Tattle tale? More like someone who wasn't afraid to speak out against what was wrong. In On the Waterfront, Terry Maloy is just that. His brother, Charlie, has a job with the local mob, and he has many connections to it. But then, he witnesses the murder of his acquaintance, Joey. Terry isn't to shaken, although he knew he had played a part by luring Joey on to the roof, where he had been pushed off of. Sometime later, Terry is at a church that is attacked by some local hooligans. He escapes with Joey's sister, Edy. Terry and Edy become friends and fall in love. But, Edy doesn't know that Terry had any involement with Joey's murder. When she does find out, Terry decides to testify against the mob in Joey's murder trial. Johnny Friendly, the mob boss, tries to have Charlie kill Terry but Charlie can't do it and ends up getting killed himself. And then Terry gets to testify and send the entire mob to prison.

According to the mob, Terry was a rat, or stool pigeon or whatever you want to call it. But to everyone else, he was a moral crusader. Terry stood up when no one else would, for fear of being murdered. They had good reason to too. Terry's situation was black and white. He could either be a coward and know that the woman he loved's brother could have been avenged. Or, he could've done what he did. The right thing. And risk his life to put behind bars the mob that controlled the waterfront.

Ethics is a big issue in the play All My Sons by Arthur Miller. Joe Keller is a man whose family matters most to him, even before society. He knowingly sent out faulty parts from the factory he owned with another man, Herbert "Steve" Deever. Steve was sent to jail, and Joe went free. Joe thought that since he had done it for his family, it was alright. "For you, a business for you." (70) was how Joe pleaded with his son Chris after the truth came out. When Chris' fiancee ,Ann, says that she doesn't want to talk to her father, Joe reasons with her saying " A daughter is a daughter and a father is a father" (49) It's as if he thinks that by having Ann make amends with the man he sent to prison will make his case of selling Deever out for his family better.
In Joe's situation, I would not have shipped out the parts. And, if for some reason I had, I would accept responsibility. What Joe did what ethically wrong. He endangered the lives of men who were risking their lives to defeat Japan and the Axis. I would definantly choose to help society rather than my family. But, if the situation were different I would respond differently. A situation where I would do the unethical thing would be if say, somone killed all the members of my family. (It's unlikely, but for the purposes of this hypothetical situation it happened) I would most certainly go after whoever killed them vigilanty style and kill them. My code of ethivs really depends on the situation, but with Joe, I think what he did was wrong.