Analysis Of Alain De Boordon's The Consolations Of Philosophy

To want something, you can’t have. Desire is he cause of so many problems in the world and also the cause of why women display acts of viciousness towards each other. Since the dawn of time, there has been a divide between married and unmarried women. Unmarried women are viewed as not “pure”, while married women gain respect for having caught a man. Although in some cases they are not happy with their marriage, but do not want to lose the respect they have gained. In the text Francie watches as, her neighbor Joanna has rocks thrown at her because she, wants to walk her child born out of wedlock. Francie wanders why and simply concludes “That was Joanna’s crime, decided Francie—not that she had been bad, but that she had not been smart enough to get the boy to the church.” (Smith 232). Due to Francie’s upbringing, lifestyle and culture, Marriage is viewed as something of necessity, more than an option. There is an overshadowing pressure for young women her age, by society to get married; causing them to look down on other women for not obtaining the status that comes with

But conforming to what the majority is doing because it is deemed as cool is a whole different story. Instead of conforming to keep society running smoothly, we sometimes conform due to fear that we will receive hateful backlash for breaking against the norm or in fear that we will be wrong. Solomon Asch explains the latter reason when he conducted an experiment to investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform. In his experiment, there was only one true participant and 4 other fake participants that will help prove his point correct. Cards were shown to everyone where there were lines of different length illustrated. They all had to choose which line was the longest. The first four people at the table were the fake participants and purposely chose the wrong answers. The last person was the true participant in the experiment and in all of the experiments they conducted, the last person always went with what the rest of the group thought even though he knew that the answer was incorrect. After the experiment was conducted, the real participants were interviewed and asked why they went along with everyone else even though they knew the answer was incorrect. “Most of them said that they did not really

Humans often act in ways they know to be incorrect or wrong for their own social benefit, often because we fear being different. One example of this is the Asch Conformity Experiment, where 75% of participants would choose the wrong answer on an obvious question just to not stand out from the crowd. After the experiment, all said they felt self-conscious and feared disapproval from the group. Another example is when those in a social group have preferences or choices differ from the rest of the group, they will often conform to the rest of the group's opinion. Nobody wants to be the only person to dislike a certain food or think a certain way, they fear they will be judged negatively for it. As social creatures, we seek for and strive other

Don’t be a conformist. Don’t be common. Be an individual. Conformity, although prevalent in society past and present, is never the answer. As individuals, we were made to be unique. Our insight alone is greater than the elementary principles of the crowd. However, if we conform to societal beliefs, as many of the racists did in “To Kill a Mockingbird” (Harper Lee), then what are we? Uneducated, crowd-pleasing citizens who won’t form our own values. The inability to form our own values causes everyone to cast the same vote. No one expresses different opinions, every white man downgrades African Americans, every male is “superior” to every female, and every child is of lesser value to adults. So, by being an individual, although one may be yelled

In fact, this also applies to the situation of understanding what social conformity is. This subject has been around for centuries, forcing many to behave in a certain way that the society expects. The influence of peer pressure is still a topic has an impact to the world, especially the adolescents. The “[s]ocial psychologists have suggested that one core function of compliance and conformity is to maintain group harmony”(“Social Influence and the Brain:Persuasion, Susceptibility to Influence and Retransmission” Cascio,Scholz,Falk) and this applies to many individuals who value public opinions more than their own. They seek to be “good” people and make an effort to follow the trend of the crowd. More often than not, this also relates to the confidence level of an individual, “If those others agree with one’s beliefs, one gains confidence in them; if they disagree, one loses confidence” (“Conformity,” Levine). This is indeed what many people face today from all different phases of life. Daisy, one of the characters in the book The Great Gatsby, is a perfect example of a person soaked into social conformity. From the beginning of her marriage life with Tom to the end of the book, she progresses into immoral stages of life. Day after day she conforms herself into a world filled with corruptions, such as adultery and murder. Although, she is an adult, she is a character that is stuck in a stage that her age group have already

