In contrast, Character is Destiny quotes Aristotle as saying, "you are what you repeatedly do (Gough 5)."" This says that if you make good decisions, and do good things a lot of the time, you will be a good person. Even if you did make one really bad decision, you still are not a bad person.
I think both arguments make good points. In the case of Carrie's mother, I think that if you do make one huge bad decision you are a bad person. For instance, in you are usually a good person and you always do the right thing, and then if you were to commit murder (which is a very bad decision) you are a bad person. No one will be able to look past the fact that you are a killer, even though you might have been a good person for years before. In this case Carrie's mother is right but I do believe that being a good person outweighs one bad decision most of the time.
In Character is Destiny the quote by Aristotle I think better describes character. I think that you are what you repeatedly do. If you repeatedly do good things, and the good things outweigh the bad, you are a good person. There are always exceptions, like committing murder. It is hard to determine what acts and decisions could make you a bad person. There is not a list of very bad acts carved in stone that tell if you are a bad person or not. I think that is decided upon by your community, and their perception of you.
I think that Aristotle's example is more helpful to me, than the example from The Dive From Clausen's Pier. I think that you are what you repeatedly do. If you constantly do good things and people see that, they will think that you are a good person. Your character is based on what the community thinks about you, and I think that doing good things will help you be a good person.
"How much do we owe the people we love,"" is asked by Carrie, when she talks about leaving Mike. She eventually said, "I couldn't give up my life for Mike (Packer 147).
