Sebastian Butler Essays (1105 words) - Film, Literature,

Sebastian Butler Mrs. Strickland Honors 9 June 12, 2016 Is Revenge Justifiable? Revenge is to avenge oneself by inflicting pain or harm on someone. (Merriam-Webster) Many people choose revenge because they like that feeling of having that last hit in. Those who believe that revenge is justifiable don't get anything from plotting revenge. Those who believe that revenge is not justifiable are the ones who have better lives. Revenge is not justifiable because it creates more problems and does not end positively as shown often in The Homecoming of Samuel Lake, by Jenny Wingfield and To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. In The Homecoming of Samuel Lake there are many plots of revenge on different characters. These don't end well and they affect the way the story goes. Ras Ballenger is upset that the Lake family has kept his son, Blade from him but they only keep Blade because of Ras' abusive behavior towards Blade. Ras' wants his revenge on the Lake family, so what he does is kidnaps Samuel's daughter, Swan. He then takes her in this underground safe place and rapes her. He leaves her there but when Samuel realizes that she is gone things get bad. He right away heads to Ras' house to question him. When Samuel asks where his daughter is, Ras lies straight to Samuels face. Luckily Swan had a cowbell, which she shook as hard as she could for Samuel to hear. When he heard it he tackled Ras and twisted his neck, which killed him. This was Samuel's revenge on Ras for what he did to Swan. All this did was make matters worse because he killed a man and would have to inform the law about the situation. An other plot of revenge, which was by Toy, was when he killed Yam. Yam slept with Toy's wife, Bernice, which angered him. It again just made matters worse because he killed a man and had to serve time in jail for it. His revenge was not justifiable because it did not help anyone but instead it hurt himself and ended with the death of Yam. These are two scenes from The Homecoming of Samuel Lake that proves that revenge is not justifiable. In To Kill a Mockingbird, there are plenty of acts of revenge that take place throughout the story. Bob Ewell takes his revenge on Atticus by beating up his kids, Jem and Scout. He does this because of how Atticus was embracing him in the courtroom. Atticus doesn't go back at him seeking revenge but instead he steps up and becomes the bigger person to not go and get revenge back at Bob. This is what everyone should do instead of going back to get revenge because it just makes matters worse. Another plot of revenge in To Kill a Mockingbird is when Jem went to cut Mrs. Dubose's flowers. Jem does this because Mrs. Dubose called Atticus a "nigger lover," which angered him. Jem's revenge actually made matters worse for him. It backfired on him because he ended up having to read to Mrs. Dubose for a month as punishment. It was torture for him but that's why revenge is not justifiable because it just makes things worse for those who seek revenge. These examples show how revenge should ne ver be justifiable. Some people believe that revenge is justifiable. They thought that when Samuel killed Ras that it was justifiable. They thought this because Ras was evil, dirty, and an abusive man who raped Samuel's daughter who was the reason Samuel killed Ras. Some people think that because it involved Swan that it was justifiable for Samuel to get his revenge. But it really wasn't justifiable because it made matters worse because he had to tell the local law enforcement and when it came down to it Toy took the fall. They didn't believe that Samuel killed Ras because he was a pastor. They thought Toy did because he killed Yam so even though Samuel told them that it was him, but they arrested Toy. This just shows why revenge is not justifiable it changed everything for the kids and Samuel because Toy is gone and what for Blade. Some people also thought that