How To Do The Right Thing Theme Essay

“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” (Charles R. Swindoll) We all have times in our life when we have to react to a problem or situation and hopefully make the right choice. An often theme in writing is being a good person. This theme can be seen in the texts “Doing the Right Thing”, Thank You Ma’am, and The Road Not Taken. After reading “Doing the Right Thing”, Thank You Ma’am, and The Road Not Taken it is evident that family, a mentor, and confidence gives people courage to do the right thing.

As shown before, coming up with enough courage to do or say the right thing is a difficult task. However the football players in, “Doing the Right Thing ” A commentary written by Rick Reilly, it was no problem stand up and do the right thing. The four …show more content…
However, for Mrs. Jones and Roger it was no problem. The short story called Thank You Ma’am written by Langston Hughes is about a boy named Roger who tried to steal from a woman named Mrs. Jones. Instead of running away, Mrs.Jones builds up enough courage to take Roger home and teach him a lesson. The thing that gave Mrs.Jones the courage to do the right thing was her past experiences. The text states,“I have done things, too, which I would not tell you, son-neither tell god, if he didn’t already know.” (Hughes 35) This shows that Mrs.Jones made some mistakes in her life and she wants to be a good role model and help Roger. What gave Roger the courage to do the right thing was his conscience, telling him to not steal and run away from Mrs.Jones. The text states,“He could make a dash for it down the hall. He could run, run, run, run, run!”(Hughes 32) He could have run, however he did not. That was his conscience telling him to not run. Now the reason why and how Roger and Mrs.Jones had the courage to do the right thing is