Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Chrystian Sears
Professor Batty
English 101
14 May 2019
Shawn, in Still Water Saints, is an example of how associations with the wrong people
can sway our decision making and have an effect on our lives in a negative way. In the novel, at
a young age, Shawn’s relationship with Beady led to him meeting Beady’s brother. After their
first interaction with one another, Beady’s brother suggested they try speed for the first time and
they eventually get hooked on it and, ultimately, this leads Shawn to begin stealing from his own
store and also drinking and driving. We can argue that because Shawn is an independent person
and his decisions were made at his own free will, essentially, there is no one to blame but
himself. Although this may be true, I argue that due to Shawn’s and Beady’s friendship being so
strong and important to each other, Shawn blindly follows in Beady’s actions and is driven to do
such things. Even though we all have free will and independence, almost all people are
susceptible to being heavily influenced by people we think highly of since it is in our nature to
want to fit in. This allows others to affect, and often manipulate, our decisions just like Shawn.
Shawn is an example of someone who let bad people impact what he was doing for the
worse. Influence is a very dangerous thing because it can be done intentionally or unintentionally
which is why who we surround ourselves with is so important. According to an article called
Psychology Today, it states, “Rather, what we all have in abundance is influence, the power of
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which seems to function linearly: the closer personally and physically others are to us, the greater
our influence over them, and vice versa,” (Psychology Today). This best sums up how easy it is
to be influenced or influence others by simply having a good relationship with another person. In
Shawn’s case, Beady’s influence on him is one of the strongest we see in this story.
Beady encourages Shawn to do bad things such as drugs and drinking and driving. They
even have a scheme which allows them to steal merchandise and money from Shawn’s
workplace on a regular basis. Eventually, Shawn gets caught because Beady insisted that they
steal something much bigger and of more value but rather it being Beady, it was his girlfriend,
Daisy, who was in the store and it was obvious she knew close to nothing when it came to this
and Shawn knew that she was going to get him in trouble. Shawn denied Beady the first few
times when he suggested Daisy come in that day but Beady kept begging and Shawn finally gave
in even though he wanted nothing to do with it. Shawn says, “Fine. Send her ass in at eleven.
That’s when Bill’s going to the bank,” (Espinoza 150). Up to this point, it is evident that Shawn
wants nothing to do with their plan because he feels and knows nothing good could come of it
but, once again, Beady influences Shawn and insists that he goes through with it anyways.
Ultimately, he does get fired but isn’t even upset about Daisy getting him fired. He is upset that
he let it all happen and he didn’t do anything to stop it. Shawn says, “I almost saw it coming, and
that’s the thing that gets me about all this. When she was standing there hugging that big box, I
said to myself, This ain’t good. I think I’m fucking pissed at myself for letting it go on without
doing anything to stop or change it,” (Espinoza 157). After admitting that he blames himself, he
deals with getting laid off his job by doing more drugs and drinking, a practice that Shawn has
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been doing since his teenage years which developed into an addiction, then he relies on Beady to
We can see how much influence Beaty has over Shawn in this small passage of the story.
and that seems to be the case for most people in a real-world context which is why this character
is so relatable. In every case, our encompassing surroundings affect our decisions according to an
article called Quora. They also state, “Surrounding is something which influences mental state,
physical state, perception etc and then bring about change in our behavior,” (Quora). Basically,
the the overall message is how strong of an impact our environment can have on all of us as
people since it is natural for us to adapt to any and almost every kind of situation. We naturally
want to fit in with people so, often, we find ourselves “going with the flow” and doing things that
seem out of character for us. Following the crowd can lead someone down a road they are
This would be described as a negative influence. For example Beady is a bad influence
on Shawn. When they are together, nothing good comes out of their relationship. An example of
a good influence would be the encouragement to do something good for another person or being
around someone who practices good behavior and tries their best to better themselves and others
around by setting good examples. Though nobody is perfect in this sense but we should expect to
have people around us to motivate and put positive energy into us rather than encourage us to
Also our character deals with a drug addiction. Starting at a young age, Shawn started
doing drugs around the age of 12 or 13. This is the age most addicts develop their drug problem
which eventually leads them to drug abuse. In an article written by the National Institute on Drug
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Abuse, they claim that addiction and abuse can stems from family, from one generation to the
next. They also say, “If drug abuse persists into later adolescence, abusers typically become
more heavily involved with marijuana and then advance to other drugs, while continuing their
abuse of tobacco and alcohol. Studies have also shown that abuse of drugs in late childhood and
early adolescence is associated with greater drug involvement,” (National Institute on Drug
Abuse). A survey was conducted by the same company and around 21 million Americans over
the age of 12 had a drug abuse problem in 2015, according to according to the National Institute
on Drug Abuse
The overall message we can take away from our character Shawn is that we should be
careful with who and what we surround ourselves with. We as humans naturally become
attached to those we see more often than not and we try our best to fit in rather than be who we
truly are. Influence can be a very dangerous thing since it is so easy to affect people’s choices.
Shawn living with Beady and doing drugs and other illegal stuff regularly is an example of what
influence can do to someone. Of course, we can not identify a bad influence by just looking at
someone, but we can study our own behavior. Recognize when our routines that were constant
begin to change for the better or for worse, a positive or negative impact on our lives.
With that being said, it is important we try to find the signs of the negative or positive
influences around us daily. The people we meet that are always up to no good, constantly
damaging themselves internally and affecting those around them are the ones we grew up
learning to stay away from. Those that push us to be great and always uplift our spirits when we
are down are the people we should strive to keep in our circle. Never let negativity cloud our
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judgements and always do the right thing because you never know who is watching and who
“Individuals and Families: Models and Interventions.” Health and Behavior: The Interplay of
Biological, Behavioral, and Societal Influences., U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1 Jan. 1970,
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK43749/.
National Institute on Drug Abuse. “When and How Does Drug Abuse Start and
www.drugabuse.gov/publications/preventing-drug-abuse-among-children-adolescents-in-brief/ch
apter-1-risk-factors-protective-factors/when-how-does-drug-abuse-start-progress.