The more he thinks about his decision and makes connections to his own life; he realizes that leaving that man sobbing in the elevator was a very selfish thing to do. The man needed help, and he could have at least offered a shoulder to cry on. He did not know what horrible thing could have happened that made the man cry. He is now filled with guilt and sorrow for the mistake he made. He tries to seek help and reassurance that what he did was not wrong, but no matter how many times he heard that he did the right thing, deep down, he knew it was wrong and that would never change.
And finally, throughout the return and reintegration, the narrator realizes his mistake, and refuses to go back to being the way he was previously. The monomythical structure of this essay is clearly defined by the actions and thoughts of the protagonist figure. During the separation in this story, the narrator tells how he has seen a man in the elevator at work have some kind of emotional breakdown. He explains how he did his best not to look at the other man, or make any indication that he had seen the man collapse on the floor, wracked with sobs. Because this isn’t a fairy tale, and there is no actual ‘adventure’ taking place, this can be viewed as the protagonist refusing to take on the quest he is being presented.
As the elevator door closes, the protagonist is completely unaware of the array of mixed emotions he was about to encounter. “The doors of the elevator closed and we began to ascend.” The closing of the elevator doors is a symbol for the protagonist’s separation from society. After he states his initial encounter with what seems to be a perfectly normal stranger, suddenly he is startled. “Then it happened. A sudden strained gasp.
Morality in “the Step not Taken” by Paul D’Angelo Paul D’Angelo addresses an interesting subject in “The Step not Taken,” through his own personnel monomyth he presents the moral question of whether it is morally right to ignore the obvious suffering of another human being. The story begins with a man entering an elevator with a “junior executive” looking man in an office building, just a normal day with nothing unusual. Just as in the first stage of the monomyth all seems normal with no warning to the approach of a challenge; “then it happened.....I was astonished to see the young man drop his briefcase and burst into tears,” the main character, has now been faced with his quest. Has in true city tradition he ignores the crying man and leaves the elevator, which is his initial refusal. This point in the story signifies the transition from an external journey to an internal struggle of the protagonist.
The first stage is a call to adventure, where it starts when the young man burst into tears. The hero does not go to help the young man which means he has refused his quest. Typically a guide would appear to cause the hero to commit to the adventure but the guide is not another human being but it is himself and his self conscious that guides him throughout his journey. The narrator begins to say to himself. “Should I go up to the 15th floor and make sure he’s okay?
Hu was shown as being a scribe that does not stick to his contract, as he acts and reacts in ways that would be recognized as insane, and being placed in an asylum to free Foucquet of the burdens Hu created. Foucquet was a strong-willed religious man that became fed up with Hu’s struggles to fit in to the society which was foreign to him. With Foucquet’s lack of respect or empathy towards Hu, Hu is left to die in the asylum. With Hu’s attitude changing at the end of the story, the reader is left to further ponder the theme of The Question of Hu, cultural clashes and insanity as the main
This desire grows overwhelmingly strong, overtaking his mind to make an unrealistic world for himself, leading to a downward spiral that ultimately makes him take his own life. Deviant and outlandish lies towards Paul’s lifestyle are his easy way out of reality. He begins with disrespect towards the faculty in his high school in Pittsburg. Paul has no real desire towards school as a result he is suspended from school. During a meeting set up by his father to him back in school, Paul’s demeanor in eminent when he walks in.
The protagonist begins to question the morals of the modern world; this is where the hero reaches his epiphany. The hero’s epiphany comes some time after the incident, when he has had to think and process what happened and the way he feels about it, he listens to the thoughts of others who tell him he ’did the proper thing, the best thing, by leaving the young man alone’ but he realizes that he should have helped the man in need even if it wasn’t the society norm as he states ‘Like so many things in life, I know now what I should have done then. I should have thrown caution to the winds and done the right thing. Not the big-city thing.’ He is deeply apologetic for his actions and makes a vow to change that in the future as he would not want the ones he loves to be treated that way in their time of need, ‘The thing I would want someone to do if they ever found my son crying in an elevator. I should have given him the opportunity to unload his sadness onto my
* Question the degree of the influence Edie has on him and his future. * He turned Edie away from being a nun. Both of them had an equally important influence on each other. This is where the subtlety and nuance. * Its more revenge and self-interest rather than the driving force behind his moralities * He is uneasy about taking on the role as whistle-blower * Struggles with the decision to abandon the code of D & D * He is indecisive until Charley’s death * Rage and desire seem to drive him rather than any desire to address a moral failing * After inquiry Terry is transformed into a stronger more positive version of himself.
In the rant called “The Smart Gap,” Eric Maisel explains his personal opinion on brain power of individuals. Grit, however, isn’t something that he believes will help people find success. Although some may not agree with what was stated, Maisel brings up many persuaded key points to help get his point across. Throughout Eric Maisel’s rant, many key points are brought up. First, he explains that we will experience emotional pain when we recognize that the work we would love to do might just be unavailable enough to make us doubt that we can proceed.