Paper on John Wideman's "Our Time"
Kiara Thomas
Engl 1102
3/07/14
Dr. Shirokova
“Our Time” by John Wideman is a good example of how giving the benefit of the doubt usually hurts the person who gave it. In this case it was the mother who gave Robby the benefit of the doubt. In the book it states “…giving someone the benefit of the doubt was also giving him enough rope to hang himself. If a person takes advantage of the benefit of the doubt and keeps on taking and taking, one day the rope plays out. The piper must be paid. If you’ve been the one giving, it becomes incumbent on you to grip your end tight and take away (Wideman 666).” And that is really true. You always try and give someone you know or are trying to help the benefit of the doubt, because you trust that person and you feel as if they would or should do the right thing. In the end, the person who gives the benefit always ends up hurt or disappointed in some way. Giving the benefit of the doubt is not always bad because sometimes that person will do the right thing and then that makes you feel bad for doubting them in the first place, but that’s almost never the case in reality. The mother in the story kept on giving Robby the benefit. The benefits that he will stop doing wrong, stop doing drugs, stop running the streets, but it never happened. Robby eventually ended up in jail because he took his mother loving him and giving him chance after chance for granted. Robby did have the right to be depressed by the passing of his friend Garth but not the right to disrespect his mother in anyway. There are many reasons why people give the benefit of the doubt. One reason is “when giving someone the benefit of the doubt, you are believing what they say and taking their word because you, yourself, have some doubt about what happened (The Urban Dictionary).” There are pros and cons to giving people the benefit of the doubt. You should usually give people the benefit of the doubt once but if they keep doing it then you
Engl 1102
3/07/14
Dr. Shirokova
“Our Time” by John Wideman is a good example of how giving the benefit of the doubt usually hurts the person who gave it. In this case it was the mother who gave Robby the benefit of the doubt. In the book it states “…giving someone the benefit of the doubt was also giving him enough rope to hang himself. If a person takes advantage of the benefit of the doubt and keeps on taking and taking, one day the rope plays out. The piper must be paid. If you’ve been the one giving, it becomes incumbent on you to grip your end tight and take away (Wideman 666).” And that is really true. You always try and give someone you know or are trying to help the benefit of the doubt, because you trust that person and you feel as if they would or should do the right thing. In the end, the person who gives the benefit always ends up hurt or disappointed in some way. Giving the benefit of the doubt is not always bad because sometimes that person will do the right thing and then that makes you feel bad for doubting them in the first place, but that’s almost never the case in reality. The mother in the story kept on giving Robby the benefit. The benefits that he will stop doing wrong, stop doing drugs, stop running the streets, but it never happened. Robby eventually ended up in jail because he took his mother loving him and giving him chance after chance for granted. Robby did have the right to be depressed by the passing of his friend Garth but not the right to disrespect his mother in anyway. There are many reasons why people give the benefit of the doubt. One reason is “when giving someone the benefit of the doubt, you are believing what they say and taking their word because you, yourself, have some doubt about what happened (The Urban Dictionary).” There are pros and cons to giving people the benefit of the doubt. You should usually give people the benefit of the doubt once but if they keep doing it then you