The Concept of Big Daddy - Essay Example

Character Sketch of Big Daddy Details: al Affiliation: Character Sketch of BigDaddy Not many in the entire neighborhood have friends like he does. To be sure from the very outset, his friendship is but a valuable asset; one that everyone around town desires. He has filled many hearts with joy, turned around lives full anguish, and above all, given his all for a society that embraces diversity. Big Daddy is not only a man whose personally cuts across the divide, but one whose demeanor has and will continue to roll through many generations to come. Whether old or young, rich or poor, white or black, Big Daddy has respect for everyone. He is a man with consistent principles both in his views and deeds; a trait that earned him love and a barrage of criticisms in certain quarters in equal measure, more particularly among the white community for being too tolerant towards the plight of ‘Negros’ in the 80s when racism was at its peak. Big Daddy perceives every individual living within the United States and the world over as equal human beings who have all the rights to enjoy justice and social respect. Like principles etched in the corners of his brain, he memorizes the opening sentence of the second paragraph of the United States’ Declaration of Independence long considered the founding creed of America’s civil religion, and actually recites it as it is, that: “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Unlike the majority living during his time, Big Daddy led by example, falling far short to subscribing and living by the norms of the pride in the white community. Accordingly, he fell in love and actually married a black woman. Further, he has had a black man as his aid in his entire career as a lawyer and a rights defender. He actually started drifting off in his early ages, taking the very opposite steps like mingling a lot with the black community to demystify the long standing myths had been peddled for ages. Among other things that he will be remembered for by generations is the very brave act of helping the blacks with own resources in pursuit of injustices for crimes committed in total disregard of the law. According to Miss Jilian words – a neighbor and a friend – Big Daddy is not only a defender of justice, but a passionate, dedicated activist fighting battles worth fighting for even if it means putting his resources and life on the line; he has helped bring sanity into the minds hitherto full of hatred of other races, and has done so his all life, never letting opportunities pass by to inculcate good values that is the very epicenter of peace. He was and still remains an incorruptible character, an icon professional lawyer whose belief that the law should be the basis of order and not chaos has inspired many in his profession. Big Daddy has been in this world for more than eight decades, and thus, he is more than aware of the unique differences of every individual; he understands the very negative and positive traits that a human being can ever have. Even so, he always urges people to focus on the positives in each situation and suppress the negatives as much as possible. More than anything, he always find excuses to forgive others for the wrongs committed against him and those around him, and only goes ahead to punish bad deeds with whatever arsenal he has on their insistence on the wrongs being right in their own opinion. He, for instance, forgives and does so every day for those who blames him for having taken them through the rough road of having to pay for their bad deeds. In his old age, he has seen all and committed commensurate ability to make this world a better place for all to live in and live in harmony. Above everything else he has ever witnessed, his memory is clear and remembers the bad and the good times he has ever had with a smile to give hope and courage to those with the same zeal and desire to do good. A great friend with lots of words of wisdom, Big Daddy has time for everyone. Once with the thought that I was too young to sit him down for a chat, I was surprised to get attention for some words of wisdom. The greatest lessons ever leant, I now know for a fact that even the rich like the poor have ‘battles to fight’ and that "you only understand a person when you consider things, walk and/or stand in their shoes." So is the very attitude that has kept him fighting other people’s battles. Big Daddy is able to see beyond other peoples shot sighted thoughts, more particularly with regards to those that bring quick backs. No wonder, therefore, that he is highly respected for the flowing wisdom that never runs dry even when dealing with difficult situations. A man who eats with kings as he does with the poor, Big Daddy boasts of courage manifested in purposeful courses. That although he has a gun like any other American, Big Daddy believes that real courage goes far beyond "having a gun in hand", to which he has never used to commit anything criminal—let alone killing a squirrel. That while he is proud of his race, he does so with absolute knowledge that his race is no better than other races, and so gives maximum respect for other people’s cultures as long as they do not conflict with his inclination of what he considers just. Accordingly, he has fought and never hesitates to fight for justice even if it means walking into the corridors of justice in his