Bread By Margaret Atwood Essay

The human mind experiences many ultimatums regarding ethical standards throughout life. The numerous available approaches as demonstrated in the article “A Framework for Thinking Ethically” and put to the test in the short story “Bread” demonstrate that the issue at hand must be recognized before facing these treacherous decisions. When evaluating an ethical issue, the individual must find the correct approach by carefully observing the many possible outcomes. In Margaret Atwood’s short story “Bread”, the reader is informed of two sisters who are starving and weak in a crisis of famine. One younger and extremely frail; barely holding on to life, the other is much stronger yet remains just as hungry. Given the fact that she is both the first-born and much more capable, the responsibility of the decisions lies upon herself. She begins with a very Utilitarian Approach to the situation- she believes that should she eat the bread herself it will give her enough strength to carry on until the next time food appears. Her sister is too …show more content…
This small token would never be able to bring her back for long, due to her extreme weakness” how long will this take to decide?” (Atwood, 1993, p.391). Subsequently, the older sister's health would start to deteriorate drastically due to her lack of nutrition. This outcome helps neither of the sisters. The only good it would do is that it could possibly lead the eldest to a place of better conscience. Given these three choices the young woman must find one to act upon. The two much kinder and giving options seem to be safer for her mindset. Although the Utilitarian Approach does, in the long run, seem like the best option. It would be the one to do the most good, although perhaps not the one that would necessarily make the sister feel like she was acting in accordance to her