Sep 29th, 2007
The Bet
The Bet is a story that I have read in class. I think that its a great story and you learn a few things from it. The bet is about a young 25 year old lawyer who is talking about punishment with a banker. The lawyer talks about how he would do anything to live so he would stay in prison and the banker gets mad and says that he could never live in prison. You should just die instead of having your whole life sucked out of you. The banker made a bet with the lawyer for 2 million rubles that the lawyer couldnt stay in prison for 5 years. The lawyer said that he could live in prison for 5 years, but he said that he could even stay in jail for 15 years. The lawyer was put in a room with the door unlocked so he could walk out anytime he wanted to. The lawyer could not hear or see a human, he couldnt even read newspapers or read letters sent to him. He could listen to a piano though.
The reason why the banker made the deal with the lawyer for 2 million rubles (dollars) was because the banker was very rich and had all the money that he wanted. He knew that he wouldnt lose any because he thought that the lawyer would back out.
During the 15 years that the lawyer was in the room he read and wrote alot. He became very smart and learned alot like sign languages, studied history, and science.
The night before that the lawyer was going to be let out the banker didnt know what to do. Over the years the banker had lost all the money he had. He didnt know how he would be able to pay the lawyer. He thought that if the lawyer died he wouldnt have to pay him. The banker thought that he should kill the lawyer. He went into the room and saw this human asleep, almost looking like a skeleton with tight skin on and long thin arms. He didnt even look like a normal human being. He was going to kill him but first he thought that he should read this note that the lawyer had written. It talked about how the lawyer became very smart over the years and he was probably smarter than everyone. He also said that he was going to escape 5 minutes before he was to be let out. The banker felt really guilty about everything. He slept in late and the guard came running to him the next day saying that the lawyer has escaped.
Power is shown in the relationship with the lawyer and the banker because the banker is rich and very powerful with the bet that he has made. I also think that the lawyer can have power to though because he has a choice of making 2 million rubles or losing 2 million rubles.
I think that power can change the relationship between people because if your rude in a powerful way and your controling people, no one likes that so they will stop hanging out with you and the relationship will become dull. In the story the banker changes the relationship around with the lawyer because the banker is very mean in a way saying stay in the prison for 15 years. At the end of the story the banker feels very guilty about what he has done.
Power can change alot of people. If you have power and realise you can do whatever you want to do. You can be mean and control people or you can be nice and change things around. I think that power can change your personality.
