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Christopher McCandless, an American traveler, once said “So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservation, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality, nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit.” This quote is far more universally applicable than originally thought to be. Throughout one’s life, one will undoubtedly experience some form of conformity. The driving factor in a majority of these moments is fear; fear of not fitting in, or of not living up to society’s expectations. The only thing that lets one escape conformity is the truth known from past experiences. This …show more content…
Throughout The Book Thief, the narrator of the story, Death, often foreshadows as a technique for symbolizing the theme. He says “To live. Living was living. The price was guilt and shame” (Zusak 208). It is important to realize, this foreshadows the struggle for the Jews and Hans’ struggle with conformity. However, it still relates directly back to the theme. Living was considered better than death, but the price in living was sacrificing what one truly believed, causing guilt and shame to follow. Foreshadowing can also be found in The Giver. Within the story, there is a young child, Gabriel, that Jonas’ family takes care of. Gabriel and Jonas share many things in common that the rest of the community does not have, highlighting the theme once more. “Almost every citizen in the community had dark eyes. His [Jonas’s] parents did, and Lily [Jonas’s sister] did, and so did all of his group members and friends. But there were a few exceptions” (Lowry 25). Both Gabriel and Jonas shared pale eyes, opposed to everyone else in the community who had dark eyes. The reader later understands this is foreshadowing when it is realized that Gabriel and Jonas are the ones that change how the strict society works. The irregularities between them and the rest of the community symbolize Jonas and Gabriel’s escape from
“The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak is narrated by death and begins when Liesel’s brother dies on a train with her and her mother. At her brother’s burial, she steals her first book, “The Grave Digger’s Handbook” and soon after is separated from her mother and sent to live with foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann, in Molching, where the majority of the book takes place. At school, Liesel is teased because she can’t read so Hans teaches her to read when she wakes up from her frequent nightmares about her brother’s death. Hans is a painter and an accordion player and also plays the accordion for her after her nightmares. Liesel grows very close with Hans and also becomes close friends with her neighbor Rudy Steiner who constantly asks her to
Strong emotions towards another can cause one to act irrationally. In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak Rudy, Liesel, and her foster father Hans develop strong emotions towards others that cause them to act rashly. Rudy’s, Liesel’s, and Hans’s actions illustrate the unreasonable actions caused by strong feelings towards another.
Human nature has many elements that reveal the growth and personality of a person. In Markus Zusak’s “The Book Thief”, the author successfully portrays various aspects of human nature through Hans’ conflicts that originate from the tough reality that he lives in. Elements of human nature can be seen as a result of Hans’ constant struggles with guilt, kindness, and love.
In today’s world, we live in a society where we are subjected to follow rules, which are placed upon us by the society. Many people are faced with the dilemma of whether or not to follow the ideals of other people, or pursue their ideals and go against the prevailing conventions. In “Selections from Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer, the author talks about a man named McCandless who went into the Alaskan wilderness in order to find his true self. His journey was also to escape from the societal norms of society. A person who goes into the wilderness believes that they can live their life with brute simplicity. This gives them little to no time with the complicated problems of modern society. Likewise, in “Waiting for a Jew” by Jonathan Boyarin, the author talks about one’s aspiration to find their identity and purpose in the community. He conveys that religious places, like shul, allow an individual to develop a cross- cultural self. The desires and expectations placed upon us by the society shape our strategies of personal identity; therefore, instilling fears that cause us to identify in opposition to our prevailing conventions.
Foreshadowing in The Book Thief is one literary device used that some readers love and some readers hate. There are more than a few instances when the narrator, death, uses foreshadowing to keep the reader interested in the story and to further on certain thematic ideas in the novel. For example, death says that “Hans Hubermann was not granted membership in the Nazi Party. Not yet, anyway” (183). Here, it is being foreshadowed that Hans Hubermann will be forced to join the Nazi Party at some point in his life. By giving us this piece of information, the narrator is causing the readers to be curious and wanting to know more. This foreshadowing blends in with the thematic idea of war because by joining the Nazi Party, Hans will have to go fi...