old age. He remembers vividly doing the same thirty seven years ago, defending a black man, Jimmy Johnson charged with rape in the neighborhood. In this particular case against a white neighbor, and possibly a relative on a stretch line of descent, Big Daddy believes today as he was then that his conscience served him right. That although he knew from the very beginning that his chances of losing the case against a constitutional machinery that preserved justice majorly for the white majority, he withstood insults and lots of ridicule, standing in the gap to prevent the degeneration of an open color-blind law that still degraded human beings on the basis of the color of their skin. A choice made right from childhood, Big daddy defends his principles and his belief of justice regardless of his associations to those who dared to cross the red marks. He thus, harbors no guilt whatsoever for having presented his own brother to the law enforcement to face punishment for having shot a neighbors pet; an act he argues was reckless and in proximity to killing a human being, and that only a jail sentence of even a month would make him realize the gravity of the offence. Indeed as it is, that very value adding brave act was but the right thing to do, for it not only changed the brother’s perception of life in general, but did impact on his value judgment of the right and wrong. That though he uses language of the most unbounded ill-nature on the acts committed by his brother prior to the killing of the pet in spite of the numerous words of caution, his looks occasionally softens into pity; a clear indication of the most unbounded love that he has for a brother he considered ill-mannered then. To be sure, he takes as much pain to hide his feelings about the brother’s conducts then as a fraud would to conceal his crimes. However, the mask would drop off occasionally revealing his glowing compassion with the love for a perfect sense of responsibility. An ideal father that every well-meaning person would ever wish for, Big Daddy has managed to impart the very same values he has subscribed to his entire life to his three children; his wisdom and firm opinions as well as deeds have had greatly influenced their conduct around the community and beyond. Miss Maura recalls how a stranger she had never met before rescued her in the very brinks of death. She had just had an accident in one of the busy highways in Chicago, and that she needed an immediate medical attention. As fate would have it, a kind hearted man, to which she would later learn to be the eldest son of the man everybody calls Daddy, would be the man to take care of her immediate needs. The first people to arrive at the scene, Daddy Junior never bothered about anything else other than taking matters in his own hands; he not only thought fast to take miss Maura to the nearby hospital, but took the concrete measure of paying the required fees to before the family could be traced. For the people who grew up with him, Big Daddy applies the same principles in his house as he does in public. He does not hesitate to give a glimpse of how he used to answer his children’s questions, however difficult they were. In his own word, he says that ‘children are bound to make mistakes, and thus always found excuses for their bad behaviors, but with some stern words of advisers on the correct approach to issues. Liam Nicky, also in the same age bracket as Big Daddy, for instance, remember him reprimanding one of his children for use of “bad language” against a friend in school, and goes further to give appropriate terminology. With the knowledge that good values does not only come with instructions but with a combinations that captures mistakes in real life situations, and Big Daddy offered his children with that very opportunity to discover facts about life by themselves and so correct any of their misconceptions if such opportunities present themselves. In many of the occasions that they were together, Nicky recalls Big Daddy challenging his children by inducing them to think even harder by injecting additional dimensions on their questions requiring immediate answers. He, for instance, often used the phrase "don’t you think there is another way of fixing the problem?” as an indirect hint that there may be numerous ways of dealing their questions if only they think beyond what they are familiar with. Indeed, that has been the very philosophy that guided him into going beyond the myths that the white community had be fed for generations, in effect, bringing forth the immoral act of slavery whose end became a deadly affair between the whites themselves , threatening a union that had only known independence for barely a century. It is no wonder, therefore, that his children have all grown proud of him, always preserving maximum respect with a drive to consult his wise counsel even though they are now adults with respective families to take care of. Big Daddy is but a father to all; an ideal paradigm of a statesman. His understanding, honesty and skill with which he dealt with issues have more than lightened lives hitherto controlled by unnecessary carried even into the younger generation. His principles more than set him apart as a unique character that charted a path that many were not to ready to follow. Accordingly, he is highly respected and appreciated across the divide at home and beyond. Read More