...much that most of society conform and become oblivious to what the government has done. Although there is a presence of individuality in Fahrenheit 451, the presence of conformity is more prevalent. Conformity is when a person complies with rules, regulations, and social normalities. Individuality is a quality or character that makes a person different from others. Through the use of individuals, such as Clarisse and Mildred; the government; and media and technology Fahrenheit 451 highlights the key elements of both individuality and conformity....
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...begin to change, especially among women of era. In “Bernice Bobs Her Hair,” we observe as the story’s central characters—a pair of young women—challenge the traditional gender roles set upon them by society, and in doing so, challenge the idea of conformity itself. Clearly this reflects the actual mindset of young women who lived during this time, as the 1920’s is particularly known as a time when women truly began to break societal norms and expected roles. But while the theme of identity and feminism seems clear to us, there also appears to be an underlying message that contrasts with this initial idea. Although “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” is a story about progression and escaping from societal norms, it leaves us with the strong notion that society is ultimately more comfortable with conformity. Some of the more obvious themes found within this story include those such as feminism and identity, which easily go hand-in-hand with one another. Feminism is a particularly interesting theme in this story because of the timeframe in which it takes place. As stated before, the early 20th century saw a drastic cultural change in the lives of women, beginning with the younger generations. Throughout “Bernice Bobs Her Hair,” we witness the contrasting images of Marjorie, the supposedly non-conforming, bold, and outgoing individual, and her cousin Bernice, who is much more sophisticated, old-fashioned, and “lady-like” in the traditional sense. While Bernice is the more traditional one of the...
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...common belief amongst beats movement writers was the idea of not conforming to the society that went against everything they believed. Ken Kesey hinted at his beats generation views all throughout One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by reversing gender and race roles inside the mental hospital the book takes place in. Kesey also exploits the idea of conforming to, and being controlled by society norms. Early and all through One Flew...
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...general conforms to society or the meanings of everyday living. Referring to the film "Dead Poets Society" it shows different reason of why people conforms. Even in one reading where a soldier conformed to society's saying to die for your country which was the "Soldier Protest Poems". In this paper I will show and explain reasons of why people conform. In the Film "Dead Poets Society" there were numerous of people conforming. One scene at the beginning of the film it shows Todd Anderson conforming to his parents by not doing anything but going to class and...
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...self-reliance a person will also live with inner peace and happiness, trusting his or her self.of self-reliance. Emerson makes some very good points about non-conformity and the negatives that can come with it. In Emerson’s “Self-Reliance” essay, he believes that self-reliance is the unbreakable trust in one’s own intuitions. He states this when he says, “To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men,—that is genius” (3). He believes that if a person believes that his or her belief is true for everyone, then that person is self-reliant, and in his eyes, that makes this person a genius. Emerson also believes that it can be hard to be self-reliant because of today’s world and the harsh society that it harbors. An example of this is when he says, “For non-conformity the world whips you with its displeasure” (6). His belief is that if someone has strong trust in his or her own intuition, which is known as self-reliance, then they will not conform to something. Now in return a person might feel displeasure from society’s reaction. However at least that person can be happy that they didn’t let the world around them break their self-reliance. There are many...
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...racist attitudes and uses the Mississippi River as the centre point of his novel. It symbolises the route toward freedom and escape for Huck and Jim providing the setting for the growth of both a young boy and a country struggling to understand definitions of freedom, individualism and civilisation. Salinger, however, uses his protagonist Holden to explore the materialistic, conformist society he saw developing after WW2. The first extract I chose is from chapter 22 of Catcher in the Rye where Phoebe accuses Holden of hating everything and everyone. Holden reveals here his fantasy of becoming ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ protecting children from falling into the adult world. This links with chapter 31 of Huckleberry Finn where Huck decides to write a letter to Tom Sawyer to tell Miss Watson where Jim is. He soon realises that Miss Watson would sell Jim either way. He resolves to “steal Jim out of slavery.” The theme of rejection is evident in both extracts because Huck rejects conforming to the values of a society filled with hatred a racism and Holden rejects adulthood and conforming to a ‘phony’ society. This leads to both protagonists rejecting situations they see as restricting. “The...
