their way of dealing with it but they don’t only have this effect with people who steal but with any kind of offender.
Second chances that allow for improved behavior is evident in the BBC article ‘Young offenders should meet victims of their crime.’ The Independent Commission of Youth Crime and Antisocial Behavior believe offenders should have a meeting with their victims after the first meeting that obviously ended bad. The reason this should happen is so that they both have a better grasp of what they have been through and why the event of betrayal occurred. “It can include the offender saying sorry or in some cases paying the victim compensation.” The commission are giving the offenders a chance to repay their victims of their harm and to gain that person’s understanding or forgiveness. They are also giving them a chance to literally pay their victim back of any injuries they could have made. “ ‘The guy that walked into the room was a completely different guy than the guy that had hit me.’ ” The chance to meet the victim had improved the person’s behavior because they realize they had another chance to possibly fix something or at least show that they’re not all that bad after their hours of punishment in jail or in community service. The offender in this situation has definitely thought about his past actions and now knows that what he/she did, was in fact wrong and that both the victim and him/herself would benefit from a second meeting- and that’s why the offender is so willing to show the victim that he has changed and will not make the mistake again. This article represents change in a person when they realize they have done something wrong and have another shot to fix it, if not to help or better it.
Second chances allow for improved behavior. The settings in Thank You Ma’am and the article are both allowing the offender to get a second chance at fixing their relationship with the victim. In ‘Thank You Ma’am’ Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones is first a victim as Roger tries to steal from her. Luckily, she has enough experience and empathy to relate to him and is able to give him a second chance at improving how he handles situations when he wants something that he cannot get on his own, meanwhile improving behavior. In the article ‘Young offenders should meet victims of their crime.’ A meeting called the Restorative Justice Meeting is what unites the offender and victim after their first, not-so-pleasant meeting. The offender would have had their punishments and gone through maybe jail, maybe community service, but they would have gone through a lot of time for them to think about their previous actions. The Restorative Justice Meeting is just a place where the offender can apologize and prove to the victim that they have changed or can change to improve behavior. Both settings of each story are allowing for improved behavior of the crime-setter because they give another chance to them and with a second chance, someone will always think about what they can do different because nobody would want to just throw away a second chance at something unless they don’t regret their actions. So with these two stories, the theme is woven through the idea of the story and what’s behind it, which say that second chances allow and make way for a better person or a change in a person for the better.
Source for picture: http://fineartamerica.com/images-medium/sorrow-noor-naqvi.jpg
One's Identity is Formed by Societal Expectations.
'One’s identity is formed by societal expectations' is a dominant theme in Roald Dahl's short story, "Lamb to the Slaughter." Mary Maloney had the perfect life with a husband she loved, and a round belly holding the baby of her future. She cured her husband's needs and cleaned the house during the day, awaiting his arrival. She was seen as a patient, delightful woman from outsiders. Her family was the example of the ideal marriage. The Mary that was not shaped and formed by the society was an evil, calculating, vengeful wife that murdered her husband after he told her he was leaving her. Society had formed Mary into appearing as the ultimate wife and playing her lifetime role to survive, so much so that her close friends, husband and the reader didn't know what she was really like. Identity can be formed by societal expectations not just by the way Mary was but in different ways to different people or groups.
Society has planned to shape policing into being a more governing role in the world. Policemen in the UK are now societally expected to change their way of handling their jobs by not only chasing crimes and cases but attending social service to people in need more than before. Society believes that the county structure of policing could be more dominant and important. The national, international and ministers believe that the highest standard of leadership at the top of the scale of policing could still be kicked up a notch and they believe that policing has lost it's power and control as the payment for the Chief Officer of Police has also gone down. There are many new challenges that the policemen have to now deal with as well as many new opportunities to help drug addicts that Mr. Bunkett had mentioned in one of his speeches. The work and the result is now up to the policemen of UK to awaken the significances of their jobs. This was the society, shaping, planning, creating the road for the policemen to take. The society is forming the changes and is molding the job to be more dominant, influential and to have more of an effect on people. Society has created the plans of the future of policy in a way where the policemen of the UK are forced to follow or react. Society's expectations will always be for the good, but in many cases the object or subject that the society expects things from, aren't truly like that - like Mary Maloney.
An expectation of a society is an assumption of a community. In the story of Mary Maloney, Mary's life is designed and controlled by the society to land her the model role of the quintessential wife. Even the fact that her husband is a police officer molds her life appearance. A confident assumption or expectation of a person can make the, feel pressured as if that is what they are made to be but not very often when a person is expected of things that when they do become that person, they are rarely naturally that way. In the article of the Police men of the UK, society has created a one-way road for them to take to change their ways of action to the preferred and finer ways so that their positions in the world will be more superior than it is in this present time. Society found that if they chose the route of expecting more things from policy, that things could change for the good. Society's expectations can form a person's appearance, actions and aura but never can it form or change in any way what a person may think, decide or feel.
Society has planned to shape policing into being a more governing role in the world. Policemen in the UK are now societally expected to change their way of handling their jobs by not only chasing crimes and cases but attending social service to people in need more than before. Society believes that the county structure of policing could be more dominant and important. The national, international and ministers believe that the highest standard of leadership at the top of the scale of policing could still be kicked up a notch and they believe that policing has lost it's power and control as the payment for the Chief Officer of Police has also gone down. There are many new challenges that the policemen have to now deal with as well as many new opportunities to help drug addicts that Mr. Bunkett had mentioned in one of his speeches. The work and the result is now up to the policemen of UK to awaken the significances of their jobs. This was the society, shaping, planning, creating the road for the policemen to take. The society is forming the changes and is molding the job to be more dominant, influential and to have more of an effect on people. Society has created the plans of the future of policy in a way where the policemen of the UK are forced to follow or react. Society's expectations will always be for the good, but in many cases the object or subject that the society expects things from, aren't truly like that - like Mary Maloney.
An expectation of a society is an assumption of a community. In the story of Mary Maloney, Mary's life is designed and controlled by the society to land her the model role of the quintessential wife. Even the fact that her husband is a police officer molds her life appearance. A confident assumption or expectation of a person can make the, feel pressured as if that is what they are made to be but not very often when a person is expected of things that when they do become that person, they are rarely naturally that way. In the article of the Police men of the UK, society has created a one-way road for them to take to change their ways of action to the preferred and finer ways so that their positions in the world will be more superior than it is in this present time. Society found that if they chose the route of expecting more things from policy, that things could change for the good. Society's expectations can form a person's appearance, actions and aura but never can it form or change in any way what a person may think, decide or feel.
Source for picture : http://kirkunity.blogspot.com/2007/05/police-investigates-claim-it-has-bnp.html
