It Pays to Be Good

Michelle Bravo
Prof. Paes de Barros
ENG 203: Paper #1
Thursday, February 25, 2010
It pays To Be Good
Kantian philosophy, suggests that autonomy is about living in accordance with objective morality rather than under the influence of one’s desires. . However, surely one can be autonomous without being morally sound.   Autonomy in it of itself is nonpartisan; one simply acquires it and applies it- it is left to the individual to decide how it used .

Smiley and Shakespeare the daughters’ examine ambitions that critique the institution of autonomy.
Smiley illustrates Ginny’s newfound independence from her father, to convey the importance of developing autonomy.   When Ginny gets scolded for losing her shoe her mother tries to defend Ginny’s mistake but Larry exclaims that, “there is only one side here” after (Smiley 197).   From this point Ginny is convinced that she could never win against her father for the only right way is his way.   Conditioned to see her father as the “rule maker” she takes on a slave-like routine, waiting on his every command (Smiley 206).   Like a slave, she does not think for herself; to question her father is unthinkable. It is not her subservience that is to blame but more the fact that she has been conditioned to never even imagine that she should think for herself.   Without that kind of knowledge Ginny has no way of breaking free from her responsibilities to Larry.   Finally, long after she learns the truth about her father and settles the court case, Ginny [walks] out the door with the meat broiling on the oven and the potatoes and sprout boiling on the stove (Smiley 357).   Leaving the chores behind symbolizes Ginny’s freedom from her responsibilities.   The fact that she simply got up and left not only the food but the land, shows that she is aware of her own autonomy and has the will to do what she needs to do for herself.   Ginny needed to know the truth about her past and she needed to know that there was another way to live and...