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...Cynthia Hum 201 March 16, 2013 Individualism One of the major figures in the movement of Transcendentalism was Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson’s essay “Self Reliance” explains his beliefs of individualism, human purpose, the use of nature and social responsibility. Although I don’t believe we will ever have a true understanding of our purpose on earth, I feel that we all need to believe in something in order to feel that we are productive additions to society and hold purpose. In modern day society examples of self reliance, which is close to my heart pertains myself and my brother. I as a single mother faced struggles in order to provide my daughter with the essentials of survival. I worked consistently to provide her with a different upbringing than I had to try and prevent history from repeating itself. I guided her in the direction of fulfilling her education and always told her to be herself. While raising her I am also attending school to further my education which is another example of self reliance. My last example within my own life is my brother whom is gay. The struggles that he has had to face I would not wish for anyone. The hatred and ridicule that he has gone through, only to continue to be him-self and hold his head up proud is admirable. It takes a very strong individual to stay true to your-self while constantly being knocked to the ground and for that I hold the highest respect and admiration to my brothers and the gay community. In Emerson’s “Self...
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...opposition toward a person or group in authority. These two choices are an evaluation throughout life, an individual is face with the conflict which he or she can adapt to, rebel against, move beyond, or conform to. People are usually labelled as a, conformist or a rebel. A conformist usually develop the tendency to conform within small groups or/and society, from subtle unconscious influences, or direct and overt social pressure. People often confine to conform from a desire for a sense of security without the risk of social rejection from peers. Whereas a rebel, refuse to obey rules or accept ‘normal’ standards of certain behavior or looks, usually motivated by a sense of freedom by self – determination aimed to revolutionize. Nonetheless the act of conformity and being rebellious can have its bad and good effects depending on the situation. A simple example of ‘good’ in conformity like driving on the correct side of the road to prevent confusion and accidents can be seen as a beneficial conformity. Positive conforming like this, allows one to learn and adopt appropriate behaviors required to relate and develop correctly within a society without being perceive as seclusion. There’s also ‘good’ in the act of rebellion as it can be seen in history during the Third Servile War (1098-71 BC), when Spartacus along with the slaves rebelled against the cruel Roman republic. With careful plotting and only using kitchen tools as weapons, a great battle took place leading victory for the slaves...
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..._________________________________ The hypothesis that my group and I tested was that if three or more people were faced another direction in an elevator rather than one person turned a different direction that they were more likely to conform. The independent variable in this experiment would be the control groups of one or three people standing in the elevator that were in on the experiment and the dependent variable would be the people in the elevator conforming due to the independent variable. I think the independent variable (one or three people) will influence the dependent variable (people conforming) by people conforming more to the group of three people rather than the group of one person because there is more social group pressure to conform to more and more people doing it. Experiments have shown that the most people will conform in an experiment with 3-5 people doing it and usually levels off around 10 people. Sometimes in an experiment unanimity will happen where one brave person will resist to the group pressure and if that happens a lot of people end up not conforming. If cohesion is high, which has to do with bonding with a group, it can hold a lot of social pressure to conform to what the group is doing and what they believe in. Also, status has a large part in conformity. If you are in a powerful high position (high status) then people around you look up to you and are more likely to conform to your ideas and...
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...Deviance is defined as as a violation of social norms, in regards to sociology. But what if deviance is actually just the opposite? What if deviance is simply a social norm? Cultural deviance theory suggests that the conformity to cultural norms of lower class societies actually causes crime. Simply stated, if you are in a lower class of society, committing a crime is actually an act of conformity. In the case of these poor societies, it is more obscure to not conform to the consistent lifestyle of crime. Moreover, does deviance really even exist in these societies? Those born into a lower class society, according to the cultural deviance theory, are born into a life of crime. Members of the poor society are expected to commit crimes, due...
