There is a moment in every person’s life that defines what they will be and how they will do in the future. Although most people are unable to pinpoint the exact day and time of this moment, it is usually in early adolescence and involves that person’s peers and developing morals. It is usually caused by the metamorphosis from a completely dependent person to a social being where there is an increased pressure to fit in. The fictitious narrator in Alice
Adams’ "Truth or Consequences" – itself an excerpt from her book To See You Again – was unique in that she could pinpoint this defining moment. Her experience with
Carstairs Jones was a mixed blessing that she was not able to overcome and, in light of how her life turned out, was a foreshadowing of things to come.
Throughout the monologue, the narrator drops hints about how her "normal" past turned out. The many lovers she’d had – three marriages and as many abortions. Each time she was seeking out to gain an upper hand in life and social status. Once, she writes, "I was raped by someone to whom I was married." These are not part of what most people would constitute as a "normal" life. The sublimation of her own values and morals to become part of the ‘in’ crowd at her elementary school started with the malicious game of Truth or Consequences where she was the victim of a trick question designed to humilate her. Car Jones happened to be the rock adjacent to the hard place she was wedged between. Her ill fate led to the use of Car to prop her into social acceptance and the toll that Car imposed on her for her use of him caused confusion that stayed with her throughout her life.
In her own mind, the narrator decides that all of these events can be traced back to the incident with Car and, as indicated by the final line in the story, cause her to be traumatized and allow these things to happen. "… he could be as haunted as I am by everything that ever happened in his life." The traumatization threw the narrator into the arms of the most popular kid in class and that in turn led to her descent up the ladder of popularity. She reasons that to
Car, the event was of little consequence and was quickly forgotten. Just the last ‘bad’ thing he could do before his sudden advancement to high school. He just floated above all of the inconsequential things that he did and followed what he wished with nary a look back.
While she might think that her plans are working, they only lead her down a path of destruction. She lands in a boarding house, when child services find her, she goes to jail, becomes pregnant by a man who she believed was rich. Also she becomes sentenced to 15 years in prison, over a street fight with a former friend she double crossed. In the end, she is still serving time and was freed by the warden to go to her mother’s funeral. To only discover that her two sisters were adopted by the man she once loved, her sister is with the man who impregnated her, and the younger sister has become just like her. She wants to warn her sister, but she realizes if she is just like her there is no use in giving her advice. She just decides that her sister must figure it out by
The way and rate that people mature at can be directly attributed to the values and beliefs of the society that surrounds an individual. It is undeniable that society’s perspective on many controversial issues will generally be adopted by the younger generations in a given society. Moreover, the exposure to significant events, coupled with the major influence of family members, can have an enormous impact on how an individual matures. Additionally, family members greatly help each other develop into moral adults by instilling in each other values that will ultimately determine an individual’s character. In Harper Lee’s timeless classic, To Kill a Mockingbird, the constant reiteration of Atticus Finch’s values, in conjunction with the exposure to significant events, assist in Jem and Scout’s maturation into virtuous adolescents.
In a person’s life, one must overcome obstacles that have the potential to either negatively or positively impact their future. Whether it is a serious obstacle, such as being involved with drugs, or a minor obstacle, such as procrastinating an important essay for the night before it is due, the choices people make can influence the way they live their lives. In Wes Moore’s inspiring non-fiction book, The Other Wes Moore, two boys with the same name start off living a few blocks away from one another, but turn out to be completely different individuals. At first, they were both troublemakers, getting in trouble with the law. However, as time progressed, the author, Wes Moore, became a Rhodes scholar and quite successful, while the other Wes Moore was sentenced to life in prison. The difference between these two men was the surrounding influences that shaped their growth as people. In a person’s growth, the most important factors are a positive role model in a positive environment because a positive role model will provide the path to success and will aid that person in achieving prosperity.
The author then looks back upon the time in his life when her mother decided to drive Hunter Jordan’s old car. However, she didn’t know how to drive, and was generally afraid to get behind the wheel. On that day, she drove crazily on the road, and declared to never drive again. James McBride also reflected on his life up to a teenager, who knew that bad things would occur in the not too distant future if he didn’t change his ways and behavior.
... and her father lived a difficult life with their identity. Let us understand where Alison is coming from; here is a woman who has lost the only person that can fully understand what she has lived through. Perhaps this why this scene is set apart, because it resembles the connection that they will share for only a short brief moment. The book itself might be written for her father, who did not get the chance to fully find himself. Whatever the case may be, the scene in the car entitles the themes that jam our brains and make us think. The isolation car scene shows us that even though Alison did not know her father until he sadly died a few weeks later, we can see the parental bond they both share. Both characters needed each other the whole time; it was just ironic that Alison finally got through to her father in the final weeks of his life.
Her ability to use incredibly graphic details poetically just enhance the experience for the reader. Her car ride is a solemn one, and readers are introduced to the disturbances inside of the car as well as outside. Olds is able to express to readers the issues her father has with drinking while associating it to the death outside of the car as well. She is able to bring readers into the dark car with her, witnessing the wreckage, the cars strewn over the highway, and most importantly the body of the woman. While the accident wasn’t any fault of the car she is riding in, she is up front with readers how her father is not quite sober, and just missed hitting someone himself. Olds is able to use the graphic imagery of the accident and the somber interior of the car to express the family struggles she endured as well. Sheltered by her mother from the scene outside, she is left reflecting on the life that is represented on the road. Readers can feel the dark turn of her thoughts as she compares the carnage on the road as “…glass, bone, metal, flesh, and the family” (Olds). It is this ending in which Olds allows readers to understand the complexity of feelings that were associated with the accident on the dark rain covered highway. Reflecting on the
Living in a country, people are expected to act and feel a certain way about said country. The people that run the country can make stupid and pity decisions about issues, but can have their country at their backs with mere propaganda. In short term, individuals might feel as if the politics and the things that started wars were important and whoever thought otherwise would be considered a traitor. But if you look back in on the history, or just have and unbiased person point it out, you realize how ridiculous it all seems.
