Breaking Bad's Walter White: cancer patient on a (bad) mission, and the question he raises

I imagine most of you are by now already familiar with television's "Breaking Bad" series, a crime melodrama, and a very successful one at that, in which nondescript high school chemistry teacher Walter White is diagnosed with lung cancer, and given two years to live.

The series episodes then chronicle the transformation of White from relatively mild-mannered school teacher into powerful, homicidal drug lord, and the metamorphosis of his character from one with decent moral standards to desperate criminal.

His perception that cancer is shortening his life serves immediately following his diagnosis as the prime mover of his rabid determination to acquire enough money to protect his family from financial ruin, from medical costs. To achieve this, the moral foundations of his character are shaken, and eventually crumble, as he moves from simple teacher to killer and drug kingpin.

But what drives his character more than anything else is his unshakeable belief that he is already doomed, so that taking chances, and making desperate moves now, with no consideration of either their moral turpitude, or of his own safety, makes a kind of sense.

Because he has no reason to move cautiously anymore, since any dangerous move he makes now might be his last anyway. The cancer he has assures that his clock is constantly ticking.

This boldness contributes greatly to his success as master of a growing drug empire, a boldness growing out of his conviction that he has nothing to lose, and he might as well go for broke now, whatever the risks.

To the point of this discussion: the actions of Walter White are presented as what they are, fiction.

But for how many people in real life, presented with a similar situation, would his actions actually serve as a kind of model, if only a psychological one, as to the way they would actually go in the time they have left?

That is, for how many people would a terminal cancer diagnosis seize control of their lives to such a degree that they would indeed "break bad," as Walter did?

Or would their faith and moral upbringing be enough to prevent them from going down the dark path that Walter White chose to pursue?

Perhaps it's not so far-fetched a question, especially if, as in Walter's case, there is an extreme financial imperative to provide financially for one's family.

Perhaps they wouldn't become drug lords, as he did, but would some of them perhaps be tempted to embezzle away company funds into a Swiss bank account for their loved ones, with little regard for the likely prison sentence resulting if caught, a sentence they figure they might never serve anyway?

Put another way, for some, their "bucket list," upon learning of a putatively terminal cancer diagnosis, might just prove to have a darker side, much like Walter White's.

But would many still do so if it even meant sacrificing the moral code they had always lived by?

Walter White exists as the total opposite of "shutting down," upon hearing a terminal cancer diagnosis. Rather, he becomes totally driven, and dynamic, in his effort to gain money for his family, in any way he can, using as best he can what he perceives as the little time he has left.

But what of the moral price he pays for living such a dark dynamic?

We don't hear of Walter White's in real life all that often, but is the potential for a concerning number of them to become very real actually out there?

Or is his story best left as fiction?

Thoughts?

One of the very best series I ever watched.

How do I answer your question or at least give my thoughts about it, without stepping into forbidden topics? I'm going to try. Some folks get their moral code from a being that they truly believe they belong to, and maybe one they only came to belong to after living a life without that. If they actually belong to this being- and even if the being does not exist but maybe if they only truly deep down believe the being they belong to does exist- they are very unlikely to break bad. Or at least unlikely to break bad and stay that way.

Because if they truly believe that their choices in the here and now have eternal consequences, and possibly also to their witness to their families who might go down a bad path(and with eternal consequences) because they did, I think this is going to over come the fear of the here and now. In addition to that, there is a certain trust in that other being, who never promised them an easy path in this life, in fact more the opposite.

So, I don't think those people would break bad. But notice the term "truly believe", and/or "actually belong to". There are multitudes who profess a set of beliefs, but it just isn't so. I doubt Walter White or his family ever even professed such. I think in their(the ones who don't really believe what they profess) case, they would be just as likely as any one else to go the Walter White path if they thought they could pull it off and accomplish some financial security for themselves in treatment and for their families afterward. I don't know what % of folks that might be though, no idea. 1%? 30%?

I hope I have not broken any forum rules, I am trying to stay very general in expressing this, avoiding anything specific.

Post Edited (BillyBob@388) : 5/1/2019 11:21:47 AM (GMT-6)

F8 said...
as a recovering addict and cancer survivor I thought the story was highly implausible. jesse should have been dead/killed a million times. very entertaining tho.

I guess it is also implausible to think of some one going from a meek, mild HS chemistry teacher, just given a couple of years to live, to a multi millionaire, killer and drug king pin. But, agree, very entertaining!

I think there's a far greater chance a terminal person would commit fraud than become a methamphetamine chemist which in my mind for a person like walter white is tantamount to committing mass murder. I think the chance of the latter are about as poor as recovering from terminal cancer or surviving 10 minutes at the bottom of a swimming pool.

david bowie spent his final days making music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-jqh1m4ya8

Just a guess:

90% of people who find themselves in Walter's shoes, pressed by circumstances to decide how their final time will go, will go like noblemen: as decent, law-abiding citizens, providing as best they can for their loved ones, lawfully, and then eventually leaving with great courage.

10% will choose Walter's way, but, for other than the financial reasons, why?

Maybe it's because these lines apply to them, and not the 90%, and there's no other way that 10% really can go:

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on that sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

I watched TV once, must have missed this show.

island time said...
...What keeps most of us in line is...."We don't want to hurt ourselves, we don't want to hurt other people, we don't want to go to jail". ...

