A question I have been considering as reading this book thus far is the origin of the ethical character that I believe we agree Kelley had as a child, and that (at least) I believe he still has.
In class, we considered the influence of a socially constructed ethic distributed throughout the Irish community and through his family, and I believe I brought up the possibility of Kelley’s mother being a significant source of pressure on Kelley’s ethics. My question is whether the source of Kelley’s ethical behaviour is within himself, which would make him a much stronger hero, or is merely a reflection of his belief that what he has been taught to be good is good. This would imply that he was dependent upon the ideas-thoughts-concepts of others rather than his own, which makes the individuality aspect of his character much less admirable.
A strong example of the prominence of the socially constructed ethic is found on page 144. When Mrs. Kelley is asked by Hare & Nicholson why she would not accept a monetary bribe, she answers “Then you’re as ignorant as a heap of dog manure.” I believe the fact that she responds with an ad hominem, while implying the answer is very obvious, points to the fact that she really does not understand why she does not accept the bribe, struck by the slap to what she believes an immutable truth, not a self determined ethical standard. If that is true, the answer to Hare & Nicholson is indeed dead simple. She does it because she is Irish, born and bred.
Two lines of dialogue later, the characters in that conversation discuss the importance of a parent’s example on the children, ethically. They seem to all agree it is very important.
However, when Mrs. Kelley marries the American, Kelley shows a variance in ethical standards between him and his mother by refusing to play along with his horse theft plans. Mrs. Kelley’s response, of how tough life was for her, implies that she is going against her ethics because of necessity of support, albeit a concept of lesser ethical importance that traitor-ness, so perhaps while Kelley shows the shouldering of an ethical burden instead of depending on his mother, he is still following the ethical standard she taught him earlier.
What I don’t see, however, is a parallel situation where I can judge whether Kelley values his own ethical opinion above that of either Irish /family ideology or necessity, which we see gouvern his mother. Has anyone seen anything of that sort in the text?
>.>… I mean Kelly >.<
I disagree with the idea that Mrs. Kelly does not know why she does not accept the bribe. Why would she say “Then you’re as ignorant as a heap of dog manure.” I don't think she's just saying that because shes Irish I think she has a moral code and she does tell why she would not take the bribe in the next paragraph, "nothing is as low as trading a man's life for money..." I don't think she is going against her ethics from not taking the bribe when she wants to engage in horse theft. Selling someone out for money in the Kelly's opinion is not an honorable way to get money, but stealing from unfair squatters/ rich people is fine and this stays consistent. And Ned's code correlates with it well, the only reason Ned does not join in with the stealing when she wants him to is because he does'nt feel the situation is bad enough to do any stealing. The police have not directly messed with them yet, like they will soon when they steal his horses and start to pick on his little brother. I guess where they differ is, Ned does'nt want to break the law unless he has tried his best to earn money the right way and do the right thing and then someone messes with him.
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