, Research Paper
Fear of Humiliation leads to conformity.
Fear of humiliation leads to conformity. People agree with others because they fear ridicule or being isolated from the crowd. They fear the idea of not being a part of the whole. They fear isolation or worse, being ostracized by the group. Most people usually have an innate desire to fit in with a group. Consequently, they follow others not because they comply with what the majority is doing, but because they want to be a part of the powerful majority; not the weaker minority. Still those that resolve not to conform still have to deal with the conflict of going against the majority.
Examples of this idea are in the short stories, “My Man Bovanne” by Toni Bambara; “Salvation” by Langston Hughes; and “Boys and Girls” by Alice Munro.
“In My Man Bovanne,” Toni Bambara recounts a story of how a woman, Hazel, overcomes the humiliation that people try to force on her. She resists the congruity of her community by dancing with and showing a blind man, Bovanne, a good time. The people in her community have conformed to the idea that the blind man is a vagrant. They once held Bovanne in high regard, but when he became blind, instead of them taking care of him they just started to ignore him. Thus, the people labeled her as an outcast because she chose to take care of him. Hazel does not worry about conformity and believes that people should just be themselves. In her eyes, the blind man is the same as he was before he became blind. Her family and the people in the community did not approve of her relationship with Bovanne. They jumped to conclusions and resolved that she had an underlying reason to care for him, other than just camaraderie. When challenged by her family she stands up for Bovanne, which shows courage on her part. It is one thing to just disregard humiliation and not conform, but to be affronted and still stand up for what she believed showed strength.
In the story “My Man Bovanne”, Hazel’s son Joe Lee says, The point is Mama. . .well it s pride. You embarrass yourself and us too dancin like that. (pg. 474, Bambara). That allegation coming from her son revealed his fear of being humiliated by his mom, and his hope that she would conform and be like everyone else. Hazel s other son Task goes on to say that the way that Hazel is dressing is inappropriate. They try to hurt her feelings and make her feel shame to get her to conform, but it does not work. Each time they verbally attack her with an insult on her appearance or actions, she stands tall and does not succumb to their wishes. Of the three stories I selected, this is the only where a person stands tall and does not conform under pressure.
In the story Salvation by Langston Hughes, Langston fears that everyone will think that he is the only person who has not seen Jesus. He conforms to everyone s expectations and then lets himself down by lying. The variance in Langston and Hazel s situation was that Hazel did not conform because she knew that there was nothing immoral with what she was doing. Langston conformed out of confusion and fear. Langston did not comprehend that people were not truly seeing God, but that they were perceiving him in themselves, in their hearts. Langston did not want to conform. He truly wanted to wait and see Jesus. After people cajoled him, he finally went ahead and lied. Similar to Hazel s children in My Man Bovanne, Langston conformed out of shame, as he says, Now it was getting really late. I began to be ashamed of myself holding everything up so long. (pg. 125, Hughes). Hazel s son Joe Lee had tried to get her to conform for the same purpose, shame.
The story Boys and Girls shows a different side of people conforming. Alice Munro tells a story of how people once appreciated that she worked around the farm with her father because she was older than her brother. Later, as she and her brother grew older that approval begins to change. People stopped regarding her as her father s helper, and more as a girl that gets in the way. This conformity comes from society s standards not from any inner shame, as in the previous stories. Instead of her family being proud that she was helping them, all they could do was anticipate when her brother, Laird, would be capable of working. The girl in the story at first tried to overlook what was beginning to happen around her. When her grandmother would scold her remarking how girls should behave, Alice confirmed that she still slammed the doors, and sat awkwardly reasoning that this kept her free. Like Hazel, she too, tries not to conform and just to be herself. Then in the end, she can no longer fight the desire to conform. In the end, when she sets the horse free, instead of her father scolding her as he normally would he just says She s only a girl. (pg. 993, Munro)
People conform for many reasons. The primary reason that people conform is fear, fear of being an outcast, fear of being different. In the preceding stories that I have talked about, people seemed to conform because they feared being chagrined or humiliated. In My Man Bovanne, Hazel doesn t fall into society s trap of conformity. She resolves that she is going to be herself, no matter what people allege. She makes it comprehensible that people are going to think what they want so why change yourself if they are not going to change. The last paragraph of the story shows this when Bovanne says that he imagines her to be a pretty woman. Hazel then says, “I surely am,” then to herself she thinks, I say just like the hussy my daughter always say I was. Even though she agrees with what her daughter has been saying, she still does not avoid Bovanne. Hazel still goes ahead and treats him the way that she believes that he deserves. In Salvation, Langston finds himself conforming and then disappointing himself. He did not want to lie about seeing Jesus, but he did not want the people of his church and his aunt to be disappointed. The girl in “Boys and Girls” is not so quick to conform. She tries to show people that she is still useful around the farm. Finally she decides to stop doing what they want and do things for herself. It is as if she finally said to herself, that if they were going to keep treating her as if she was a wimpy girl, that she would be one. In all of these stories, pressure from society is the main driving force behind them conforming. Just as peer pressure brings conformity, so does society s pressures and expectations.
