A Worn Path 'And The Truth About Being A Hero'

The Effects of Impulse and Recklessness Decisions and actions are the pathways that lead to a change in the way of someone's life. The authors of "The Most Dangerous Game," "A Worn Path," and "The Truth About Being a Hero," Richard Connell, Eudora Welty, and Karl Marlantes, demonstrate how certain decisions and actions change one's life through their works. In addition, the following question is answered throughout each of their works: what is at the end of each pathway that those decisions and actions lead to? Considering their passages, specific pathways often lead someone towards a certain state of mind or situation in life - especially due to impluse and recklessness. Giving in to impulse and recklessness causes a change in character, …show more content…
In "The Worn Path," by Eudora Welty, the author describes, "Her fingers slid down and along the ground under the piece of money...the nickel was in her apron pocket. A bird flew by. Her lips moved, 'God watching the whole time. I come to stealing.'" By saying that God was watching her, Pheonix, the main character, made it palpable that she was starting to feel guilty for the money that she had stolen from the man, despite the fact that he had held a gun to her face. Her reckless act, stealing from a white man, caused her to elude that a bird flying over her meant that god was watching her simply because of her conscience. "The Truth About Being a Hero," an excerpt from Karl Marlantes's book, shows that Karl had earned many medals for acts of his that had been noticed. He very well knew that many other marines were very brave and that their gallantry sometimes was not noticed. Regardless of this, he impulsively held onto his pride and wore those medals on his chest; he used this to "exercise the power of being automatically respected." However, he eventually felt the guilt that came along with his foolhardiness. He had felt like he didn't deserve those medals on his chest, and he no longer enjoyed the feeling that came along with them. Overall, this shows beyond doubt how guilt can be formed as a result of recklessness and …show more content…
In the excerpt from "The Truth About Being a Hero," Niemi, a young marine, chucked two grenades inside of a bunker while the NVA were positioned to fire at him, and as they went off, he had fallen to the ground seemingly dead. Niemi impulsively put his life in danger in order to protect not only his fellow marines, but to protect the country. His impulse was to do anything to get rid of the NVA, which led to him saving many other lives. In the same passage, the author described an experience where a man with a bad reputation recklessly acted in order to protect his fellow marines: "He grabbed the rifle, stood up to his full height, fully exposing himself to all the fire, and simply blasted an entire magazine at the two soldiers in front of us, killing both of them." This man displayed that he didn't think about his own life; he didn't think about the recklessness of his actions. The only thing he must have been thinking about was the lives that he had to save. Throughout acts of recklessness and impulse, there are many negative effects, but the most rewarding one is that they can save someone's innocent life. A change in character, guilt, and the saving of a life are all possible results of the factors of impulsiveness and recklessness in someone's life. The pathways of the actions and decisions that one makes lead to each of those effects. Those pathways don't lead to a dead-end; they fork off