Bad Behaviors Unit 1 Essay
Dimitri Katsoulakis
ELA
1
Mrs.McNeil
6 October,2021
Emotion For Motivation of Bad Choices
Making mistakes and learning from them is a valuable part of life that
all people experience at one time or another. When people have a
choice, what motivates them to do questionable things?
In the story,”Ruthless” by William De Mille, Mr. Juson is about to
leave his house for a while,before he leaves he wants to check his
special closet which has a vile of poison whisk,in which someone will
die if the drink if they tried to steal Mr.Judson’s property.But results
in Judson drinking the whisky himself by accident.
In“Lamb to the Slaughter”, by Ronald Dahl, Mary Malonie is brokenhearted when she finds out that her husband Patrick wants to leave
her for another woman.In shock she forcibly hits her husband with a
meat leg,and kills him.
Both stories show that people can be motivated by
Protection,Jealousy to do bad things.
Protection can easily motivate a person to make bad choices. In
“Ruthless” Judson is motivated by Protection when he knows
someone will try to steal from him,so he purposely poisons the
whisky knowing the robber will drink it.For example in paragraph 25
he says”
Don't worry about your poor little abused burglar, no ones gonna get
hurt who doesn't have it coming. This shows the reader that Judson
this wooker drinks the whisky deserves it and doesn't feel any regret
about doing it.
Jealousy can easily motivate a person to make bad choices. In Lamb to
the Slaughter,Mary Malonie is motivated by jealousy when she finds out
that her husband wants to leave her for another woman, For example in
paragraph 46 it says'' All right, so i've killed him.” making herself
understand what she did, why she did, and understanding what she did
and making herself ok with it.
This shows the reader that real jealousy from Mary Malonie has taken over
and resulted in the death of her husband.
Both stories have characters that are motivated by Protection and
Jealousy that causes them to make bad decisions both leading to the
death of a loved one.
In Conclusion, making mistakes and learning from them is a valuable part
of life. The motivation behind poor choices is equally valuable. Protection
and jealousy motivate the characters of Ruthless and Lamb to the
Slaughter to do bad things. These characters prove that it isn't always easy
to do the right thing, but in the end it is better to make the good and fair
choice instead of the bad one.
Katsoulakis Page 4
Works Cited
Dahl, Roald. “Lamb to the Slaughter.” 1953. CommonLit,
commonlit.org/texts/lamb-to-the-slaughter. Accessed September 3, 2021.
Demille, William. “Ruthless.” 1945. CommonLit, commonlit.org/textx/ruthless. Accessed
September 3,2021.