Moral Courage In Roger Rosenblatt's The Man In The Water

Words: 914
Pages: 4

Is it hard for people to show moral courage? Well, maybe for others, not for the man in “The Man in the Water”. He died saving the lives of others that he doesn’t even know. What happened was on January 13th, 1982, Air Florida Flight 90, on a cold Sunday, took off from Washington National Airport. It was covered in snow flurries and went down moments later hitting the Fourteenth street Bridge, crushing 5 cars and tipping over a truck. Of the 79 people on board, only 5 survived, and they were saved by the man. In the short story “The Man in the Water”, Roger Rosenblatt showed moral courage through the setting and conflict. The setting of a story can display the moral courage of the characters because it can change how the characters feel about …show more content…
In a situation like this, most bystanders would call for help. But the man didn’t, instead, he jumped in to save the survivors who survived the crash. In a river during winter is very cold. It requires a lot of courage and strong mentality to do this. This shows that the setting of a story carries out moral courage. Another example why setting shows moral courage in “The Parable of the Good Samaritan” is that the setting is in the mid-way of Jerusalem and Jericho. While no one cares about the the man lying on the streets that got robbed and stripped all of his stuff. Two others passed, but didn’t care about him. But the good Samaritan saved him. “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment and wounded him and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way, and …show more content…
The conflict can make a character show moral courage because it creates a challenge for the character’s mind to pick what to do. In this case, the conflict in “The Man in the Water” is man vs nature. “Here, after all, were two forms of nature in collision: the elements and human charcter.(Page 274)” This quote literally says that the elements and human character is have a conflict. The man had to fight the icy water and the cold air to save the passengers. Another example why conflict can show moral courage is that the boy in the “A State Championship Versus Runner’s Conscience” lost his race to help an injured racer. He had a lot going on in his head when he saw the racer. “Rounding a corner of a remote leg of the winding course, my eyes zero in on a runner in red shorts. He’s sitting down, crying in pain, clutching his foot. I sidestep him and glance at my watch. I’m making good time. I take comfort in knowing there’s one fewer runner ahead of me. But suddenly I freeze. Cold. I’m breathing heavily. My mind tells my legs to keep moving. But I don’t. I swivel around, spotting the downed runner. He’s now lying on his back—in the mud. I’m about 20 feet from him. I think for a moment. Do I help? Will someone else in the pack stop to help? Can I come back or send someone when I cross the finish line? I’m losing precious minutes. The agony on his face disturbs me. He’s in trouble. Our eyes connect, and at this