Wow, this is really a basic issue with human nature. Without some inner positive moral compass, we may be nothing more than hedonistic rats, kill or be killed, "get all you can, can all you get, and poison the rest". Pure pragmatism by individuals could be quite destructive to a cooperative society.

Our very nation was founded upon the idea of governing a fundamentally moral people. As John Adams famously stated, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." We may be seeing this play out. As moral instruction is seen as increasingly passe, where the only thing considered "wrong" is to say that something is wrong, where reality itself becomes subjective, what guardrails remain? What is there to constrain the the two fundamental human drives, fear and greed?

I think it is hard for someone to betray their true inner compass. So, how "good" was Walter, really, before he turned? Was his behavior only socially acceptable because of external constraints? Was he really, internally, the terrible person he revealed after his diagnosis?

I don't think being diagnosed with a terminal disease would cause someone to radically depart from their internal value system. It may however give them the attitude of being freed from external constraints, and thus revealing their true nature.

Redwing57 -

Thank you very much for pretty much summarizing what this discussion is really all about!

When you say

"I think it is hard for someone to betray their true inner compass. So, how "good" was Walter, really, before he turned? Was his behavior only socially acceptable because of external constraints? Was he really, internally, the terrible person he revealed after his diagnosis?"

I think you are really getting to the heart of the matter: that when the social restraints on Walter White were lifted by circumstances, perhaps not so much lifted as broken if you will, his darker inner persona was unleashed, and it took him over. And at that point he did indeed become doomed, not by the cancer in his body, but by the darker side in his own mind, which did more to lead to his downfall than the cancer ever did.

But then it also occurred to me that Walter White's journey was symbolic for all who are confronted with a similar choice, and especially for us.

Like him, everyone here has had a cancer Dx, a life re-evaluation forced upon us because of this, and hard decisions about our futures then forced upon us as well.

This happened to Walter in fiction and to us in real life.

But, unlike Walter, we here have controlled our darker sides, and not stolen money, or embarked upon morally bankrupt enterprises, or the like, because we, you and I, have passed the test that Walter White failed!

It's true that I don't know any of your individual situations, but I'm willing to bet a good bit that I'm right in assuming that you have all stuck to your moral principles, have lived up to the moral standards you long ago set for yourselves, and remained steadfast in your characters.

A very big reason that I believe this must be true is simply because of the fact of what you are all doing at this very moment: you are participating in an online PCa support group, in which you not only gain information for yourselves, but as well provide support for others.

Bravo! And if you are willing to do that, as you are proving right now, then you have the kind of character that has passed the test that Walter White failed!

It means you have the kind of strength that Walter White lacked, the strength to fight your disease, to accept the challenges of it, to reach out to others in a common battle against it, and you have a right to feel good about yourselves because of that!

Walter White lacked the moral compass that we have proved that we ourselves have in our real lives, but, as a literary character, he has value for the moral lesson he provides as to how not to go!

Pratoman said...
I miss Walter White. I loved that show.

I’ve got this t-shirt...

https://www.amazon.com/breaking-bad-pollos-shirt-large/dp/b06xscdzx3/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?gclid=eaiaiqobchmiim7biob94qivaybich0pjqqbeaayasaaegkzhfd_bwe&hvadid=234315587445&hvdev=t&hvlocphy=9004385&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=10626093053476345375&hvtargid=kwd-15181612316&hydadcr=13655_10150826&keywords=breaking+bad+t+shirts&qid=1556807024&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1

..............................................................................
That is great!

81GyGuy said...
Redwing57 -

Thank you very much for pretty much summarizing what this discussion is really all about!

When you say

"I think it is hard for someone to betray their true inner compass. So, how "good" was Walter, really, before he turned? Was his behavior only socially acceptable because of external constraints? Was he really, internally, the terrible person he revealed after his diagnosis?"

I think you are really getting to the heart of the matter: that when the social restraints on Walter White were lifted by circumstances, perhaps not so much lifted as broken if you will, his darker inner persona was unleashed, and it took him over. And at that point he did indeed become doomed, not by the cancer in his body, but by the darker side in his own mind, which did more to lead to his downfall than the cancer ever did.

But then it also occurred to me that Walter White's journey was symbolic for all who are confronted with a similar choice, and especially for us.

Like him, everyone here has had a cancer Dx, a life re-evaluation forced upon us because of this, and hard decisions about our futures then forced upon us as well.

This happened to Walter in fiction and to us in real life.

But, unlike Walter, we here have controlled our darker sides, and not stolen money, or embarked upon morally bankrupt enterprises, or the like, because we, you and I, have passed the test that Walter White failed!

It's true that I don't know any of your individual situations, but I'm willing to bet a good bit that I'm right in assuming that you have all stuck to your moral principles, have lived up to the moral standards you long ago set for yourselves, and remained steadfast in your characters.

A very big reason that I believe this must be true is simply because of the fact of what you are all doing at this very moment: you are participating in an online PCa support group, in which you not only gain information for yourselves, but as well provide support for others.

Bravo! And if you are willing to do that, as you are proving right now, then you have the kind of character that has passed the test that Walter White failed!

It means you have the kind of strength that Walter White lacked, the strength to fight your disease, to accept the challenges of it, to reach out to others in a common battle against it, and you have a right to feel good about yourselves because of that!

Walter White lacked the moral compass that we have proved that we ourselves have in our real lives, but, as a literary character, he has value for the moral lesson he provides as to how not to go!

Agree with Red and 81

In the Character's own words (as provided by the writers)....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faqxaex46zk

Charles