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...Jessica Jones Expository Writing Brook Stanton- Section MP Final Draft #4 Community and Identity What is identity? To begin, there are two main components to understanding this rather complex and hard to define concept. First, everyone has a fixed identity. These are the aspects of a person in which he or she has no control over and cannot change, such as gender, sexuality, and race. Then there is natural identity, which is assembled by discourses and experiences throughout life. Natural identity is relational and constructed based on one’s own personal beliefs and values, as opposed to one’s fixed identity, which is based on characteristics and culture. Unfortunately, individuals let the unchangeable aspects of their identity limit them from creating their own unique identity. This can be due to societal views that expect an individual conform to the public image associated with his or her gender, race, and sexuality. “Losing Matt Shepard” by Beth Loffreda explores what she calls “The Limits of Identification”, and how these limits may have impacted the anti-gay murder of Matt Shepard. Similarly, “The Naked Citadel” by Susan Faludi could also be described as a text centrally concerned with the limits of identification, by exposing a connection between the image that men are expected to maintain by the general public and the behavior of the cadets in the Citadel. A community has the power to define an individual’s role based on gender, sexuality, or race, ultimately limiting...
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...laws and my morality is based on good interpersonal relationship and that is based on my family, church and community. Kohlberg defines conventional morality as conforming to roles and conforming to the accepted morals that our environment and society has determined to be moral. (DeGeorge, Pg 22) I know what is considered to be right or wrong and I do not have a problem in determining what is right and wrong according to the values and morals that my parents have instilled in me since I was a young child. As I transitioned into an adult, I realize that morality is a sense of judgment. I usually follow my instincts and the feeling that I get deep down inside to guide my ethical and moral decisions and I use society, laws and my conformity to the norms established in my life as my checks and balance for those societal accepted moral judgments. I make my determination by asking questions and putting myself in the position of others. I would like to one day progress to the Level III, the postconvential, autonomous, or principal and raise questions regarding how society determines those established society norms and why. My goal is to discover how the norms of morality in society is developed, accepted and why. (DeGeorge, Page 24) I know that stealing is wrong, and I don’t think about stealing because society has determined that taking others property that does not belong to them to be unacceptable and wrong. My parents taught me during my early years that there are...
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...Many people comply to roles expected of them by society. In the novel The Awakening by Kate Chopin, a woman strays from a traditional lifestyle. In this scene, Edna reflects on changes in her demeanor while she admires her new house. This quotation reveals how conformity is unnecessary. The theme of submission is first evident in the words no longer. This phrase, emphasized by its position at the beginning of the sentence, suggests that Edna did not always disregard her role. This evolution is further shown when Edna’s husband asks her to come inside at night. The text says, “Another time...
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...for being Hazara, which is the minority ethnicity in Afghanistan. Due to Amir conforming to the ideology of the society, he does not stand up for Hassan; “I opened my mouth, almost said something. Almost… I just watched,”(Hosseini 73). Amir shows conformity because he just watched as Assef and his friends were bullying Hassan. He had multiple opportunities to help Hassan, but did not. Hassan then pays the ultimate price for Amir conforming,...
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...The novel, A picture of Dorian Grey, by Oscar Wilde, glorifies one’s conforming to society that Lord Henry had laid out for them so much that the “rebels” who do not adapt to the social standards, are eventually lead to their downfall. As long as they don’t mix their inner thoughts or feelings into their perfectly molded social lives, there is no problem. However, as soon as the two intersect, they are doomed. This idea is presented many times throughout the book with various characters ultimately ending with Dorian himself. This notion of social conformity goes beyond just the book- the whole book to the Victorian’s was insane and in no way an act of conformity, an idea that was also glorified greatly in their society. Lord Henry is the...
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