On The Waterfront

In the movie On The Waterfront, there are many beliefs concerning the differences between being a traitor, and being a whistle blower. The priest in the movie believes that Terry should testify in court about the death of Joey, but Terry does not want to testify because he fears for his life. Obviously the mob will consider Terry a traitor if he testifies because they don't want to get themselves in trouble, so they would rather have him quiet. Obviously Edy and her father want Terry to testify against Johnny, in order to have justice truly served for the crime. What I found very interesting about the end of the movie was that most people other than the mob wanted Terry to testify, but then after that, everyone felt that he had done the wrong thing. His kid that was in his gang killed all of his pigeons, and the dock leader wouldn't let him work, while none of the workers would talk to him. Another thing I found odd about the movie was how Edy was begging for Terry to testify, but then before he did, she told him that they could just move out west, away from the mob.

I believe the question of whether someone is a "Tattle Tale", or a person who speaks out against improper behavior depends soley on the person who is being affected. If they are losing out on something or being affected by the leak of information, they will consider the person a tattle tale, and probably wish they never confided certain information with them. If one can gain or society will gain from it, the person will be known as a hero. I believe that it is true that people will cower in the face of danger, if information they have could potentially stop corruption of some sort, but they are in danger. People in general would rather save their own skin than leak helpful information, at a price.