Moral Courage In The Man In The Water

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“Moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in man”- George Patton. This quote is significant because it is true, not all men will actually do something that could change their future for the significance of others. However, there were many people that showed moral courage in the story “The Man In The Water”. On January 19, 1982, an airplane called Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the 14st street bridge over the Potomac River in Washington D.C. The plane crashed because of cold icy conditions. Many people were killed on the plane and on the bridge, while others were putting their life on the line just to save the remaining survivors. The author of this story used two literary elements, character and …show more content…

Conflict is a serious disagreement, argument, or problem in a story. One conflict in the story was when Arland Williams was Man vs. Nature. The man in the water” fought against the cold weather and water to save somebody else. Every time he could stay upfloat and hand the rescue rope to somebody that was him fighting against nature which takes courage because he was so willing to save the other passengers. Another conflict in the story was an internal conflict. Internal conflict is when you psychologically struggle yourself and your mind. Within himself, Arland had to make a choice to use the rescue rope for himself of hand it off to a complete stranger and each time he decided to hand it to a stranger. Not many would do that and that is something you would have to deal with and decide for yourself. The last example of conflict in the story that shows moral courage in the story is an external conflict. External conflict is a struggle between a character and an outside force such as nature or another character. In this case that’s exactly what this story is about. Arland and other heroes stepping up no matter the circumstances and making an effort to save someone.”The man in the water pitted himself against an implacable, impersonal enemy; he fought it with charity; and he held it to a standoff.”, the author wrote about Arland. This quote is an example of external conflict because it explain