Fear of humiliation brings conformity. Hazel s children feared being seen as outcasts in their society. They feared that their mother was going to humiliate them, therefore they wanted her to conform and be like the rest of the elderly people in the community. They wanted her to take off her wig and wear more conservative clothes, and above all leave Bovanne alone.
Langston feared being the only person not to see Jesus. He felt that everyone was waiting on him to see Jesus and they would wait all night. He feared that he would humiliate his Aunt and himself if he did not just lie and say that he had seen Jesus and was saved.
At first Alice Munro s character was accepted as her father s helper, but as her brother grew older he replaced her position. She finally conformed to her family s new expectations of her because she feared humiliating herself. She knew that eventually that people would begin to say more harsh things about her always wanting to help on the farm, and being a tomboy. Unlike Langston who conformed not to humiliate his Aunt, the girl conformed so not to humiliate herself.
Fear of humiliation brings conformity. All the people in the stories I analyzed were faced with the dilemma of choosing what they wanted to do, and what society wanted them so do. Langston and Alice Munro s character conformed. Hazel did not. Hazel was happy that she did not conform. Langston and Alice s character where not. So yes, fear of humiliation brings conformity, but does conformity bring disappointment?
Другие работы по теме:
Conformity Essay Research Paper Conformity is defined
Conformity Essay, Research Paper Conformity is defined by Zimbardo (1992) as, ?A tendency for people to adopt behaviour, values and attitudes of other members of a reference group.? Mann (1969) identified the two major types of conformity: normative conformity and informational conformity.
Conformity Essay Research Paper A Japanese proverb
Conformity Essay, Research Paper A Japanese proverb says, “The nail that sticks out will be hammered down.” Society tries to place many rules on us as individuals as to what is acceptable and what is not. We must decide for ourselves whether to conform to such a social decorum. We are taught as soon as we are old enough to grasp the idea that it is bad to be unique and to avoid being different.
Love And Fear Essay Research Paper We
Love And Fear Essay, Research Paper We always say “Love conquers all” is commonly said and heard in our daily lives. Ironically, this is necessarily not true as James Baldwin views our society. He illustrates the stereotypes of both Blacks and Whites. In his argumentative autobiography, The Fire Next Time, the author brilliantly perceives the idea that love, instead of fear, liberates society.
Transcendentalism Essay Research Paper Henry David Thoreau
Transcendentalism Essay, Research Paper Henry David Thoreau, one of the biggest Transcendentalists of his time, was very outspoken on the idea of conformity. He believed and advocated the idea that people should not be involved with government, transportation, or activities that might give the possibility for people to conform.
Argument Essay Research Paper Can Only Fear
Argument Essay, Research Paper Can Only Fear Lead to Learning? I agree with Bruno Bettelheim, I think that fear is a very important part of learning. I don t think Children or students will learn unless they have a feeling of fear inside them. Saying that studying and learning should be fun doesn t cut it. Even if something is fun when you do it, you will get bored after a while.
Human Nature S Inclination Towards Conformity Essay
, Research Paper Human nature feels a sense of acceptance when conformed to those in its environment. People need to follow patterns, standards, and a structure of behavior to feel secure. A pattern to conform to is a kind of shelter. (Unknown) Whether a strong faith in religion, failure to decipher the truth, to follow the majority, or a realization of one s conformity, Arthur Miller s The Crucible supports human nature s natural inclination towards conformity through the plot and characters.
Does Neo Of The Matrix Fullfill Joseph
Cambell’s Heroic Archetype Essay, Research Paper An engine consists of many parts which work together to transform energy into mechanical force. With the absence of any of those parts, the collection is no longer an engine, but an assembly of parts with no purpose. Similar to this is the archetype of the hero.
