RETURN TO PARADISE
(1) There are a few of changes in the characters of Tony and Sheriff. Tony is a guy
who is going to get married and start his family soon. Out of a sudden, he receives a sudden
news from Beth that the only way to save Lewis is them both return to Malaysia and confess
their share and serve in the “third–world prison” for three years. Here comes to the first change
of Tony, either he chooses to leave Lewis alone or chooses to marry and start a family as
planned. However, Tony was the first person that chose to go back to Malaysia to save Lewis’s
life. He mentioned that he will travel back to Malaysia if Sheriff boards the plane too, because
he is not willing to spend six years in the prison but three years is fine for him..
However, towards the end he chose to leave Lewis alone and try to persuade Sheriff
to come back with him and miss the final hearing in Penang. This is his second change. Tony
became extremely selfish and ruthless at the end of the movie even though Lewis was his good
friend. He chose to take the plane back to the United State but not saving his friend’s life.
Ethical egoism was shown by him as he act out for his self-interest only.
Moreover, there are a few of changes in the character of Sheriff too. At the
beginning of the movie, Sheriff seems to be selfish and irresponsible when he rejected to go
back to Penang to confess his guilt. Sheriff also seems to be a person who ran from his
responsibilities too in the beginning of the movie. He threw the bicycle rented in Penang which
has actually acted as the whistle blower to the entire story. He did confess that part of the
hashish was from him and he decided not to stand by for Lewis in the beginning of the story.
Here comes the first changes of Sheriff. He finally become a brave and responsible
person to confess his guilt in Penang. He went back at the end to save his friend’s life so he
does practice social morality. Social morality states that we live in a global-society with all of
us being connected, none of us live in isolation as he do act out for his self-interest only
(Thiroux & Krasemann, 2014). We have an effect on others, and others have an effect on us
(Thiroux & Krasemann, 2014).
RETURN TO PARADISE
In addition, the second change of Sheriff is when he became considerate in love.
Sheriff used to be a person who loves to have affair with several girls wherever he goes being
it in Malaysia or The U.S. before he knew Beth and he is willing to sacrifice his jail term in
order for Beth to be his wife.
Last but not least, the third change of Sheriff was shown at the second last scene in
the movie. Sheriff became a caring companion to Lewis. Even though Lewis was facing death
sentence in the end, Sheriff tried his very best to calm Lewis down during his execution by
yelling multiple times “I’m right here, you are not alone, Lewis!” (Return To Paradise). The
value of life principle was shown in this scene, as “Human beings should revere life and accept
death” (Thiroux & Krasemann, 2014).
In my opinion, I think that Sheriff’s change is the greatest compared to Tony in this
movie. Principle of individual freedom versus the value of life principle was shown in Sheriff.
He may need to face the six years sentence in the prison by returning alone to the court’s
hearing or fly back to United States. However, he chose to stand with Lewis and take up his
responsibility. The willingness of him to give up his freedom in order to save a person’s life.
“A true friendship never ends with problems but began with trust.”
Lastly, Sheriff‘s care for Lewis was shown too during the scene where Lewis was
being brought to the execution place. Sheriff kept on shouting, “I’m right here, you are not
alone, Lewis!” to reduce the fear of Lewis. Even though he was not able to save his friend’s
life in the end but do let Lewis know he was always be with Lewis. A person who did not give
a damn about Lewis now is crying for Lewis shows the greatest change. In conclusion, these
are the reasons why I said that Sheriff’s change was the greatest.
RETURN TO PARADISE
(2a) A psychological egoist would say to this story that the people always act out of their self-
interest whereby in the story of life and death. Under a choice of life and death circumstances, a
psychological egoist would have says that if one’s think that it is right to save someone life in
return of not sacrificing any life, it would have been a wise decision made because of not acting
out the selfishness. For example, Sheriff changed his mind to not go back with Tony because of
Lewis death after the lies from Beth.
If someone would have acted selfishly and think of themselves, they would have just
gone back and forget about Lewis. Psychological egoist state that people just do what makes
them feels good (MA.TT). Doing something valuable or something worth to do and indeed it
makes the other person feels good about it they will do it for the sake of helping the others.
A selfish people would have just thought of themselves but not think of others and they
will eventually makes decision based on the benefits they get. A psychological egoist would say
that people who is under the psychological egoism stage who tends to help other would probably
