Doing The Right Thing Analysis

A positive role model can be a great help to influence someone to do good and help others. In all three of the texts, Doing the Right Thing, Thank You Ma’am, and “The Road Not Taken”, the characters have someone to look up to. These role models drastically help give the characters the courage to have integrity. The football players in the commentary Doing the Right Thing all had role models in their families to aspire to. These people gave them the courage to always do the right thing. The text explains who the players look up to, “These four men had that someone when it mattered most… For James, it was his father, ‘He sacrificed a lot for me,’ James wrote. ‘I want to make him proud of me’” (Reilly 24). The parents and families of the players …show more content…
The characters in the texts needed to be confident that what they were doing was right, and that it would help themselves and others. Having confidence in themselves is an essential factor in what gave the characters in Doing the Right Thing, Thank You Ma’am, and “The Road Not Taken” the courage to do the right thing. The four football players in the commentary Doing the Right Thing by Rick Reilly could have easily stolen from the store Buddy;s Small Lot when they unknowingly walked into the closed store. Instead of taking a selfish route, the four boys showed integrity and paid for their items. The players had the courage that others didn’t have. To do this the players needed to be confident that they were doing the right thing. The commentary shows the confidence that the players had to have, “But as the video played, they saw the oddest thing: integrity… Nobody was watching them and they still did the right thing” (Reilly 5 & 14).If the players were not confident enough, they wouldn’t have had the courage to have integrity. Similar to this, Mrs. Jones in Thank You Ma’am by Langston Hughes, had to be confident that she was doing the right thing when she helped Roger. When Roger attempted to steal from her she didn't call the police on him. Mrs. Jones had the courage to help Roger and teach him to do the right thing, rather than punishing him. She also had the courage to …show more content…
They all had a special person or people that they would hate to disappoint. Wanting someone to be proud of them and not wanting to disappoint anyone gave these characters the courage to do the right thing. All four of the football players in the commentary Doing the Right Thing had a family member they didn’t want to disappoint. When the players were given the choice to steal or have integrity, the boys considered what their families would think of them.The players could either do the right thing and make their loved ones proud of their honorable actions, or they could disappoint their families by not having the courage to be honest.The text mentions how the families of the players gave them courage, “If there’s one thing I’ve learned about parenting it’s that the best gift you can give your kid is someone they'd hate to disappoint” (Reilly 23). The parents of the football players did exactly that. A large amount of courage that the players had was from wanting their families to be proud of them. Knowing they did not want to disappoint their families helped give the football players the courage to not steal, and to do the right thing. Roger grows to become very close with Mrs. Jones in the short story Thank You Ma’am. He looks up to Mrs. Jones and as a result, doesn’t want to disappoint her. Mrs. Jones takes care of Roger. She makes him wash his face and eat so that he is healthy, and Mrs. Jones even