Society is ever changing and the people are just the same. Throughout history, it is shown that people change and mold to their surroundings. But when a deeper look is taken it is revealed that there is a minority that is unwilling or unable to fit these standards as most people do. These people tend to be forced into seclusion or made to fend for themselves. This is shown through the colonization of America and up into more recent times. The Native Americans are the first to make a life on this land, and when the English set up a new society, the Natives are forced onto smaller and smaller plots of land until forced to conform or to live on a reservation. The idea of this societal conformity is shown in “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” by Sherman Alexie, a short story author. Society's pressure to improve an individual living differently is hurting more than it is helping.
As an individual stuck amidst a foundation known for its propensity to breed social congruity, college has opened my eyes to numerous distinctive reasons why individuals decide to act in ways they wouldn't regularly act. Since they ordinarily aren't certain of their character, adolescents are more inclined to similarity than others. In the most essential structure, college is tormented with congruity through the generalizations that learners seek after and explore different avenues regarding trying to uncover their personality. There are two sorts of Conformity: the kind that makes you do your errands when your father authorizes you to, and the less than great kind in which you aimlessly take after the thoughts and tenets of an inner circle or gathering, without addressing the negative impacts it has upon yourself and the improvement of whatever remains of public opinion. Conformity is basic in that people strive for a feeling of strength and acknowledgement in their lives. As a result of this need, “we therefore figure out how to fit in with principles of other individuals. What's more the more we see others carrying on in a certain manner or settling on specific choices, the more we feel obliged to stick to this same pattern.” Despite the freedoms we are supposed to have in American society most adolescents find it difficult to have their own identity.
Imagine living in a world where almost everyone lived the same lifestyle. Same cars, styles, and personalities, almost everything was the same. There was a set social norm and if you were different, you might have been judged for the way you lived. You feel the need to change your lifestyle in order to fit in with the world’s “social norm”. There is a pressure from the people around you or the town/city that you live in. Now it is highly encouraged to be different amongst the rest of the people to stand out. However, before being “different”, many people felt the need to conform to society’s norm. In the books The Sun Also Rises and Babbitt, social conformity plays a huge role in their storylines. The term social conformity is a society or
In, Body Work by Sara Paretsky, the Guaman family’s homophobia damages their family by causing both Allie’s rape and death, and the covering up of them. Homophobia manages to cause all of this damage because it is a powerful social control mechanism, meaning it leads individuals towards conformity, and shames and or ostracizes those who don’t conform to the societal norm. In this case, the societal norm is heterosexuality, and homosexuals are shamed and ostracized for deviating from that norm. Allie is ashamed of being a lesbian and decides to serve in Iraq in the hope that she can repent for her “sins,” and her family is so ashamed of her homosexuality that they must deny it, which allows Tintrey to cover up the truth behind Allie’s death.
Every day of my life the sociology of “norms” is at work in my daily life. It works on a subconscious level, keeping me from acting “strange”. These norms are my guiding light to acting “normal” and fitting in with the societies that I am a part of, they tell me how to conduct myself and what my expectations of other’s behaviors should be.
To what extent do those around us affect the way we think; they we perceive a situation; or they way we form our prerogatives? There are many different trains of thought, some of which are adopted, others of which are taken into account based on experience and periods of introspection, but there is one that lies with it, a fundamental difference in comparison to others: the group mind. To which it involves several individuals, a group mind is in essence, a collective following to a set of beliefs and/or practices, usually brought together through forms of social pressure and preconceived notions of moral obligation. Furthermore, these groups are often characterized by the absence of individualism and a sense of obliviousness towards how their unspoken rules influences their view of the world as a whole. Moreover, group minds also involve social pressures, often enticing some to forsake their opinions to fit the given status quo of the group. Indeed, humans are social creatures that want to feel as if their participation in a group has value, but without the awareness of how social pressures affect their ability to make decisions and how one can overcome such pressure, they are nothing more but mental toxins, or in other words, group minds.
Prejudice is an inexcusable attitude (usually harmful) towards an individual based solely on the individual’s membership of a social group. Victims of prejudice may have difficulty focusing on tasks and making clear decisions and this effect can linger after the incident. Psychotherapy may be helpful in treating the negative mental effects of someone who has been the victim of prejudice. Psychotherapy may also be beneficial for someone who has prejudged or discriminated against another.
Social norms are the guidelines by which we, as a culture, look to for our actions. Using the norms to guide our social interactions in order to avoid embarrassment or ridicule. Different cultures have different norms, depending on their values, such a thing as personal space can be defined in different incriminates, and some may think it is six inches while others view it as three feet. These norms may even vary from situation to situation, such as an empty bus vs a crowded bus, it may not be socially acceptable to take a seat right next to someone on an empty bus, but it is socially acceptable to do so on a crowded bus. Social norms are relative depending on what social groups one is a part of one will prescribe to a different set of norms. Social norms have many different effects on our everyday lives, they can be used to foster pro-social behavior or they can be manipulated for wrongful purposes, and when breaking a social norm one will not always receive a negative reaction.