The Honor Code, Short Story, by Colt Morgan

Fall 2017, CP#2, Global Moral Issues Creative Project
Colt Morgan
Creative Project
Nov. 4, 2017
The Honor Code 
Michael sat in his dressing room and hung his head. His eyes were closed, so he could watch his entire life, his future flash and disappear before his eyes. An Elliot Smith song came to mind. There’s a riot coming, like a drug in the water. Most people would just call it a wedding though. An arranged marriage, with a woman he hated.
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Michael thought back to his first meeting with “Kourtney with a hard k.” It was last night, as is custom with an arranged marriage. Kourtney was very attractive, but pretty much the opposite of his type. His family allowed him to talk to her for an hour, and his hope for the future had fallen by the second. Kourtney was a perfectly nice woman. The kind that is too nice, and she made sure that he knew about it. She was all too happy to regale him with stories of her time with charities, working with children in the inner cities. She had plenty of pictures as well, but the pictures were more focused on her than anyone else. Kourtney was a vegan, and she let him know she was better than him for it. She did not spend the whole time talking about herself though, she was perfectly happy to hear about him. She had a terrible habit of one upping him though. He went for a hike, she climbed a mountain. He told her about his time in college, and she told him about her slightly better time at a slightly better college. Kourtney was your everyday holier than though douche bag.
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Michael raised his head when he heard a knock on the door. He walked over and pulled it open. “It is time.” Michael’s father stood in the doorway, there to march him to his doom. Michael nodded and followed along. The walk down the aisle was the longest walk of his life, that fifty feet felt like fifty miles. He stood at the altar flanked by his groomsmen, just a bunch of guys who his father picked. He did not know any of them, he did not like any of them. He heard Wagner’s bridal chorus start, and everyone in the church stood. He turned and watched his new bride march down the aisle, Wagner ringing in his ears. His Bridal Chorus sounded more like Mozart’s Requiem. Every step Kourtney took down the aisle got louder and louder, sounding like artillery explosions as she reached him.
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This all started six months ago, during Michael’s coming of age ceremony. He was promised to be married to a powerful friend of his fathers. He liked the girl well enough, but he was not in love with her. That honor was reserved for a girl who worked at the country club that his family frequented, and where his ceremony was taking place. He was caught in a backroom, en flagrante with his true love. His father was furious, his arranged marriage was called off, and his family’s honor was tarnished. This new marriage was meant to make up for it.
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He stood at the altar and took Kourtney’s hands. He did not hear a word of what was said, he just repeated what was said by the priest on autopilot. “You may kiss the bride.” Michael looked at the priest, and slowly turned back to face Kourtney. If he kissed her then they would be married forever. He would hate being with her, but for his honor and that of his family, he would do it. He leaned in and kissed his new bride, as slowly as he could manage, hoping the whole time someone would call it off. No one did. As Michael pulled away there was a loud banging. It was the doors of the church banging open. An official of the government came running up the aisle. “Stop… there has been… a… moral revolution… a change in the… the honor code… arranged marriages are no longer honorable.” There was an audible gasp through the church.“What does this mean?” asked Michael. “Well it means that you have dishonored your family with this marriage.” Replied the priest. “How can we fix it?” asked Michael’s father. “The groom must kill himself by hanging upside down by his feet from the highest branch of an ash tree, using the twisted-up sheets from the marriage bed.” The entire church turned to look at Michael as one. He did not want to kill himself, but he had to honor his family. “Anyone know where I can find an ash tree?”
Written Justification for the story: As is said on pg. 175, having honor is being entitled to respect. My character in this story hasdishonored his family by being with a woman other than the one he was promised to inmarriage. I got the idea from the red wedding in Game of Thrones, where Robb Stark Dishonorshis family by doing the same thing. My story is about a man who will do anything to get hisfamilies honor back. He will marry a woman he hates, and does not love. He will even killhimself. The reason for the ridiculous way that Michael must kill himself is that I wanted toshow how crazy people can be in the name of protecting their honor.

The Honor Code by Brian Fielder

Fall 2017, CP#2, Global Moral Issues Creative Project, Uncategorized
The Honor Code Art
Written Justication: In this whiteboard art piece, inspired by the concepts found in Chapter 3:Suppressing Atlantic Slavery of Kwame Anthony Appiah’s book The Honor Code: How Moral Revolutions Happen, I attempted to encapsulate the idea of how slavery was eventually brought to a halt in England. In The Honor Code, on page 124, Appiah states“[Working people] were against [slavery], I think, for the simplest reasons: nothing more firmly expressed the idea that labor was dishonorable than Negro plantation slavery in the New World. And labor was what defined them” (Appiah, 2010). This short quotation, while talking about the specific events that took place in England, applies in a much broader sense to the entire book’s premise. Change can’t happen until those opposed to a practice feel their honor has been compromised. The most interesting part of these issues covered in the book, whether it be the foot-binding in China, the slave trade across seas, or the demeaning treatment of women in Pakistan, was that the issues were heavily debated if not leaning towards the more moral side (which we’ve already discussed, so pretend as if “moral” means modern or polite). Some of the perpetrators on the less “moral” side that would inevitably fall knew the practice was in some ways shameful, however they could not bring themselves to cease their ways until their honor was brought into question.
This idea, in tandem with the specific practice of slavery in England through theearly 19th century, culminated into this piece shown before you that represents ashackled slave picking honor off of a tree, as part of their work as a slave. However,rushing towards him/her is some sort of working class bystander to slavery, a poorlaborer who is for, or at the very least, neutral towards slavery. They try to stop the slavefrom picking honor off of the tree after being convinced that, by treating slaves withsuch poor, indignant standards of humanity, we are merely saying that the people whodo this sort of work, just general laboring or farm working, are worth nothing more thana $0 wage, a lashing every so often, and above all, an absence of freedom. By bringingthese working class laborers’ honor into question, the movement to abolish slaverygained the ground it needed, and furthermore supports the work of Kwame Appiah.

