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"There's one more thing- a thing that nobody don't know but me. And that is, there's a n[_____] here that I'm a-trying to steal out of slavery [. . .] .I know what you'll say. You'll say it's a dirty, low-down business; but what if it is? I'm low down; and I'm a-going to steal him'"
-Twain, 218
"I ask him, 'Why'd you guys do this robbery? Why'd you need money so bad?'
Alan looks at me a second before he answers. 'Our mom has cancer. We don't have any medical insurance because mom had to quit her job. She's really sick from the chemotherapy and radiation treatments, and her medicine costs a fortune. We're down to nothing. We had to get some money, so I came up with this idiotic idea'"
-Trueman, 71
"With great power also comes great responsibility."
-Spiderman, David Koepp
In 2004, in light of world events, the fact that modern societies greatly prize freedom of choice is starkly evident. But, as Peter Parker's (Spiderman) dying uncle Ben told him, "with great power also comes great responsibility," a fact any thirteen-year-old can tell you created Peter's alter-ego, a superpowered adolescent whose life's work was to fight for good. In the world outside of comic books, too, freedom to choose one's actions truly does come with "great responsibility." The good of society rests on the individual's ability to make choices that benefit not only him/herself, but also society as a whole.
Morally correct decisions prevent individuals or groups from violating the rights of others, sometimes others who can not stand up for their own rights. It would be nice if our society rewarded morally correct decisions, especially among adolescents whose moral values are being formed and tested, but often the moral position is difficult to identify, let alone follow through on. It's just not that simple.
From Mark Twain's 1885 classic The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, to Terry Trueman's 2003 novel Inside Out, young adult novels reveal the truth about the complexities that people face when they are confronted with moral dilemmas. While certain decisions may seem to have a clearly moral, or clearly immoral bent, these novels demonstrate that society cannot always be counted on to properly define morality. Huck Finn...