Something Wicked This Way Comes Perfect Love
Casts Out All Fear Essay, Research Paper In Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes, it is suggested among several other themes in the novel that “Perfect Love casts out all fear.” This quote taken from the Gospel of John illustrates the point that where there is unconditional love, and one loves and is loved in return, there is no fear.
Justice Essay Research Paper The concept of
Justice Essay, Research Paper The concept of justness is a subjective reality. Justice is not present in any one person, justice appears to be present only in consensus. There is no just,
Rebellion And Conformity Essay Research Paper A
Rebellion And Conformity Essay, Research Paper A Japanese proverb says, The nail that sticks out will be hammered down. Society tries to place many regulations on us as individuals as to what is admissible and what is not. We must decide for ourselves whether to conform to such a social decorum. We are taught as soon as we are old enough to grasp the idea that it is undesirable to be unique and to avoid being different.
Conformity Essay Research Paper ConformityFeelings of disgust
Conformity Essay, Research Paper ConformityFeelings of disgust fill me when I observe the identity of an individual being crushed by the widespread need to fit in with society and be like everyone else. Differences in character, appearance, and emotion are created by unique pasts, and form the foundation for personal beliefs.
Primal Fear Essay Research Paper Primal FearIn
Primal Fear Essay, Research Paper Primal Fear In a society complete cooperation by all members must occur for any progress and construction to take place. When stuck on a deserted island in Golding?s Lord of the Flies, Ralph, Piggy, and the rest of the choirboys have no choice open to them but to eke out a living and to attempt to survive while waiting for rescue.
Fahrenheit 451 Essay Research Paper In the
Fahrenheit 451 Essay, Research Paper In the book Fahrenheit 451 the theme is a society/world that revolves around being basically brain washed or programmed because of the lack of people not thinking for themselves concerning the loss of knowledge, and imagination from books that don’t exist to them. In such stories as the Kurt Vonnegut’s "You have insulted me letter" also involving censorship to better society from vulgarity and from certain aspects of life that could be seen as disruptive to day to day society which leads to censorship of language and books.
Journalism Today Essay Research Paper Summary Leads
Journalism Today Essay, Research Paper Summary Leads ( Why are they are effective) The summary lead is the most widely used lead. It provides a brief summary of the facts in the article in the first sentence. Summary leads work best in inverted pyramid stories. I think that summary leads are effective because if the reader has an interest in the subject after reading the short summary at the beginning, then they will read the whole article.
Total Humiliation Essay Research Paper There are
Total Humiliation Essay, Research Paper There are few things in life that are more embarrassing than being the cause of a held up queue. The main reason why this causes shame, lowered eyes, nervousness, sweaty palms and that intense wish that you were someone else, is because of the disdain we hold for people who cause us the delay when we are standing in a queue eager to get on with the next part of out day.
Conformity Essay Research Paper The more people
Conformity Essay, Research Paper The more people already agree upon or share a particular idea, the more easily a newcomer will in turn be be converted to that idea, and the more difficult it will be for one already converted to reject that idea
The Scarlet Letter Puritans Vs Hester
Essay, Research Paper The Letter A is a mark of punishment and humiliation. However , Hester Prynne carries the symbol upon her with a very different out look than the puritans intended. Hester and the Puritans both have strong feelings for this Scarlet Letter but both will not come to terms and define a universal meaning for this strong symbol.
Fear To Become Essay Research Paper Fear
Fear To Become Essay, Research Paper Fear to Become Before I read ? The Fall of the House of Usher?, I had a dreary experience of my at my great grand-mothers house. Just as there are several causes and effects of horror in
Conformity Essay Research Paper Not ConformingIn my
Conformity Essay, Research Paper Not Conforming In my personal experience I consider myself a Farley normal human being that would generally follow most of the considered ?social norms? in our society. I take a shower every day, I don?t talk to strangers on the elevator, and I like to eat my cereal with milk.
Coporate Empires Essay Research Paper Corporate EmpiresCorporate
Coporate Empires Essay, Research Paper Corporate Empires. Corporate empires are the downfall of civilization. If society continues to allow the corporate giants to monopolize our economy we will lose our rights as individuals. Corporate empires use people as puppet subjects for their schemes and plans.
