Ethical Egoism It would be wise if we first discuss what exactly ethical egoism is and then discuss how it relates to the story, so let us begin. Ethical egoism is a concept in ethics in relation to oneself and personal happiness. This can also be called the pursuit of pleasure and absence of pain. Egoism is often confused with egotism. Egotism can be seen as the selfish pursuit of shallow indulgence while egoism is the selfless pursuit of emotional happiness for everyone. In the story, egoism is also connected to the ancient Greek concept of Eudaimonia. A word that equates to virtue ethics in achieving life-goals and accomplishments. In society, there is the weight of expectations to fill roles given to us by ourselves or society but sometimes, there is a need to add order to our happiness so we can have a work-life balance.
This is Amnis’s story...
It began with the couple, Claude Crapaud the Gulf Coast toad and Fulgencio Rivière the golden toad perched on a mangrove branch by the Amnis River where their hybrid spawn were playing with a small cloud in the shape of a griffin, watching over like a kindly grandfather. Claude said sweetly to Fulgencio. “Ain’t our spawn beautiful, mon cher.” “Yes, yes they are,’’ Fulgencio said proudly, amused with the antics of a particular orange one with black spots. “This little one looks like she’s dancing.” “Yes, she does, and her little croaks are really melodious” she replied, happily. They named the little dancer Amnis after the Amnis River that channeled through southern Animalia. The rest of the siblings were Julien “Juju”, Django, Esmé and Jaime “Jimbo”. Fulgencio Rivière lived in Animalia with roots in France and Costa Rica. He was a makeup artist who would help the festival performers look their best on any special occasion like New Year’s or Mardi Gras. Claude Crapaud was a Creole immigrant from New Orleans, Louisiana (United States). She was also a street performer of the Voodoo faith. Marron Mangrove was a village community in the country of Animalia. It was a highly fertile and fruitful area ideal for horticulture and aquaculture. There were sugar and coffee plantations, coconut palms, and healthy rivers by the rice fields full of salmon, snails, crabs and crawfish. These were run by the local vertebrates including other toads, donkeys, wildcats, and caimans.
A few miles from the Amnis River was a gulch where a log of a tree, gray and decayed from age, was just wasting away with deer bones nearby. On the once majestic tree were a troop of malign fungi, covered in dark magic, preparing to disperse their spores. Dark clouds started to loom by, with one in the shape of a goblin’s head. It had a conical top with little bulbs on the brim, narrow eye-holes and a large beak in a grin, bearing needle-sharp teeth. The spores then released into the air, turning the sky black and green, temporarily sterilizing Merry Mangrove’s ecosystem and plunging it into chaos. The once healthy and brown trees grayed in decay with the inhabitants screaming and running for their lives. The majority who survived later immigrated to Bon Bayou county.
Luckily, during the mayhem that ensued during the release of the spores, Diego and Claude were among those who were able to escape to safety. Their children were in tow thanks to the help of their friends, Manuel “Manny” Mahiʻai the feral donkey and Anthony Adler the bald eagle. Anthony with a scoop of his wooden talon, placed half of the tadpoles in a golden Mason jar of water. Notchina followed suit, scooping the other half and hitching Francisco and Jeanne a ride on her back. Manny was the 10-year-old colt of Marco Mahiʻai and Maddie Macedo, high-school friends of Claude’s in Salvatore Swampman University. Anthony was the co-founder of the Talons of Justice, a government-backed organization dedicated to protecting each and every Animalian citizen from threats and oppression. The Crapaud Rivière family survived the spore infestation. However, the spawn was unconscious from breathing in the fumes made from the bad air and had to receive medical attention immediately. They were able to recover fairly quickly afterwards with the exception of Amnis. She contracted a sort of pneumonia caused by the fungi infestation. Worried for her daughter, Claude had to open Amnis’s jar. Amnis’s skin was fading and her swimming had slowed down alarmingly, but what was really odd to her was her eyes which were glowing orange and green.
Desperate to save Amnis, Claude and Diego went to seek guidance from the local Voodoo priestess Mama Selene, a giant shrew. She provided them with a healing elixer and a startiling prophecy. Amnis was destined to become the Master of Meaning when she reached maturity due to her spore exposure. The Master of Meaning is a being crossed between a mortal’s soul and the essence of deities. Masters hold duties in the wold, their inner journey in tied to nature. When Aminis was appointed as the Master of Meaning her own desire to make sense of her needs and wants became tied to her world. Claude and Diego followed their instructions to save their tadpole’s life. But they could not have imagined what came next, for After giving the elixir to Amnis, she went through a metamorphosis. Amnis’s father, Diego was a golden toad, a species of frog with bright orange skin and darker orange eyes. Claude was a Gulf coast toad with tan skin, black spots and dark green eyes. Amnis and her siblings were hybrids. But because Amnis had too much fungi in her system, she changed color and gained magical powers. Before the spore attach, she had a bright green body with a light orange belly, black spots, and mismatched orange/green eyes. All the other siblings were bright orange with black spots and orange or green eyes. Now the magic spores in her system have her growing gold claws, mushrooms are sprouting on her head like a crown, her eys glow gold and an ora will eminate from them when she feels powerful poistive emotion. This ora will grow around her family fill the air with sacred symbols. The natural world will glow and grow around her becoming lush filling with herbs and plants that heal. When she angry the waters rise and destroy what
is arounnd them and the natural world decays. Not to mention her ever-developing brain feeling and questioning abstract concepts she has never fully felt before like right, wrong, love, hate and so on. Puberty was a nighmare. When she was of age, Amnis would go to Salvatore Swampman University with a major in Music and a minor in Performing Arts. Amnis with some of her friends would soon form the band The Enchanted Petals. The band had Denise Didelphis the opossum on saxophone, Phoebe Duckley the platypus on piano and Amnis as the lead vocalist and trumpet player. The Enchanted Petals were soon able to travel abroad to the United States for their first album: Le Feu. It was a great success with audiences. Sandra Asad the caracal, this wild cat was a childhood friend of Amnis and Manny’s. Although she was not part of the band, she always gave her moral support and went to every concert alongside Manny. Like Amnis, she was also a Master with her domain being Mysteries. Sandra gave word to the Enchanted Petals that Amnis’s parents had died from a house flooding while the band was at the last rehearsal. Amnia had a discussion with her friends about her parents’ passing. Sandra and Manny are backstage outside at night in summer. Amnis’s sibling Juju called and told them their parents had died. Amnis was not good with closeness, doesn’t like the idea of being planted and tethered. She wasn’t answering her phone, therefore the news was forwarded to Sandra and Manny.
