True Values Versus Superfiical Values in "The Snob" by Morley Callaghan

True Values versus Superficial Values in "The Snob" By [Name] [Course Title] [Department] [University] [Date] Love is the most important emotion for human beings, making it an eteranl theme for countless songs, plays, poems, and stories. It is an emotion expressing strong affection for family members, close friends and boyfriend and girlfriend. This precious feeling, however, may at times be not only weakend but also not acknowledged because of some superficial values, such as physical appearance, intelligence, family background and wealth. More specifically, some people place a much greater value on these superfical values than their love for their family. The central character, John Harcourt, in Morley Callaghan`s short story "The Snob" is a typical example. Feeling ashamed of his father`s inappropriate appearance, John is torn between his love for his father and family and his love for the world of privilege and wealth that Grace represents. However, rather than facing and resolving his inner conflict: love for father versus love for social status, John deliberately creates an external conflict with Grace by accusing her of being a snob. John`s internal conflict, his solution to his predicament, and his way of getting along with his girlfriend reveal that he is the real snob. John`s father represents his past and all the hardship that his family faced in his childhood. As John describes the appearance of his father as "shabby" that made him look like a "workingman", his past life of destitution is revealed. It is evident that his family had a hard time making ends meet but his parents made for it by giving John unconditional love and affection. . Perhaps that the reason behind whatever little he has achieved in his present academic life. John, however, has not accepted his past as the sight of his father fills him with resentment. It is his own complex that John projects in Grace when he calls her a "snob". In reality, John is the one who is snobbish and pretentious. He does not only resent the appearance of his father, but he detests everyone falling in social class that is blow the classy upper class that he wishes to be a part of. John is the one who has no respect for the hardworking people and i...