Final Argumentative Essay Should the narrator of “The Seventh Man” forgive himself for his failure to save K.? The narrator should definitely forgive himself. It was K.’s life not his, meaning K should have been watching his own back. He should have known that there would be more storm coming because they were only in the eye of the storm. K. might have been his best friend but he shouldn’t be or feel guilty for not saving his life. When K and The Seventh Man went down to the beach, they should have known what they were getting themselves into. Down on the beach it was windy and it was hard to hear over the waves, so when The Seventh Man tried to call out to K, he didn’t hear him. “I was sure I had yelled loud enough, but my voice did not seem to have reached him.”(Murakami, 137) Also adding to this, K should have been watching …show more content…
He would have stayed at home. But it was his choice to leave the house, so it’s his own fault for his life being taken. “K. saw me walking down the road and came outside…” “Without a word, he came along with me.” (Murakami, 136). Earlier before it tells of K asking where his friend was going, showing that K knew what he was getting himself into. Some may argue that The Seventh Man should not forgive himself and should feel guilty. The Seventh Man saw the wave coming and tried to call out to K. However, when K didn’t respond, The Seventh Man saved himself and ran for cover, leaving K behind to fend for himself. “I told myself to run over to K., grab hold of him, and get out of there. It was the only thing to do. I knew the wave was coming, and K. didn’t know. As clearly as I knew what i ought to be doing, I found myself running the other way… running full speed towards the dyke, alone.” (Murakami, 138). Yes, The Seventh Man knew that he was abandoning K, but K should have been focused on himself instead of the object in front of
The narrator for the seventh man should forgive himself for not being able to save K because he did everything he could do to try to save him but he would not listen. In the story the seventh man a huge typhoon strikes the beach with a big boom while the narrator and his friend K were investigating the previous damage from the past wind and rain. The narrator heard the big booms and tried to warn his friend K but he just couldn't K was too interested in whatever he was looking at that he did not hear the yelling or the loud booms.
In the Kite Runner, Rahim Khan emphasizes the importance of God forgiving people and how people should forgive each other too.
the narrator it was not at all his fault that K had died. He should have been able to forgive himself. A great story to source is “The Moral Logic of Survivor's Guilt.”The story explains what survivor guilt is. “The classic scenario is not so much one of good luck (as in survivors guilt), but of bad luck, typically having to do with accidents where again, there is little or no culpability for the harms caused”(Sherman 154). In the narrator of “The seventh man” case K had tragically died in a typhoon. He felt that it was his fault that K had been swallowed when in reality, if he had tried to save K he would have died himself. There was no way he could have saved K. The narrator should be able to forgive himself for not running after K. It was an accident, peer bad timing though he feels as if it was his fault. Even though the narrator of the story had watched K die, he should have been able to forgive himself because of the simple fact that it was not his
Time moves so quickly for people in these cases so they have to think fast, but also what’s the right decision. They don’t have the time to process the information with the scene that is happening at the moment and often people don’t realize if it is the right decision or not until it is too late. In situations like these, everyone feels stress to the point where they have no other option until it is too late when they make their final choice like what happened in “The Seventh Man” about their situation with the wave. “My feet, though, which knew what was about to happen, turned away from my willin exactly the opposite direction. I ran away to the breakwater alone. I guess it was the overwhelming fear that made me do it. It robbed me of my voice, but it got my feet moving well enough. I fled stumbling across the soft sand beach and, arriving there, turned to shout at K” (Murakami 5). This shows how the situation the seventh man was in was happening so quickly that his brain couldn’t process what to do at the moment until when it was too late that he realized he could’ve made a different choice.
“In war, standing here rather than there can save your life but cost a buddy his. It’s flukish luck, but you feel responsible.” (Sherman 153). In “The Moral Logic of Survivor Guilt,” Nancy Sherman uses this quote to explain the basis of survivor guilt in war. In “The Seventh Man” by Haruki Murakami, the narrator failed to save his closest friend from a wave. As Sherman said in her quote, people often feel guilty when they survive a situation that others didn’t. The narrator’s situation in “The Seventh Man” is a perfect example of this. Despite his failure to save K., the narrator should still forgive himself.
“Don’t waste the life I’d sacrificed my own for on feeling bad about yourself. We might as well have both lost our lives at this rate. Go see the things I never got to see. Do the things I never got to do. Life is spent in hesitation and fear is no life at all.” is something along the lines of how I think K would have felt about the situation, given the personality described. In “The Seventh Man”, a short story by Haruki Murakami, the seventh man tells a story about a natural disaster he survived: in which his best friend did not. He summarizes this event and reminisces on how he could have saved K; that is followed by a third person point of view describing the effects this survivor’s guilt has had on the seventh man. Despite his failure to save his best friend, should he forgive himself? The answer is a clear, and obvious yes because by never forgiving himself, not only is he hurting himself and allowing K to die in vain, but he also spreads pain to those who love him like friends, family, and acquaintances. I’m sure by that present point in time; K, his parents, K’s parents, and everyone but himself had succumbed to forgiveness. The only one left to move on is the seventh man himself.
