Why Do People Believe In The Sweet Hereafter

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In this world, there are many people who blindly believe in what is convenient for them. However, there are exceptions to this case within the masses. In the novel the Sweet Hereafter, Russell Banks demonstrates that most people only believe in what they want to believe in, while some exceptional people are able to reason things out, resulting in exceptional consequences for themselves. This is shown through the majority of people in Sam Dent, who only believed in what was convenient for them and Nichole Burnell and Dolores Driscoll who with good reasoning were able to come up with some exceptional results. In the town of Sam Dent, the majority of the people believe in what they want to believe, regardless of the truth. This is shown…show more content…
At first, Dolores had believed that the accident wasn’t here fault, or at least wanted to. “Well, I’m not to blame!” (146) is what Dolores had told Mitchell Stephens when they were talking about the accident. However, after learning about what Nichole had done, which was put the blame on her, she reasoned that this was for the best and even felt grateful for it. “…whether they memorialized us or despised us, whether they cheered for our destruction or applauded our victory over adversity, they did it to meet their need, not ours. Which, since it could be no other way, which was exactly as it should be.” (254). Dolores had realized that whatever the other people did, they did it for themselves and whether they blamed her or not, it did not matter to her. As a result of this exceptional reasoning, Dolores was able to move on in life and leave the accident and the town of Sam Dent behind her. In conclusion, there will always be a time in life where it will be easier to simply believe in whatever is convenient than face the truth. However, the people who do face the truth and logically reason things out are most likely better off than the people that do not. Therefore, though there are many that only believe in what they want to believe in, there are capable people out there that are able to reason things out which lead them to exceptional

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