Cider Hour Rules Character Dilemmas
In the movie The Cider House Rules, several of the major characters face moral challenges. For each of the following characters, describe what ethical dilemmas they face, how they deal with them, and what the consequences of their decisions are. Make sure to include some of the issues of morals and ethics from our class discussions and your reading. This assignment should be typed; I will not accept handwritten work.
Dr. Larch was constantly confronted with the misery of countless women and orphans in the big cities. He is a physician who performs abortions if asked by women to do so, even though the procedure is illegal at the time of the story, 1943-1945. Dr. Larch encountered too many painful fatalities because of back-alley abortions. He is too keenly aware of the typical fate of unwanted children to obey a law that is accepted by a widely uninformed and often thoughtless majority. Here Dr. Larch is expressing the mentality of a society who believes collective problems are greater than self conflicting beliefs, which is why he puts aside the law and allows these abortions to take place in an environment he knows is safe. Here moral relativism plays a role because society sees abortion as an issue by all except Dr. Larch isn’t tolerant to them.
Homer, who was an orphan at St. Claude's as a child, was taken under the wing by the head doctor at the orphanage, Dr. Wilbur Larch. Dr. Larch teaches Homer, instructing him to be a doctor, just like himself. As Homer becomes a full fledged physician at St. Claude's, he decides to not perform abortions. In the beginning, Homer is against abortion, but in the end, he will challenge his moral beliefs and perform what is asked of him. Homer is taught by Dr. Larch the method to perform abortions, but Homer decides that he will never perform it. Another moral dilemma was leaving the orphanage in the first place. Homer's sudden decision comes as a shock to the orphans, many of whom feel abandoned by him. For some it even
Dr. Larch was constantly confronted with the misery of countless women and orphans in the big cities. He is a physician who performs abortions if asked by women to do so, even though the procedure is illegal at the time of the story, 1943-1945. Dr. Larch encountered too many painful fatalities because of back-alley abortions. He is too keenly aware of the typical fate of unwanted children to obey a law that is accepted by a widely uninformed and often thoughtless majority. Here Dr. Larch is expressing the mentality of a society who believes collective problems are greater than self conflicting beliefs, which is why he puts aside the law and allows these abortions to take place in an environment he knows is safe. Here moral relativism plays a role because society sees abortion as an issue by all except Dr. Larch isn’t tolerant to them.
Homer, who was an orphan at St. Claude's as a child, was taken under the wing by the head doctor at the orphanage, Dr. Wilbur Larch. Dr. Larch teaches Homer, instructing him to be a doctor, just like himself. As Homer becomes a full fledged physician at St. Claude's, he decides to not perform abortions. In the beginning, Homer is against abortion, but in the end, he will challenge his moral beliefs and perform what is asked of him. Homer is taught by Dr. Larch the method to perform abortions, but Homer decides that he will never perform it. Another moral dilemma was leaving the orphanage in the first place. Homer's sudden decision comes as a shock to the orphans, many of whom feel abandoned by him. For some it even