Exerting Pride – English Essay
Sitting by the bedside of humans, it holds an individual up. When the world turns its back on you, you and pride turn your back on the world, pride is truly a friend. Like any friend he'll be there for you, but one must choose how far the title of friend goes. In life many people are met, and are considered whether or not the title of friend shall be bestowed upon them. Some friends allow one to avoid harm, whereas some lead you right into the heart of the action. One rule must always be considered with friends, when friends become too close, their influence has a greater tug on one's heart. This is the fundamental rule one must apply to pride. Every human on this planet has pride, from the most vain and egomaniacal to the least confident and shy, having an ego is a fundamental part of human nature. A character's ego creates a unique perspective which helps shape the plot and makes it interesting. “It’s an excess of pride that buys you one-way, economy coach passage to the fires of hell.” (The Toronto Star, Nov 1999) This can be found from grown man in "Mr. Know-All", in which characters around despise his pride/ego, or the homeless man, Soapy, in "The Cop and the Anthem" willing to go to such length to defend his sense of pride, or even in a child as seen in "Fall Of The City" who is willing to destroy his creation in order to maintain his pride. Pride is truly a friend worth keeping, but one is forced to change to better their person by exerting the right amount. Viewing a story from the third-person limited is as the title dictates a limited view. As the story is told through the narration of a racist man, "Mr. Know All" is subject to a lot of bias. Keeping these biases in mind, the reader has the option of taking that into consideration when judging the details the narrator proclaims. "I was prepared to dislike Max Kelada even before I knew him." are the first words told to the reader, and indeed these words show the hatred towards Mr. Kelada, but don’t give the reader any reason as to why. Even with these thoughts planted in one's mind, the reader has the ability to choose whether to take this as a fact or not. Besides the fact of racism, the narrator seems to have a distinct dislike towards Mr. Kelada and his pride. When not invited or when not welcome “It never occurred to him that he was not wanted. He was certain that you were as glad to see him as he was to see you”, showing the reader that Mr. Kelada’s pride is blinding him so much that “you might have kicked him downstairs and slammed the door in his face without the suspicion dawning on him that he was not a welcome visitor.” Even besides the blindness towards the subliminal hints, Mr. Kelada proves that his pride is so great that it even takes insults as a compliment. When others “called him [Max Kelada] Mr. Know-All, even to his face. He [Max Kelada] took it as a compliment.” This shows that only does his pride help keep him secure against subliminal hints but also shields him from direct insults. Besides using his pride as a shield Mr. Kelada, uses it to openly flaunt as “He knew everything better than anybody else, and it was an affront to his overweening vanity that you should disagree with him.” By flaunting his knowledge in such a vain manner, it gives the impression that he is so proud about the knowledge he posses that it must be correct. In Kelada’s mind “The possibility that he could be mistaken never occurred to him. He was the chap who knew”. This mindset allows the people around to conclude, due to his overwhelming pride, no one else was allowed to be correct, which in turn would force one to think “…that he [Kelada] was most intolerable”. Other than the narrator other characters also “resented bitterly the Levantine’s cocksureness”, one such character would be Mr. Ramsay. With constant quarrelling with Max Kelada “At last something that Ramsay said stung him [Kelada]…”. Words cannot physically sting a person, thus the word must have hit Kelada on an emotional level. Pride being one of Kelada’s dear friends must have been insulted when Ramsay stated that he did not know his trade, which in turn hurt Kelada. This is “hurt” that penetrated his armour and friend pride, is what caused him to “thumped the table” and shout his point across, showing his desperate attempt in protecting his pride. “He [Kelada] looked round the table triumphantly” for, in his viewpoint he had regained all of his lost pride. After his small victory Kelada chooses to flaunt his pride and ego a bit more, by stating that “"They`ll never be able to get a culture pearl that an expert like me can`t tell with half an eye.", which tells the reader as well the folks around him that he is so confident in his trade, that even with half an eye he would still be spot on, showing his ego to its full extent. As with a typical argument verbal punches are thrown back and forth, but alas Kelada still manages to stay on his high horse and states “if it`s [Mrs. Ramsay’s necklace] imitation I`ll tell you quickly enough. I can afford to lose a hundred dollars…” proving yet again he is so proud of himself that even if he so happened to lose the bet, parting with that hundred dollars would mean nothing to him. After all the pride and ego Mr. Kelada flaunted around, when “he caught sight of Mrs Ramsay`s face.”, his friend pride backed down. He finally understood that in this social environment that his pride was not worth defending, when the honour of another was at stake. Although he conquered his pride, and was able to exert it to be socially acceptable, he had not completely lost all of it, for "No one likes being made to look a perfect damned fool". With this level of pride that is socially allotted no one would “entirely dislike Mr Kelada”, proving that pride is worth keeping, but in a social environment, to better one’s person, controlling the amount of pride shown is needed. Pride is found in those, who think they know, but alas pride is also found in those who have a strong sense of belief. This is the case found in “The Cop and the Anthem”, with the protagonist, a homeless man named Soapy. He had strong sense of hatred towards charity for all he saw it as was “the provisions made in the name of charity for the city's dependents.” To Soapy charity was wrong for you had not earned it; gifts were just bestowed upon you. With his beliefs “If not in coin you must pay in humiliation of spirit for every benefit received at the hands of philanthropy.” This proves how proud Soapy is, as he finds gaining the help of another to be humiliating, even when one is in a time of need. He truly believes that help is not needed, and that life is a one-man-show, proving how blind Soapy’s pride has truly made him. To Soapy “the Law was more benign than Philanthropy”, showing that yet again the pride in which Soapy takes in his belief is so great, that he goes so far as to think that submitting one’s self to prison is less harmful than the action of taking charity from another. Again Soapy’s friend pride takes him down a harmful path, as it makes him commit so fully to his belief that he is willing to “dine luxuriously at some expensive restaurant; and then, after declaring insolvency, be handed over quietly and without uproar to a policeman” proving yet again the influence pride has on one when it is the only friend one has close. Through the many trials and tribulations Soapy faces, a new light is shed upon belief and exposed his pride. This new light allowed “him to battle with his desperate fate”. This light, his inspiration was nothing more than realizing what had made him