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Korey Luster
Professor Weltha Wood
English 1113 (Comp I)
7 December 2016
Essay 3
Human Nature is an almost inevitable topic to cover in any form of literature. Any group
of people can have many viewpoints on the topic, but they usually come to the conclusion that no
two people act the same. In many cases, any individual may change their behavior so much that
you wont recognize them. The novel The Tin Roof Blowdown, written by James Lee Burke, and
the film Gone, Baby, Gone, directed by Ben Affleck, both have characters who exhibit complex
and ever-changing behaviors. They are also mysteries, but mostly focus on the complexity of
humans and the vast array of differences in the way they handle themselves in different
situations. The Tin Roof Blowdown takes place before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina, and
the mystery aspect of the novel surrounds the shooting of 2 looters.
Bertrand Melancon was one of the good characters that appeared in the novel, even
though he has done some despicable things. He possesses obvious knowledge of his place in the
world and how wrong his actions were. Before the events of the novel, Bertrand, his brother, and
his brothers friends raped 2 young women, and shortly after the novel starts, killed a priest and
caused the deaths of an group of people, and steals very valuable gemstones from a very
dangerous man. Bertrand too easily let himself be coerced into doing these terrible things by his
brother, but it overall a kind soul. Humans can be amazingly violent and cruel. A quick look at

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the daily headlines, and the world of politics, makes that abundantly clear. But we are more often
caring and compassionate. Its easy to overlook this latter aspect of our contemporary world.
(Fuentes 1) Bertrand can do terrible things without being a completely terrible person, but the
truly horrible things hes done, as few times as hes done them, completely overshadow the
numerous good parts about him in the eyes of the people who have seen the darker shades of his
past. In every single study, fasterthat is, more intuitivedecisions were associated with
higher levels of cooperation, whereas slowerthat is, more reflectivedecisions were
associated with higher levels of selfishness. These results suggest that our first impulse is to
cooperatethat Augustine and Hobbes were wrong, and that we are fundamentally good
creatures after all. (Ward 1) Deep within Bertrands heart, he is a good person, but given time to
be coerced into doing things by his brother, he gets to thinking that what hes doing isnt so bad.
That what benefits him at the time is whats better, rather than letting one of the girls go, or
finding a way to just tag along with the priest. But, given even more time to think on his own, he
regrets his actions deeply and seeks repentance. Maybe not in the same way a devout soul might,
but in his own way. The fact that he tries so hard to change, to be a good person, says everything
about himself. Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just
for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living
life like it's a marathon, not a sprint. (Duckworth) One of my friends started high school in the
absolute bottom of our class, but with hard work and perseverance, ended up in the top 10%.
Bertrand, even though everyone only sees the bad in him, eventually got what he was after:
forgiveness.
In contrast, Sidney Kovick, although he does have reasons to change, doesnt change as
much as he would like to. Sidneys wife want him to change, but I dont believe thats enough for

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Sidney, because his top priority in the novel is getting the blood diamonds that Bertrand, Andre,
Kevin, and Eddy have stolen. In fact, he hires people to do whatever it takes to get them. Most of
the conflict in the novel is a result of hiring the people he hires. Much more, therefore, may the
passions, in so far as they are voluntary, be called morally good or evil. (Aquinas 1) Hes done
nothing major to show he actually wants to change, and maybe he cant, but he exhibits behavior
that society has deemed bad or evil, though he may have some kind of twisted idea of
justice. Maybe its revenge for wronging him, or maybe hes just trying to get the valuable stones
back. I understand where hes coming from, though. When I was a child, half the things I did
were out of spite. Of course, spite doesnt justify murder. Not much does.
In conclusion, the difference between these two characters, I believe, is the fact that one
of them really wants to change and has a good reason to. The truth is, these are two examples of
a phenomenon that goes beyond the thinking of anyone: change. In chemistry, change is easily
calculable, but in nature, the actual values can be vastly different from the predicted. My point is,
no matter how we control the environment of any experiment, whether it be social or chemical,
youll never get exactly what you think youll get.

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Works Cited
Fuentes, Agustin. Aggression and Violence Are Possible, Not Inevitable. Psychology Today. 14
September 2016
Ward, Adrian. Scientists Probe Human Nature--and Discover We Are Good, After All.
Scientific American. 20 November 2012
Aquinas, Thomas. Whether moral good and evil can be found in the passions of the soul?
Summa Theologica. 1485
Duckworth, Angela. "Grit." TED. Feb. 2012. Lecture.