Roger Rosenblatt's The Man In The Water

What will you do if someone needs your help but helping them would risk your life? Well, in “The Man in the Water” a man sacrificed his life to save to five passengers who was in the same plane with him. He did something that not everyone can do. He continues to send the lifeline to the other passengers when he can just get on but he did something different. In the short story, “The Man in the Water”, Roger Rosenblatt shows the man’s moral courage by using irony and the man’s internal conflict that he was facing. First, the author used irony to describe moral courage. According to the author, “ Every time they lowered a lifeline and flotation ring to him, he passed it on to another of the passengers.[...] When the helicopter came back for him, the man had gone under.”(275 Rosenblatt). Everyone was expecting the man to be saved but he did not. He thinks about the passengers first before him but even though he did something right, he did not get any reward and ended up dying. The fact that he did not know that he was going to die and takes his time to save the others was ironic. …show more content…
According to Rosenblatt, “ For at some moment in the water he must have realized that he would not live if he continued to hand over the rope and ring to others.”(276). He endured the cold and passed the lifeline to others. At the same time he must be thinking about if he is doing this right or not. Whether should he get out of the cold water and survived or helping the others. In conclusion, the short story “ The Man in The Water” shows moral courage by using irony and the man’s internal conflict. People was expecting that he is going to survive and reward him for his bravery but who knows that he was going die maybe he knows. He gives his all to save the passengers, he did something that not anyone can