A Duel Was an Affair of Honor by John Paul Oses

Fall 2017, CP#2, Global Moral Issues Creative Project, Uncategorized

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Written Justification: I decided to sketch this picture to represent Honor in the novel The Honor Code:How Moral Revolutions Happen. Specifically, I wanted to capture the chapter in relation to dueling among British gentlemen. A quote that stuck out to me in this chapter was on page 48 when Kwame Anthony Appiah said “A duel was an affair of honor. It depended on the existence of a powerful class whose members could establish their status by getting away with a practice contrary to law that others could not.” I found it interesting that dueling began as away to defend one’s honor as someone who was rich and powerful in the upper class. However, later on we find out that this practice that went on for so long died because of honor.
As dueling became a practice of more middle to lower class citizens in Britain, it lost its value. A gentleman became not someone who defended their honor, but someone who never inflicted pain. This inspired me to sketch this picture. I decided to recreate a basic finish to a duel,however, I labeled the dead body as ‘dueling’ and the sword that killed this man as ‘honor.’ Quite clearly, I wanted to show how the value that started this practice is what ended up killing it in the end.

Honor and Social Pressures by Madie Maroney

Fall 2017, CP#2, Global Moral Issues Creative Project, Uncategorized

Scan 5 copy

Artwork Justification
Through my art, I wanted to display the weight and social pressure of honor
and its counterparts has on individuals and societies. I accomplished this by symbolically placing rocks on the shoulders of people as they walk on a winding and changing path. On page 16, Appiah talks about honor is an entitlement to respect and shames comes when you lose that title. That passage shows a burden to one’s self and to society to keep that honor always and thus the depiction of carrying the “burden” through time. On page 63, Appiah talks about social identity as it relates to conformity and the strive to go beyond the call of duty. This passage inspired the people walking one in front of the other on the winding path, it symbolizes tough measures one needs to take to keep honor and leading one on the track to keep their social identity pure. Finally, on page 129, Appiah talks about how dignity now is different of dignity in the past and the close connection dignity and honor have. This idea is represented in the winding path, I wanted to depict the many curves as the change of honor over time and the continuous need for those to conform to their honor codes. Overall, honor carries a great burden on every individual and society and honor is a key element to human dignity and respect which Appiah so wonderfully shows is valued in almost every culture and society.

The Commoner by Alissa Garrett

Fall 2017, CP#1, Global Moral Issues Creative Project

The Commoner
Jeremy Allan was born in Springfield, Missouri in 1942. He had a supportive family who wanted him to succeed in all that he did. He was a curious soul; always seeking advice. The problem though, is that the more questions he asked, the more he felt was left unanswered. The flaw did not seem to be in his questions but in the answers, he received.
Jeremy wanted to know what would make his parents proud, and what he could do to be a“good” person. He wanted answers about what career he should pursue, or if he should join the military. The day he married he asked his father what it meant to be a “good” husband, father,and provider. His parents cared, he was sure of it, but their blank, heartless, and repetitive answer rung in his ears, “son, be rational.” Jeremy knew better than to question what rationality was,because he knew that his parents could probably not even answer the question themselves.
Spending much of his life searching for that rationality that was expected from him, he became confident in one thing. He knew that above all else he needed to give his son what his father did not give him. It was not fame nor the family business, but the soundest advice of all. Jeremy often said, “Son, do not seek rationality; seek joy, seek patience, seek truth, and seek love. If you will be happy and at peace with your decision, you know that made the right choice.” Jeremy’s son did not struggle with trying to base his actions from beliefs that he was unsure of, instead, he treasured joy.
Justification of Artwork
In the book Cosmopolis by Don DeLillo, a global protest occurred on the streets. The main character witnesses police officers chasing a man through the streets, citizens hitting the hoods of cars, and people throwing trashcans with no regard to the people laying hurt in the streets. During this chaos one of the characters said, “The more visionary the idea, the more people it leaves behind. This is what the protest is all about. Visions of technology and wealth.The force of cyber-capital that will send people into the gutter to retch and die. What is the flaw of human rationality” (DeLillo 90). The philosophical idea that I pulled from this section was the notion of human rationality. In my short story, Jeremy struggles with the idea of rationality because he does not know what constitutes as rational. Although his parents expect him to know how to make a so called “rational” decision, they do not explain to him from what they themselves base their rationality. In philosophy, human rationality “implies the conformity of one’s beliefs with one’s reasons to believe, or of one’s actions with one’s reasons for action”(Robbins et al). Each person has their own definition of rationality, which denies any total conformity in the behavior of individuals.
Sources:
DeLillo, D. (2003). Cosmopolis: a novel. New York: Scribner.
Robbins, S. P., DeCenzo, D. A., & Coulter, M. K. (2017). Fundamentals of management:essential concepts and applications. Upper Saddle River: Pearson.