Mark Twain, although quite the comedian, makes a valid point in “Corn-Pone Opinions”. The observation of humanity and its tendencies to follow what society promotes is a relevant occurrence today. Twain leads on “. . . that it’s born of the human being’s natural yearning to stand well with his fellows and have their inspiring approval and praise . . .” (720). Humans are not equipped to stand their own ground; they prefer to follow the leader. Twain puts it simply, “we are creatures of outside influences; as a rule we do not think, we only imitate” (719). Twain clearly makes his point noticeable to his audience, holding back no opinion throughout the

Second, society teaches us to conform by not thinking for ourselves. We are simply told how to solve a problem or accomplish a task. We are never taught why

Our opinions are influenced by the way our society thinks. This can have a little effect such as what trends we follow, or as large of an effect as how we're supposed to act. This can be a terrible system. In the text The Chrysalids by John Wyndham by the reader should learn that society has a huge influence on individuals by controlling influential figures to tell us certain things, using other actions, and using other cultures.

In nearly every society, tales exist about people sacrificing their beliefs simply because that is what everyone else is doing, and they do not want to be left out. Humans, since the beginning of our time on Earth, have been heavily influenced by outside opinions, and I think human nature will continue this cycle until we no longer inhabit the Earth. Often times, it is easier (but not usually right) to “go with the flow” of what your peers are doing, rather than standing up for what is true. I believe this was illustrated in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. The girls accusing the townspeople of witchcraft gained attention, something they did not previously have, and banded together, creating a strong, yet deadly, force. Other explanations exist, but there is no way to know for sure what the cause of the hysteria present in Salem was.

Also, society plays a big role in people’s opinions. People might change their minds because of the society. If the society refuses some ideas, the chance of having the opposite thought is very low.

Is it right for society to be in charge of what everyone has to say and do if they do not want to be an outcast? Many people follow whatever is popular in society because they do not want to be the one who does not fit in. In Fahrenheit 451, everyone follows a certain standard. People are not allowed to keep books in their houses because they will inspire people to be different. If people are suspected to, or have, books, the government hires firemen to come burn people’s houses down. Citizens drive so fast they must have ten lanes of road to help the traffic flow and billboards 200 feet long so people can see them as they drive. Society is only in control because people do not try to be different or change it. Clarisse McClellan is an example

When others dictate what we should think, feel and do, it eats away at our confidence. We begin to distrust our own instincts and we lose the ability to decipher what we really believe in versus what society, for example, wants us to be believe in. Although standing up for your beliefs seems difficult, the more you practice on it, the more you empower yourself. You build more confidence. Doing what you know is right takes guts; it takes guts to express an unpopular viewpoint. However, the more you tap on your guts, the more confident you become. We wouldn't be human if we didn't make the effort to step up and voice what you know is

The story in the bible is slightly different to the story being portrayed in Bordone’s painting. Bordone’s painting illustrates a scene that shows Christ high on a throne, near the center of the room, bathed in light. He is surrounded by many people, who are debating him, with all of them shown in different states of either confusion, thought, or conversation with Christ. They seem to be fighting to get the attention of Christ and to tell him their thoughts. In the upper left corner of the room, we see another area of the painting bathed in light, which illuminates Mary and Joseph as they burst in to discover Christ among the Doctors. The way Bordone chooses to interpret the scene from the bible is very interesting due to the slight changes

American psychologist, Rollo May, once said, “the opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it is conformity.” This philosophy is supported by Solomon E.Asch’s in his article, “The Opinions and Social Pressure.” In the article, Asch conducts a series of experiments that centralize on the influences of social pressure and the extent to which an individual, when confronted by the differing opinions of a majority, will surrender their perceptions to others. Asch argues that although humans believe they’re independent in their decision-making, they tend to pay heed to the majority because they fear the scrutiny of others and being an outcast in the group.

England has always had a rich history of interesting cultural traditions but arguably none as prevalent as marriage. Marriage, the union of two people with emotional ideals and expectations, are brought on by many different factors that include: for love, for money, for climbing social status, escapism, survival, etc. In Jane Austen’s novels, she focuses on the importance of marriage in her world because she wanted to emphasize how marriage is the most important life event of a woman as this would determine her place in society. Persuasion shows readers good and bad examples of marriage: the amiable Crofts and other couples such as Sir Walter & Lady Elliot and the Smiths. Jane Austen uses the Crofts to support the importance of marriage