Critica

UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO AT BAYAMON
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

CRITIQUE 1
(“The Perfect Picture”)

Johan S. Rodríguez Cabán
ENGLISH 3103 SECTION LN1

PROFESSOR Amelia Ocasio
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER27th, 2011
Picking between doing what feels right and doing what you must to fulfill your duties will always be a hard and controversial decision for most people. James Alexander Thom, well knowneditor and writer of “The Perfect Picture”, dealt with this topic in his narrative essay. In the narrative essay the protagonist is faced with this type of choice; the protagonist chose to do what he feltwas the right thing and he felt happy about that decision. A person should always weigh their options well, that is what humans have reasoning for, and come to a decision that he can live with.
Inthe narrative essay Thom has to go and report on a fatal accident as part of his job, he didn’t want to see this accident since he knew it was a very sad event. As he arrived he saw a swarm ofinterviewers harassing the very depressed looking grandfather who accidentally ran his pickup over his granddaughter, later on Thom went into the house and had the chance to take an award winning picture forhis report but he found himself choosing not to because he felt that showing empathy for this man was the right thing to do and even after a long time since the event occurred he was at peace withthis decision.
While reading this narrative I could tell that Thom was a person who was conscious of other people’s feelings. When the time came to make the choice between taking the picture,fulfilling his duties and being acknowledged for a picture you could feel or respecting the grandfather’s privacy and feeling empathetic towards this person he chose the action he thought and felt right. Ihave found myself in a similar position once, when I had told my younger brother to pick up his room before our parents arrived if he wanted to go to the movie theatre that afternoon. When my parents...