Blog 4

From this book, the three gods seem to define a person who is “good” as someone who puts the well being of other people before themselves. For this assignment, I will be a position that supports the resolution. It is impossible to be a good person and survive in a capitalist system.

In this play, Shen Teh becomes the character that is defined as good through various acts that include giving away free tobacco to the poor and sheltering the homeless. However, these kinds of actions all the time will make it impossible for one to survive in a capitalist society. Let’s take the example of Shen Teh giving away free tobacco. Shen Teh has realized already that the tobacco businesses don’t get very many customers, according to previous business owner Mrs. Shin, and that she needs to raise money for rent. Giving away the product that she is supposed to be selling doesn’t help pay for the rent by the deadline which could cause her to eventually lose her business. Just like the woman had said, “If you want to hang onto your shop, you’d better be able to refuse sometimes.”

Sheltering the homeless seems like an easy way to be a good person at first, but it eventually had brought up its own issues. First, there was the issue of having some of Shen Teh’s belongings broken. There was also the issue of guilt by association when one of the people Shen Teh was housing decided to steal from the bakery.

Agreeing to let the pilot use the 200 silver dollars she had just gotten is another act of kindness that will also make it impossible for Shen Teh to survive in a capitalist society. The deadline for the rent was coming up very soon and not being able to pay would cause her to lose her entire business.