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  • Essay / Review of Morality in The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain

    The world changes daily, with many different aspects, including people, cultures, and different opinions and values. As the years go by, we can see the significant changes that are happening, but sometimes we forget to take note of the things that stay the same and the aspects that are consistent. One such aspect that is visible in today's world and will always remain is morality. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayMorality is one thing that will always remain no matter how many years pass because the morality of a person is good or bad. it is something that is instilled in someone. Morality is a personal choice, but sometimes a person's morality can be influenced by the social influence of their peers and decisions can then be made based on another person's views or feelings. Social influence can manifest itself when: “They hanged the lady and I threw a stone at her, although in my heart I felt sorry for her; but everyone was throwing stones and everyone was watching their neighbor, and if I hadn't done like the others, it would have been noticed and talked about. (Douvain). Twain was referring to the incident, in which a woman was hanged for being accused of being a witch and stoned to death at the stake, and he implied that people did not necessarily always feel the need to follow the crowd and to do what everyone else was doing. but there are social pressures put on people and if we don't follow what the majority is doing we can be seen in a different light and seen as a minority and even in some circumstances something can happen to us for not having followed. This social influence is still visible today. Although the consequences may not be as serious today, some cases can still occur. You can see examples of the social influence that peers have on morality in areas like politics. Although there will always be differences of opinion on issues like this, there will be people who try to change the perception of certain events and attempt to get them to agree with the majority or even in in some cases, the minority group. For example, in this time of political events, there has recently been a conversation about the separation of immigrant families. Whether a person's morals told them it was right or wrong, people were still influenced. A majority of people thought it was wrong, making those who believed it were just the minority, meaning those who thought it was wrong may have been trying to persuade people in the minority and vice versa. In situations like this, people will try to change morality by changing their perspective on a situation. Another aspect of morality that can be discussed is a person's ability to view themselves as superior and place others below them. Often, as a group, we tend to place people below us if they don't meet a certain standard or meet certain expectations. Twain remarks when Satan takes Theodor to the French village: “The owners are rich and very holy; but the wages they pay to their poor brothers and sisters are just enough to keep them from starving. By making this remark he is implying that as people there is a tendency to treat people almost as if they are nothing and only try to provide them with the bare minimum for.