On The Waterfront

In the movie, On the Waterfront, many characters have to learn to deal with ethical and moral dilemmas, and while they may think that this is not important in the beginning, their choices and beliefs can be easily swayed by strong cases to each side. Many characters have to make choices such as Doogan’s promise to the father that he would testify against the mob, and Edy telling her father that she wasn’t going back to the convent. But the main dilemmas that occur come through the eyes of Terry. While many individuals have varying views on the definitions of traitor and whistleblower, Terry is the only person who truly changes their beliefs. Throughout the movie Terry is being swayed by the beliefs of Johnny, Charlie and the mob and by the beliefs of Edy and the father. The mob tries to tell Terry that a traitor is someone who would testify against them and that a traitor’s life would be worse than hell. However, Edy but mainly the father finally persuade Terry that a traitor is truly someone who turn their backs on the least of men, thus on God, in order to gain for their self. This message hits hard at home when Terry talks to Charlie about how he could have been somebody and not a bum. The mob convinced Terry to throw a fight against someone who he could have beaten, because they had money on the other guy. Terry tells Charlie that Charlie should have looked after him, since he was his baby brother. But instead, Charlie took the low road, gave up on his brother in order to have money, power and influence. Terry realizes that he can’t let the mob control others the way that they controlled him. So, he decides to go on the offensive and take them down in court. We see throughout the movie, with the character of Terry, that while beliefs may never leave one’s mind, they can be quickly and easily changed by any slight event/motive.

So, my personal beliefs do not match up to well with the mob's (thankfully) but I would generally agree with the idea's that the father is trying to put across. I say that a “tattle tale” is someone who gets others in trouble even when what they are doing isn’t hurting anybody. When you give information on the mob, or a bully on the playground, you aren’t being a “tattle tale” you are standing up for the right morals. However, if that bully is climbing over the fence and leaving the playground and you tell on him, them you should be considered “tattle tale” because he didn’t do anything to harm you. Now, what that bully might be doing may not be morally correct, it is not your place to fix all that is wrong with the world. As I have been told many times before, “keep your nose out of other people’s business”. I personally would probably keep an eye on them and if they did anything really bad I would tell a person of authority. (That is, these days I would. In elementary school, I was the school’s “tattle tale” and I wouldn’t let anyone do anything bad. If anything ever went wrong, I would tell a teacher immediately.) You might say I was a jerk, but I believed that I was helping those kids stay out of trouble. However, I would eventually take it too far, and a kid would get mad at me and…ya…you don’t need my life story… Overall, while standing up for what you believe to be the right thing is usually good, I’ve learned from personal experience that when you get too involved in other people’s business, it never ends up well for a "tattle tale".