Friendly Persuasion Morals

            
             In the movie, Friendly Persuasion, the Birdwells are a family of Quavers. Being Quavers, the Birdwells don't believe in violence or fighting, and they don't listen to music, they are very peaceful. Unfortunately, at this time in the family's life, the Civil war was happening and it threatened to take over their farm. The war and other things gave the Birdwells some difficult choices to make and where they had to put their morals in to play. This essay will explain a few of those decisions.
             One choice was made by Josh's friend, Caleb. At the Carnival Caleb was asked to wrestle with a professional to win some money. The excitement and energy of the carnival got to his head, and against his beliefs, he chose to wrestle. However, half way through and to the disappointment of the crowd, he remembered his values and stopped. I don't believe that Caleb chose correctly. He should have known it was against his beliefs to wrestle before he started. By taking the challenge and then quitting in the middle, he made the crowd dislike him even more than if he had just said no in the first place.
             The Carnival sparked a lot of decisions to be made, including Jess buying an organ even though Quavers don't listen to music. After hearing the organ play and being persuaded by some business men, Jess just couldn't say no. He did not regret his decision, even when his wife got extremely upset with him. I believe Jess made a great decision buying the organ. Music is a good thing. It seems ridiculous to go without it. The organ made a fabulous edition to the Birdwell family and brought some happiness with it, therefore, it was a great choice.
             When the Birdwells found out that their farm was most likely going to be overtaken, Josh felt the need to fight for it. Of course Josh's parents did not approve of this, especially his mother, this made the decision to fight or not very difficult for Josh.