O'BRIEN

Can you give us your opinion of Mr. Harmon's work?

SAWICKI

I think he's an outstanding young man. He is talented, bright, and compassionate. He's very much involved with depicting his neighborhood and environment in a positive manner.

O'BRIEN

Do you consider him an honest young man?

SAWICKI

Absolutely.

. . .

O'BRIEN

Nothing further.

. . .

PETROCELLI

You said you're a teacher in Mr. Harmon's school. Do you live in his neighborhood?

SAWICKI

No, I don't.

PETROCELLI

So although you want to vouch for his character, isn't it fair to say that you don't know what he does when he goes to his neighborhood and you go home to yours?

SAWICKI

No, it's not. His film footage shows me what he's seeing and, to a large extent, what he's thinking. And what he sees, the humanity of it, speaks of a very deep character.

PETROCELLI

What was he doing on the afternoon of December 22nd? Did he show you a film of that day?

SAWICKI

No, he did not.

PETROCELLI

Do you feel that the ability to make a film means that someone is honest?

SAWICKI

It is my belief that to make an honest film, one has to be an honest person. I would say that. And I do believe in Steve's honesty.

Do you believe Mr. Sawicki’s characterization of Steve? Give evidence from the passage to support your answer.

I have trouble believing Mr. Sawicki's characterization of Steve, because he knows Steve only in school. Since Mr. Sawicki does not know Steve outside of school, he cannot make a judgment about what Steve has been doing in his neighborhood or who his friends are. Sawicki says Steve is honest, but even if Steve is good or honest in Mr. Sawicki's opinion, good people can still make mistakes.

Answer Link

annyksl annyksl · Answer 2 · 2021-09-17T17:00:58+02:00

Sawicki's characterization of Steve cannot be believed.

When reading the passage presented in the question above, we can see that:

Sawicki has a very superficial view of Steve.
Sawicki doesn't know Steve deeply and this makes it impossible for him to speak properly about Steve's character.
The conclusions he has about Steve are based on stereotypes and have no evidence that they are real.

With this, we can conclude that the characterization made by Sawicki is very imprecise and weak, which prevents us from trusting him.