Morality In The 57 Bus, By Dashka Slater

An individual's morals and beliefs are developed with age through all the experiences one will encounter in their lifetime, though they can be pushed aside when the need to conform with the majority is more prominent. Authenticity is integral to living an honest life and making good decisions. However, individuality becomes difficult to maintain with pressure from others. Because of this, the need to maintain balance between authenticity to one's principles and ethics and conforming to the majority's standard is prevalent in the human race. In the novel ‘The 57 Bus’ author Dashka Slater tells the true story of two teenagers who encounter a crime on the bus as the victim, Sasha, and the perpetrator, Richard. The novel brings this concept of

Growing up in Oakland he encountered violence, hate, death, and crime. His section of the novel discusses his experiences and what led him to the turning point of the story, setting Sashas skirt on fire on the bus. Growing up with these negative influences, both his morals and beliefs were affected as well as the natural desire to conform to the majority. Other people have an immense impact on the principles and ethics of the individual, which inevitably affects their outward behavior. With the need to fit in with the majority being so common amongst humans, the need to find balance through embracing individuality is integral to living an honest and fulfilling life. It is important to first touch on the topic of authenticity to oneself, which includes loyalty to the individual's beliefs and morals. The concept of being authentic to one's true self is greatly founded upon making decisions and taking actions based on personal principle rather than the opinions or influence of others. In order to live a truly honest and fulfilling life one must reach a point where the majority of decisions they make are authentic to themselves. It takes time to get to this point, one can live an incredibly honest life even if this point is reached far later than others. In order to work towards

Once the morals and beliefs have been personally established, it often results in an internal battle after an instance of blindly following an influence. Because of the newly established personal thinking, it is more than likely that after following the negative actions of another, the individual will reflect upon it with regret. This is maximized when the actions taken are deeply flawed or affect another person negatively, and it is to be expected that an internal conflict is a great influence on the individual and results in deep internal reflection upon the action and its motives. An example of this is Richard Thomas’s actions after the attack on Sasha demonstrates this. “After he jumped off the bus, Richard strode away with his hands in his pockets, trying to look casual. Then he heard Sashas screams. He stopped, turned around, went back, He stared at the bus, mouth open.” This is an excellent example of the instant regret and internal conflict that precedes the actions taken by the individual that were so heavily influenced by the people around them. The description of Richard turning around and staring at the bus in an attempt to process the impact of his actions demonstrates not