“Are you alright, Froggy”? Manny asked. “It’s okay if you want to call it quits. The fellas will understand”. “That’s nonsense, darling.” Amnis said dismissively. “Every good performer knows that the show must go on’’. “Not really, you should get some rest, Amnis”, Sandra said. “Your siblings need you right now. “Besides, you can’t run away from your problems.” To assure her friends, Amnis said “Mes amis, I’m not runnin’ from my problems. I’m dancin’ from ‘em! Well, look at the time, we’re up next. Ta-ta, Sandra and Manny, thanks for stoppin’ by”! “This ain’t gonna end well, is it’’? Manny asked, Sandra sighed and shook her head. Unfortunately, Sandra and Manny’s current presentiment would come into fruition. Amnis was bottling up her emotions for fear of letting her parents’ death sink in as she would then lose her focus on the show. Before going on stage, Amnis took a shot of pondstar onstage as she performed, trying to deny what was happening in her aching heart. She was very lively at the center, singing the songs, everyone’s performing well. They get involved with the audience. The audience is applauding, dancing along. But every couple of minutes, Amnis took another shot of alcohol. Slurring her speech, croaking and seeing Amnis’s declining performance, the audience started leaving their seats as the show continued. Eventually, Amnis passed out from an excess of drink.
After 6 years, the Enchanted Petals would disband and Amnis would sing commissioned records solo and work in the side-lines as a small-time actor for film and as a radio presenter. By doing so Amnis would gain the curse of being “jaded” with her claws turning to jade as her misery grew by each passing day. She became exactly what her parents promised her not to be. Through Amnis survived she stuggled with addiciton and depression; she was not the Master of Meaning she was destined to become. She was sent to the ZOS (Zoo of Sobriety) to learn abstinence. She was taught by Gari Gaidher, an elderly, blind, albino caiman aligator and an immigrant from Arima, Trinidad. A key thing Amnis took away from Gari was the concept of Eudaimonia. Eudaimonia is an ancient Greek concept where one not just makes life goals for themselves but makes these goals into habits for a happier and healthier life with more fulfillment and less wasted potential. This can apply to many things like preparing for college in one’s late teens or when finding a work-life balance as an adult. In Amnis’s case, it was gaining sobriety and making peace with her hyperactivity. Amnis and Gari meditated in Peace Park, a therapy center in Bon Bayou, where once a week Amnis would choose an activity that she could meditate about. On day one, Amnis took a ride on Gari’s snout as the caiman gently swam in the river. “Where would you like to start, little Amnis?”
“Well, as long as I can remember, I always felt different from the other tadpoles. I didn’t realize until later what that fully meant. It turns out that I’m the Master of Meaning. A creature neither animal nor god, but a strange spirit locked in between, does that make sense?” Gari revealed to Amnis that she was the Master of Motion and understood Amnis’s situation completely. Over the lessons, Amnis would learn to take more responsibility as the Master of Meaning, as she reflected on her past so that she would not have to repeat her mistakes in the future. By her own admission, Amnis decided to retire from performing on stage and decided to record songs from home thereafter. Amusingly, Amnis would still keep her showmanship and would use her powers to entertain people on the street. Amnis always had a hidden desire to have children and one day, her wish would come true. Not really someone’s spouse, however, as Amnis did not really feel comfortable with being committed to a life partner while having many affairs with other frogs her age. Amnis was taking one of her monthly hikes in Peace Park. Amnis went to this park often as it helped her collect her thoughts. She was just hopping along, minding her business and right before her eyes, she saw an egg in the road all on its lonesome. It was the size of a kiwi’s with a jade-green shell and gold-orange symbols.
The egg would grow up to be Holly “Jalapeño” Rivière, a burly but compassionate dragon with a gift for making anything with southern-fried spice. She becomes the owner and head chef of The Cajun Occasion, a southern restaurant with fresh beignets, crawfish pie and black jambalaya. As Amnis’s satisfaction with the parental chapters of her life grew, even if they could be hard in the moment, Amnis was able to make peace with herself (loose her “Jaded” Jade clasws) and gain her gold claws again. When Amnis knew her time had come, she regained her orange skin, renounced her Mastership of Meaning and went to the afterlife, finally at peace with no more regrets.
About the auther Ray Jones is a Senior at Bridges Academy, they will be attenidng Cal State Los Angeles in the fall. They have a passion for philophy, story telling, and especially for animals; this project combines all three. Disocovering the meaning of life and overcoming ones personal challenges throught the power of philosophy is hard work. It takes many animal friends from the kindom of Animalia to sort things out for our heroin, Amnis.