There are many situations in which people feel like they’re at fault for the death of a loved one, or a good friend. Many of these cases, to this day, involve soldiers who have seen the terrors and tragedies of war, and have watched their companions get killed in the line of fire, while they survived. In the story, “The Moral Logic of Survivor Guilt,” the author, Nancy Sherman, talks about what survivor guilt is, and why some people suffer from it. “The guilt begins an endless loop of counterfactuals- thoughts that you could have or should have done otherwise, though in fact, you did nothing wrong.” (Sherman, 153) Sherman’s statement relates back to “The Seventh Man,” and how the narrator feels guilty for not saving K. even though there was nothing that could’ve been done to help. The Seventh Man has thoughts about what he could have done, and different things he could have said to save K. but in the end, he feels guilty for nothing.
A handful of people will agree that the Seventh Man left K. intentionally and let him die. For example, (evidence). Thus, what killed K. was the “wave like a huge snake with its held wanted him to die” (138). Furthermore, it was impossible for the narrator to save K. because he was “ten yards” away from him. Therefore, if he tried to run up to him and save him both of them could’ve died. In addition, although, the narrator failed on saving K., he was traumatized and had a difficulty moving on with his life. For example, “I was burning with fever, and my mind was clouded… been asleep for three days… vomited several times, and had bouts of delirium… in my dreams, K. would hop out of his capsule in the wave and grab my waist to drag me inside him...I never married… never went to swim in a pool… wouldn’t go near deep rivers or lakes…” (139-141). Others might conclude that the seventh man deserves everything he’s been through. However, this proves that the Seventh Man was miserable and couldn’t live life to the fullest because of the
If someone were to partake in the murdering of your own kind, would you be able to forgive them? That is the question that Simon Wiesenthal must ask himself in the story The Sunflower , a book about pain and forgiveness. The Sunflower follows Simon as he listens to Karl, a former SS officer, confess and ultimately beg for forgiveness for the war crimes he committed. It pits Simon against a very difficult situation and even makes the reader consider what they would do. So, from reading The Sunflower and all of the supplemental essays, I can come to the conclusion that I do believe that the Soldier should be forgiven because he was brainwashed by propaganda and felt strong regret for his actions.
“Forgiveness does not change the past, but enlarges the future” -Paul Blose. When you don’t forgive others it is like a burden on yourself. When you hold a grudge it does more harm to yourself than the other person. People make mistakes. If you never forgave them you couldn’t be happy; you will always be angry at that person and you would be miserable. Forgiveness allows someone to clear their conscience and move on with their life. Forgiveness is a theme of The Red Kayak because Brady needs to forgive Digger and J.T. for going behind his back and drilling a hole in the kayak.
Seven Devils was a small area seventy-five miles north of Boise. More of a village than a town—the posted sign advertised less than a thousand souls—it rested snugly against mountains of the same name.
The seventh man should be forgiven of his failure of saving K. because that is what K. would have wanted for him. When that incident occurred in the seventh man's life, his life was never the same again. He lived with guilt for the rest of his years. When he was older, he returned to the scene of the incident. He improved some, although he still was not the same.
During his childhood years the seventh man was very close with his best friend, K. The relationship they shared was like a brotherly bond, the seventh man even claiming it to be stronger than his and his blood brothers. My real brotherly affection went to my friend K (Murakami, 134). It seemed as if the two boys spent every fleeting moment of their childhood together, until the accident of course. The seventh man held K in such a high regard that it makes complete sense how he would feel such remorse over the loss.
Have you ever felt guilty by something you have done wrong? How did you try to fix that mistake. Some people would want to do everything in their power to try to be forgiven or feel a bit of relief from the mistake they have made. What do you do if you cannot be forgiven or get over the mistake you have done. In the movie Seven Pounds, Tim Thomas made a mistake that end up costing the lives of seven people, including his wife. Over the years, he finally finds a solution he feels what will give him a peace of mind.
The narrator of “The Seventh Man” should forgive himself for his failure to save K. because anyone in that type of situation would be terrified of being swallowed in by the wave. He knew what was right in his head but he couldn’t bring himself to put himself in front of the face of danger. A few reasons as to why I believe he should forgive himself are as follows; Although it wasn’t K.’s fault that he was hit by the wave, He should have been more aware of his surroundings because he did know that there has recently been a storm. He also shouldn’t blame himself because even though he knew he should’ve saved K. he was scared and couldn’t control his own actions, He ran away from the wave instead of towards it to save K. Any rational person would’ve