Moral Lesson

Use this forum to discuss the October Book of the Month "McDowell" by William H. Coles.
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Re: Moral Lesson

Post by Sweetp120 »

ViziVoir wrote: 20 Oct 2018, 13:26 It seems like the book isn't trying to teach a lesson so much as it is trying to cause the reader to really think critically about their own morality. In my opinion, that's a more valuable goal for the book to have.
I think depending on the book I agree with this statement when it comes to the question of morality.
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Post by Surabhi Rani »

I feel disillusioned about a life of accomplishments after reading about the surgeon McDowell.
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Post by abbiejoice »

One lesson we can learn here is to not judge people no matter how bad their behavior seems to be. There is always room for change and for redemption.
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Post by Theresa Moffitt »

lesler wrote: 14 Oct 2018, 10:05 I feel like the author touched hard on ethics, specifically euthanasia. What Hiram did was kind, but not necessarily right.
I agree with your response - ethics was always an underlying theme and when what he did was unethical it was touched upon even when it wasn’t directly pointed out by the author
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Post by Ekta Kumari »

For me, the moral I took from it is the work we need to do to maintain our personal bonds and appreciate what we have while we have it. Making an effort to bring a change in other's lives is the greatest joy a person can get irrespective of the materialistic reality of our society, which is weakening our personal bonds and making us go after money all our lives until it's time to regret.
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Post by Shalu1707 »

It made me considering things from others point of views also before enforcing my own point. It makes you value things the way they are as someone else out there is struglling to hold life together every single day.
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Post by GCamer »

Readers can get a lot of moral lesson from this story. It just depends on how you interpret it. For me, the moral of the story is that all are actions have their corresponding consequences and so we should always think about that before we do or even say something.
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Post by Theresa Moffitt »

I definitely thought there were moral lessons in the book. I think Hiram didn’t have a lot of morals in the beginning of the book. But in the second half of the book he changes and is more reflective. I think then he has more morals and values and appreciates people more
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Post by Moray_001 »

I learned that people evolve with time. Our actions are always perceived differently by others and no one is good or bad. If we take time to understand why people do what they do, things would make more sense.
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Post by Highly Favoured One »

Whereas there may be moral lessons to be gleaned from the book, this is not the ideal way of passing across moral lessons. Neither do I think that it was the author's motive to pass along any moral lessons. There are too many controversies, and a naive mind genuinely seeking for morals may get lost or misled in the midst of them.
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Post by Jessacardinal »

The book has made me appreciate my own father. I am thankful he is nothing like Hiram.
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Post by Tzara Drusak »

Charlyt wrote: 14 Oct 2018, 01:28 For me, the moral lesson of the book is that every action you do, and/or everything you say has a consequence, whether you are aware of it or not. And this consequence may be directed to you, to the people around you, or both.

This is the exact lesson I got from the book. McDowell caused a basic reverberation of all the times I've heard this from my mother, or the not-so-fond memories of the times in school our class was collectively punished for the actions of an individual, despite the fact we were almost always never responsible.
And in the end, we were all just humans... Drunk on the idea that love, only love, could heal our brokenness.

-F. Scott Fitzgerald-
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Post by Hiruni Bhagya 81 »

You have to think before you do something. Just because it's advantageous for you, you shouldn't engage in all sorts illegal and unethical deeds. You shouldn't aid in bad things because they always backfire on you. Like that there are many things you can learn from various characters.
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Post by ayomie »

The moral lesson here is that no one is perfect but we will reap what we sow.
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since then that I don’t always have
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game of life."
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Post by Kansas City Teacher »

For me, the lesson has to do with karma. One day, just as he did, people will have to face the consequences of their actions (or lack of actions).
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