Dela Cruz, Jamara Kyla A.

Insights on the Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio

11/27/13

The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio is the type of true to life film that will leave
you with a lot of lifes very important lessons such as: mildness, contentment,
endurance, perseverance, courage, and forgiveness. The fact of it being true to life just
makes the audience feel more connected to the characters in the movie. It inspires the
viewers to be able to face, deal, and solve lifes challenges while just focusing on the
good and staying happy.
In relation to the topics in Health Ethics class, the main characters displayed
what every living being is capable of doing. An appetite is the tendency toward what is
good or suitable for an individual and there are two types of appetite: the Sensitive
and Rational appetites. First, the sensitive appetite is divided into two categories:
concupiscible and irascible. The concupiscible appetite is when the inclination to see
what is good in things perceived and to avoid what is harmful or unpleasant. On the
other hand, Irascible appetite is the inclination to resist obstacles to the good and
harmful threats. Passions are the acts of the sense appetites. They fuel the desire so
without it there will be no appetite. Second, the rational appetite is the inclination to
the good which is known by the intellect.
Evelyn Ryan displayed the concupiscible appetite because she possessed the
acts of the concupiscible appetite such as: love, desire, joy, hatred, aversion, and
sorrow. She showed love to all her children and her stubborn husband. She loved her
children by showing patience in everything that they did. She also loved her husband
despite his many flaws, failings, and vices. She loved what she was doing, she never
complained and that is what kept her going even through the tough times. She also
had the desire to do what she can for her family in every way possible. That was
through her literary skills, she took advantage of the contests to try and win
something for her family. Her desire was so strong that she got to win more than her
share of prizes. That benefitted her family so much. Her job is not easy but she was
always happy even during the hard times. She displayed an optimistic spirit that kept
her family feeling joy as well. At times, she felt hatred, Feeling this is normal, for she is
just like any other human who can feel the burning fires of hatred but this did not last
a long time. She just needed time alone to cry and she was alright again. She
displayed the act of aversion by controlling herself and not saying words that she will
later regret, not even if her husband was clearly the wrong one. Whenever her
husband displayed sharp bursts of anger, she would remain calm and avoid him or
even tend to his needs. She was very wise and she always knew the proper and correct
way to respond to something unpleasant. Lastly, she was sorrowful when she learned
that her husband kept a secret from her. Their house was going to be taken away and
thats when she was the most sorrowful during the entire movie.
The complete opposite, Kelly Ryan displayed the irascible appetite because he
possessed the acts of the irascible appetite such as: hope, despair, courage, fear, and
anger. He was a very nice man, he knew his weaknesses and faults but he never
admitted them or apologised for being like that. But he had hope, he had hope that he
would fill their cooler someday even if it took a long time. It was difficult for him to
achieve it, he just needed the right willpower to do it. It was actually attainable but he
let his passion fuel his appetite to be above his intellect. He showed despair when he
would become aware of their situation as a family, like not having enough money to
pay the milk man. To him the good was unattainable. He demonstrated a spirit of
courage when he did all the things he did may it be for the good or whatever sustained
him. Lastly, he had anger bouts depending on his alcohol intake. His mood would
swing after a while. In the movie, he nearly wrecked their cooler because of his anger.
He threw out some of the food from the shopping contest because he felt like it was his
duty to fill the cooler. He also felt like he was becoming worthless in the family.
The childrens roles were supporting their dear mother and defending her
against their father. They shared the type of appetite as their mother, the
concupiscible appetite.
Each of the characters had the Intellect and freewill to do whatever was right in
their eyes. The aforementioned go above appetite and they are higher because of good
reason. We must be ruled by our intellect, decide freely according to virtues, and be
satisfied with the good things through our appetite. However, Kelly Ryan was ruled by
his appetite. He spent his savings on alcohol which contributed to the loss of money
for other important things. He had ten children, he knew his responsibility but the
passion that fuelled his appetite was just too strong, stronger that his willpower to do
what is right. Evelyn Ryan, on the other hand, was successful in that matter because
she used her attributes wisely and she was the one who took the place of her husband
as the breadwinner of the family. She was a balanced human being, someone worth
looking up to, a very good role model.






1). The sensitive appetite is divided into appetitus concupiscibilis and appetitus
irascibilis, according as its object is apprehended simply as good, useful, or
pleasurable, or as being obtainable only with difficulty and by the overcoming of
obstacles (Summa Theol., I, Q. lxxxi, a. 5; Q. lxxxii, a. 5; I-II, Q. xxiii, a. 1;Qust.
disp., De veritate, Q. xxv, a. 2). All the manifestations of the sensitive appetite are
called passions. In the scholastic terminology this word has not the
limited signification in which it is commonly used today. There are six passions for
the concupiscible appetite: loveand hatred, desire and aversion, joy and sadness;
and five for the irascible appetite: hope and despair, courage, fear,
and anger (Summa Theol., I-II, Q. xxiii, a. 4).

The appetitus rationalis, or will, is a faculty of the spiritual soul,
following intellectual knowledge, tending to the good as such and not primarily to
concrete objects. It tends to these in so far as they are known to participate in the
abstract and perfect goodness conceived by the intellect (Qust. disp., De veritate,
Q. xxv, a. 1). In thenatural and the sensitive appetites there is no freedom. One
is necessitated by the laws of nature itself, the other by the sense-apprehension of
a concrete thing as pleasant and useful. The will, on the contrary, is
not necessitated by any concrete good, because no concrete good fully realizes the
concept of perfect goodness which alone can necessarily draw the will. In this is to
be found the fundamental reason of the freedom of the will
The sensitive appetite in man is under the control of the will and can be
strengthened or checked by the will's determination. This control, however, is not
absolute, for the sensitive appetite depends on organic conditions, which are not
regulated by reason. Frequently, also, owing to its suddenness or intensity, the
outburst of passion cannot be repressed (Summa Theol., I, Q. lxxxi, a. 3; I-II, Q.
xvii, a. 7;Qust. disp., De veritate, Q. xxv, a. 4). On the other hand, the
sensitive appetite exerts a strong influence on the will, both because
thepassions modify organic conditions and thus influence all cognitive faculties, and
because their intensity may prevent the mind from applying itself to the higher
operations of intellect and will