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Justin Gonzalez
Professor Fetterman
English 10: American Literature
16 Sept 2021
The True Meaning of Integrity
Have you ever heard of the quote by Samuel Goldwyn saying, “Having integrity means
being completely true to what is inside you- to what you know is right into what you feel you
must do, regardless of the immediate cost of sacrifice. Without integrity no person is complete
and without it, no book, no play, nothing written, nothing done by man has any real value”? To
me Goldwyn’s somewhat makes sense because it makes sense for that if nothing, no one, or
anything didn't have integrity then like he said there would have not be any “real value” And in a
sense is saying like people with integrity have a sense of value because they do what is right
and are moral people. Rather than having someone that doesn't have integrity, they just go
around with no sense of direction. Integrity is needed to be a moral person.
One example of integrity is the woman Mother Teresa because she put other people
before herself and helped poverty. I agree with Goldwyn’s quote because for one it is like saying
that if no one has integrity in the world then there would be no integrity and it would be crazy.
Also as it says “no person is complete and without it, no book, no play, nothing written, nothing
done by man has any real value” shows that without integrity people would not get real valuable
books, plays or anything written because like Goldwyn said it would have no “real value”. I
believe that the full meaning of integrity is that you have strong moral principles and discipline.
Therefore, I believe that integrity is needed to have a complete meaning in whatever is done.
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Having integrity may be rare in some cases and all depend on where you are living,
which will then affect the true meaning of integrity. For example in the book, To Kill a
Mockingbird they are in the time period of The Great Depression and the equality at that time
was terrible. So when a black man that has such a great amount of integrity but then is at the
wrong place at the wrong time during The Great Depression and just like in the book, the man
had great amount of integrity, but because of his race it went against him. On the other hand, if it
was a white man that was in the same situation he would have not had such a deep offecise for
the charge. This supports the thesis because it is saying that without integrity, nothing truly
means anything because there is no purpose.
In conclusion having integrity makes things completely true for knowing that no matter
what the sacrifice is, you still stand tall because it has more meaning then not showing any.
Showing integrity makes u be true to yourself no matter what difficulty they may face. Which
makes poems, books, plays have meaning because of the greatness behind it. When you think
about having integrity, you will always know that the person is full of moral character. Such as
Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr. Rosa Parks, etc.. They knew that when they stand against
and fight for what they believe is wrong makes true meaning because if they never had the
integrity to do the things they have done, then truly there would be no meaning in man showing
real value for what is right.