Mr. Smith Goes To Washington Essay, Research Paper

The film Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (dir. Frank Capra, 1939) emphasizes honesty verses falsehood. Jefferson Smith (James Stewart) has great honor and he upholds his integrity. Smith is always in constant danger because he lets his honesty take over. Fallacy and lies manipulate Smith s integrity to achieve their purposes. Jim Taylor (Edward Arnold) and Senator Paine (Claude Rains) play great harm to Smith in the film.

Taylor sharply utter, I ll break him so wide open they ll never be able to find the pieces . Taylor is an overall evil person that only cares about himself and his goals. He would destroy a person reputation or a thing to accomplish his objectives. Mr. Smith stands in the way of Taylor s goals. Taylor and his partner, Senator Paine, use lies to corrupt Smith. They told the Senate that Smith s bill to build a boys camp is for his own profit. Smith s signature is sign on documents that Smith never saw before and Taylor knows who truly sign the documents.

Smith main weapon is his honesty. At the end of the film, honesty prevails over falsehood. One of the Senators expresses his admiration for Smith s sincerity, But most of us feel that no man who wasn t sincere could stage a fight like this against these impossible odds . Smith came into the Senate not knowing such evil that could tear a person apart. He never let the lies and false statements break his spirit that is yearning for truth. A statement exclaim by Saunders, Smith s secretary,, Now you ve been living in a boy s world, Jeff, and for heaven s sakes, stay there . Inside the mind of Smith, he is still a little boy but he has honesty.

Mr. Smith Goes To Washington emphasizes honesty verses falsehood. Honesty triumphs over falsehood at the end of the film. Smith lets his honesty scuffle against Taylor and Paine false statements and lies. Smith does not surrender and he plans never to surrender until the truth is exposes. At the end of the film, Senator Paine yells, Every word that boy said is the truth .