Have you ever been happy trying to fit in? Whenever you try to fit in, you're always trying to make yourself happy by fitting in but they're actually not being themselves so they usually feel uncomfortable and unhappy mostly all the time. When I see the video of social experiments of conformity and it only takes about 4 people to conform somebody to do the wrong thing. There’s a few people that do not fall for it; usually the people who do not fall for conformity they are non conformist. If we didn’t have nonconformist this world would be all the same nobody would create anything because nobody would think out the box. Sometimes I see people as a flock of birds that all go one way. I believe people should not care about being judged because
If you were a German citizen during World War II, do you think you would be a Nazi? Most people would say no even though, in actuality, most people would be. It is because people need to succumb to societal expectations to survive in a society such as that of Germany during WWII and in the book, The Book Thief, this theme of individual versus society is explored with people complying and fighting social expectations. Sometimes people side with the Nazi Party out of fear of being targeted and other times fight against Nazi Party because of love for their family and fellow man with usually terrible consequences. In The Book Thief, the theme of the individual versus society is shown many times with characters conforming and defying social expectations.
In today's society, people say that they want to stick out and want to be different; but do they actually want to be individualized and not conform to society? In some instances, there are those few people that do “stray from the path”, but most are too scared to be different from everyone else and face ridicule. The film Powaqqatsi by Godfrey Reggio and the book
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
Death is a very well-known figure that is feared by many in all countries. He is suspected of being cruel, disturbing and all synonyms of horrifying. Death is inevitable and that is the most fearing aspect of his persona. In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, Death is made to seem or resemble humans. Effectively using the narration role, Death introduces a unique description and definition of colors in which he uses as a tool to effectively engage the readers to the events occurring throughout the book. He also demonstrates him personal and different experiences as well, mostly about soul gathering and the implications of WWII that have affected him. On the contrary to Death’s dead, appalling and scary nature that many interpret him to be during the book, Death shows many emotions and features to his personality that reasoning would declare otherwise. One of those feature would be the colors.
Conformity is defined as the occurrence of people yielding to social pressures as a result of pressure from a group of their peers; when faced by the pressure to conform, people will alter their behaviour and actions to fit the norm demonstrated by their peers (Lilienfield et al., 2012). Conformity is studied so that is can be understood and used in society to facilitate positive outcomes, and help avoid situations where peoples’ predisposition to conform leads to negative consequences (Lilienfield et al., 2012). By understanding conformity and other social processes society as a whole is able to understand themselves better and motivates them to work on improving as a whole (Lilienfield et al., 2012).
...iance, readers are capable of seeing how citizens in the world today try to be independent of others and sustain their personal beliefs and philosophy. Individuals have to put an end to conformity and trying to be a duplication of everyone else because they will never achieve success if they never decide for themselves. A person must not rely on the judgment and minds of others and learn to think for him or herself since depending on others only exhibits a person’s inferiority to larger institutions. People must stop using travel as an excuse to evade personal problems because if they do not have a direct confrontation with the dilemma, trying to escape will only lengthen it. People in today’s society must appreciate this work so they will approve of their individuality and be stronger in fighting against everyone else that disagrees with their personal philosophy.
There comes a point in everyone’s life when they are pressurized by society’s demands. One is given the option to either conform or challenge these social norms in order to suit one’s life.
Conformity is vital to people’s life. Humans, being compound animals, live in a culture that works as a whole. Therefore, if there is a fault, the whole system might disintegrate. So, people are obligated to respect the affairs of others so that they can stay together as a whole. On the other hand Individuality, just like conformity, is necessary to life even despite the fact that modern person may not understand its worth. At one point people may want to be special from all the rest in one way or the other. As a result individuals might dress a bit in a different way as well as choose to do things we actually like. And, for on one occasion, we might create the opinions based on what we actually feel. However, earlier or later we are required to curb our impulsive desires so that society or culture does not tag us as eccentric or else weird, simply for the reason that people fear being alone.
Let me ask You a question, Have you ever really thought about what conformity is. And no I don't mean the definition that is so available online but the impact of it, the effect that it has on our day to day lives. I know you're all probably like who is this guy trying to tell me what conformity is. It’s a surprisingly contradictory subject And a lot of people don't really understand how it works and the effects that it has on people .