The sampler 
The Sampler
“To be or not to be” is very much a question everyone is trying to figure out through life. Your acts and your sayings decide who you are, and you can put yourself in a certain way, that you want your surroundings to look at you like. But why is it that we do everything for our own sake? Why can’t we do a good deed for the day, without expecting to get anything in return? Certainly most of us know the feeling of discomfort you get, when you attend someone, who appears shabby, and clearly cannot afford anything. You feel sorry for them, and you want to help them out, but you do not, and you cannot, because you are afraid of hurting their feelings, or reminding them, that they do not have enough money. Or maybe they would misunderstand your act, and think that you are making fun of them. That is the way our society is fitted - no good deed is given without an ulterior motive.
The Sampler is a text written by Ira V. Morris. The story is about the narrator who attends an old man, who sample puddings in a shop. He does that almost every week, so the shop girl knows him well. It is Christmas and the narrator feels sorry for him, and offers to pay for a pudding. The old man gets so ashamed, that he is forced to buy the largest and most expensive pudding, to save his honour.
One of the themes in the story is that one man cannot save the whole world, even if he wants to, and that a good deed often is mistaken with wanting something from it. “Pardon me sir, will you do me a favour? Let me purchase you one of these puddings. It would give me such pleasure” (p. 96, ll. 14-15). The narrator feels sorry for the poor man. It is Christmas time, and everyone is out for holyday shopping. But the old man, with the shabby appearance, clearly cannot afford the puddings. By purchasing the old man a pudding, the narrator hopes the old man will be pleased, and the narrator can feel satisfied, because he helped another person. This is a good deed with no condition, except
“To be or not to be” is very much a question everyone is trying to figure out through life. Your acts and your sayings decide who you are, and you can put yourself in a certain way, that you want your surroundings to look at you like. But why is it that we do everything for our own sake? Why can’t we do a good deed for the day, without expecting to get anything in return? Certainly most of us know the feeling of discomfort you get, when you attend someone, who appears shabby, and clearly cannot afford anything. You feel sorry for them, and you want to help them out, but you do not, and you cannot, because you are afraid of hurting their feelings, or reminding them, that they do not have enough money. Or maybe they would misunderstand your act, and think that you are making fun of them. That is the way our society is fitted - no good deed is given without an ulterior motive.
The Sampler is a text written by Ira V. Morris. The story is about the narrator who attends an old man, who sample puddings in a shop. He does that almost every week, so the shop girl knows him well. It is Christmas and the narrator feels sorry for him, and offers to pay for a pudding. The old man gets so ashamed, that he is forced to buy the largest and most expensive pudding, to save his honour.
One of the themes in the story is that one man cannot save the whole world, even if he wants to, and that a good deed often is mistaken with wanting something from it. “Pardon me sir, will you do me a favour? Let me purchase you one of these puddings. It would give me such pleasure” (p. 96, ll. 14-15). The narrator feels sorry for the poor man. It is Christmas time, and everyone is out for holyday shopping. But the old man, with the shabby appearance, clearly cannot afford the puddings. By purchasing the old man a pudding, the narrator hopes the old man will be pleased, and the narrator can feel satisfied, because he helped another person. This is a good deed with no condition, except