Paper 2

Jake Mango

Professor Mignano Brady

English 102

21 April 2016

Oscar Wilde once said, “Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.” This means there is a distinct difference between someone putting himself or herself first compared to them being selfish. Everyone wants to improve their well-being so making choices to benefit oneself is not selfish. However, once someone starts interfering with other people’s lives in order benefit themselves, then they are being nothing but selfish. The theme of selfishness is displayed throughout the short stories “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway and “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, as well as the movie Project Almanac which was directed by Dean Israelite. In all three of these examples, the main characters wish to benefit themselves but interfere with others lives while attempting to do so which makes their actions selfish.

In “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, a man selfishly tries to convince a woman to have an abortion. The man wanting her to have this abortion is not selfish. It’s the fact that she didn’t want to have it so him having to pressure her to try getting what he wanted made this selfish. While arguing, the woman asks him if he really thinks they will be happy if she has the procedure and he answers, "I know we will. You don't have to be afraid. I've known lots of people that have done it” (Hemingway 2). This shows even though she doesn’t want to have it, he tries convincing her anyway. It is his lack of caring for her opinion and more importantly her well-being that is selfish. Another circumstance that wouldn’t have made this selfish is if she expressed willingness to have the abortion. But it was evident that she didn’t want to hear him out after he tells her she must realize his view and she responds, “I realize. Can’t we maybe stop talking?” (Hemingway 3). This made it clear that both during the argument and in the long run he was interfering with how she wished to live which is what made him selfish.

In “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a man named Aylmer selfishly attempts to remove a birthmark on his wife Georgiana’s face. Hawthorne shares how Aylmer feels about the birthmark by saying, “It was the fatal flaw of humanity which Nature, in one shape or another, stamps ineffaceably on all her productions, either to imply that they are temporary and finite, or that their perfection must be wrought by toil and pain” (Hawthorne 2). This meant Aylmer thought the birthmark took away from everything else that was perfect about her. But Aylmer wishing his wife did not have the birthmark is not what made him selfish. It is the fact that he interfered with Georgiana’s life in the worst way possible that did. Aylmer created a potion and gave it to her to remove the birthmark. This potion was actually successful but not without horrible consequence. “As the last crimson tint of the birthmark—that sole token of human imperfection—faded from her cheek, the parting breath of the now perfect woman passed into the atmosphere, and her soul, lingering a moment near her husband, took its heavenward flight” (Hawthorne 15). The worst way someone could interfere with another’s life is by taking it away from them which is exactly what Aylmer did. This exemplifies why his actions were selfish.

In the movie Project Almanac the main character, David, is a genius high school student that makes a selfish decision, which ends up negatively affected innocent people all around the world. David and his friends built a time machine together and all agreed on one promise, to never time travel alone. At first, they used the machine together to go back in time to change test grades and embarrass bullies. There were no problems until David selfishly broke the vow they made. He time traveled alone to redo an experience with a girl he had a crush on to win back her affection. When David returned to the present, he happily discovered that she is now his girlfriend but shortly after he found out out this decision interfered with several innocent people’s lives. After checking the news he realized his decision led to his friend breaking his leg, a plane crashing in his city, along with several other catastrophes around the world such as natural disasters. David tried convincing himself that his decision didn’t cause these events but things would only get worse and worse. Eventually, his friends found out he broke their promise and David realized the only way to solve everything was to undo it all. His friends had to go back to ordinary which meant the good grades were taken away and bullies were back. This all could’ve been avoided if David didn’t make the selfish decision.
Oscar Wilde’s quote conveyed that someone is only selfish with their actions if they obstruct the lives of others. In “Hills Like White Elephants” the man trying to force the woman to change her view was selfish. In “The Birthmark” Aylmer killing his wife to get rid of the birthmark was selfish. In Project Almanac, David ruining innocent peoples lives to get a girl was selfish. Therefore, these actions were all selfish not because these main characters wanted something better for themselves, but because they affected the lives of others in their attempts to achieve what they wanted.