Philosophical Moderation

Will Rice

English 101 (597)

March 11, 2003

The Meditations were written around 167 A.C.E and contain the memoirs and musings of Marcus Aurelius. Historians view him as one of the most favored and benign of the Roman Emperors.  His memoirs are a Stoic manual on how to live one’s life and place emphasis on accepting one’s lot.  In Mercy Among the Children, David Richards Adams’ character Sydney embraces this philosophy as his bible, “carrying it around in his back pocket for days” (183) and lives his life according to its rules.  Sydney’s son Lyle rejects this code based on how poorly it seems to serve his father and the rest of his family.  It is tempting but inappropriate to judge Lyle against the seeming purity of his father’s ethics; Lyle would have been a better man if he were more like his father, but the best alternative for Lyle would have been to follow some middle path, avoiding both the pain and humiliation his father’s pacifism brought and the violence and regret he experienced on the path he actually chose.  

Lyle portrays his Father as a very noble and strong character whose most outstanding characteristic is the nobility of his spirit. However, just like the Nobility of society, this nobility subsisted on the blood, sweat and tears of others and wouldn’t have lasted without the help of people such as Jay Beard and Ely.   Sydney simply would stoop to defending himself during his trial for a crime he is innocent of, as “…he sat in court by himself for the first three days.  It was [his wife] who went… [to get a lawyer] by taxicab…”(128).   He refuses to realize that “no man is an island” and that his actions; or in this case non-actions, only bring harm to the people it is his familial duty to protect.  Sydney’s pacifism eventually forces a concerned neighbor, Jay Beard to defend the family from a mob that has gathered outside of the Henderson’s home.  In fact, Lyle realizes early on that it would be better to look to Jay Beard as an example than to his own father saying to his sister Autumn: “I would someday like to become like Jay Beard-I have to!”(185).

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Sydney uses his books to justify his pacifism and inaction.  The problem with living out the morals in books about ethics is that you also need other tools to survive in the society that we are born into.  He “… read Aristotle and spoke of civility and equality-but Aristotle was the teacher of Alexander the Great”(170) and emperor Marcus Aurelius spent most of his reign successfully fighting defensive wars against Germanic invaders. These philosophers agree it is not ethical or honorable to render yourself helpless, forcing others to help you out of basic human sympathy.  Instead of being in ...

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