Bartleby Essay Essay Research Paper Bartleby EssayDiscuss
Bartleby Essay Essay, Research Paper Bartleby Essay Discuss the conflict of the individuals’ need to communicate his individual thoughts and feelings versus the desire of society’s institutions, for conformity in Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener” and Updike’s “A & P.”
The Fabulous Fifties Prelude To Rebellion Essay
, Research Paper Ahhh, the fifties. It was a time of prosperity, fear of destruction, and the typical American family. There was a set way for everything to be, and to vary from that way meant that you weren’t a true American. This type of thinking set the stage for the rebellious ideas of the sixties. This paper will discuss the fifties mindset and how the children raised in this time period were ultimately really messed up.
Conformity Vs Individuality Essay Research Paper Conformity
Conformity Vs. Individuality Essay, Research Paper Conformity vs. Individuality “People don’t talk about anything…and nobody says anything different from anyone else” This quote, from Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, demonstrates how this fictional society had no individuality, yet they expressed no disprovement of the conformity.
Illustrations Of Conformity Essay Research Paper Conformity
Illustrations Of Conformity Essay, Research Paper Conformity, perhaps the most cumbersome of all social pressures, appears many times throughout Literature. For instance, in Nathaniel Hawthorne s Young Goodman Brown, the element of conformity appears, as an excuse for the main character to engage in conduct that he realizes is wrong.
Celia Behind Me Essay Research Paper Celia
Celia Behind Me Essay, Research Paper Celia Behind me In her story, Celia Behind Me , Isabel Huggan writes about the subject that all of us can relate to: Pressure to fit in and be accepted. The main character, Elizabeth, struggles with her own insecurity and position within the group of kids. The result of her insecurity is frustration she expresses on Celia.
Macbeth Essay Research Paper I almost forgot
Macbeth Essay, Research Paper I almost forgot the taste of fears. The time has been my senses would have doled To hear a night-shriek, and my fell of hair Woul at a dismal treatise rouse and stir
Morality Essay Research Paper Morality is the
Morality Essay, Research Paper Morality is the cooperation of the part to the whole in order to instill conformity in everyone. How does society place morality on people? One of the major methods is through religion. Using the Devil as a catharsis, the single-shared belief in some type of God brings people together in conformity, ethically.
Blind Conformity In The Crucible Essay Research
Paper Crucible Essay – Blind Conformity Blind conformity to mass thought is an issue that greatly affected the events of the Salem Witch Trials in The Crucible. The tendency of the townspeople to conform blindly may have come from their religion. Puritanism did not encourage individuality, and anyone who was “different” was looked down upon.
Shirley Jackson The Lottery Analysis Essay Research
Paper Repressing Challenges to Order The rigid structure of society reinforces order and promotes conformity of all classes, but an individual contradicting established customs poses a threat. Shirley Jackson, the author of The Lottery, conveys that rebellious impulses of humans are repressed by society to maintain a rigid social order.
Fear Essay Research Paper Fear is an
Fear Essay, Research Paper Fear is an emotion produced by the brain to avoid a potentially bad situation or anxiety caused by the presence of danger. Fear caused by a threatening object or situation will typically result in increased body tension, heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate. These symptoms tend to produce different behavioral patterns in people.
Fear Essay Research Paper FearFear is something
Fear Essay, Research Paper Fear Fear is something that everyone has. Those people who say that they are afraid of nothing, they have fears too. A Person might not be very aware of a fear that they have, that is, until something happens that makes one aware of it. There are also different degrees of fear. Some people are afraid, but others can be petrified of something.
The Fear Of Fear Essay Research Paper
The Fear of Fear In The Lord of the Flies, fear is the cause of all destruction and violence, which leads to savagery, and disobeying of human morals. Throughout the entire book fear is what drives these young innocent boys into savagery, and what also pulls most of them away from expectable human behavior. Without the normal rules of society helping to guide them, they become disoriented with the new surroundings, therefore freighting them into savage ways.
A Life Lived In Fear Is A
Life Half Lived Essay, Research Paper What I want most in life is to be able to look back and say there wasn t anything I regret, no chances I didn t take, and nothing I passed up. Life is to short to be spent asking yourself “what if?” What if I had tried harder, done more, been better. There are many things beyond our control that keep us from our dreams, but fear is the worst, and we bring it upon ourselves.