Lydia Maria Child once said, “Nature made us individuals, as she did the flowers and the pebbles; but we are afraid to be peculiar, and so our society resembles a bag of marbles, or a string of mold candles.” Conformity can be defined as compliance with standards, rules, or laws. Social conformity is described as one who follows the majority's desires or standards in society. Leopard Man, originally named Tom Leppard who is covered in tattoos of leopard spots from head to toe, is not considered a conformist. Unlike many other conformist, Leopard Man does not seek for society’s approval, he lives far away from others in order to live peacefully, and has permanently tattooed himself as a leopard for his personal pleasures. One should believe Leopard Man is a non-conformist because he chose to segregate himself from the general public. In the article, “The Sociology of Leopard Man”, the author Logan Feys asserts, “He lives in Solitude… Spends most of his time in a small cabin in the Scottish wilderness.” (Par. 3). By looking at the text, the audience can learn that because Leopard Man has isolated himself from society in order to live in solitude, clearly he does not want much to do with society, consequently, there is not much for him to conform to. It is essential to note …show more content…
The author claims, “Leopard Man, however, is no ordinary freak. He doesn’t live for other people’s reactions.” (Feys, Par. 3) In this example, readers can take away that Leopard Man does not burden himself with the approval and opinions of society. This demonstrates why Leopard Man is a non-conformist for the fact that he does not vie for the acceptance of society compared to conformists who live their life based on what society accepts and approves of. The evidence suggests that it is very unlikely for Leopard Man to be a conformist because the standpoint of society is irrelevant to
Conformity, it’s something everyone deals with, even if they do not realize it. Although, what happens when conformity takes control over everything? What if the world was stripped of individuality, no citizen has any rights to hold on to, while not being able to think for one’s self. That is an image what it would be like if everyone in the world were to conform to a restricting society. Just think of all of the advances in technology the human race has come up with in the last ten years alone. None of that would have been possible in a society where no one can go above another person's IQ level. This is the world the characters in Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem live in. The reasons that total conformity is dangerous is because individuality is not possible, no family history, and advancement would not be possible.
By all means, conformity has the potential of being extremely dangerous because of the risk factors, and because of what conformity can force someone do. Of course, conformity can be triggered by any psychological and mental disorder, but conformity can also be an element to any psychological or mental disorder, which in my opinion is more realistic. This essay revolves around conformity, and non-conformity. Most of society is filled with conformists, meanwhile people like Leopard Man that are non-conformist, are endlessly judged and treated as abnormal beings. Nevertheless, I’d have to disagree with Feys on the idea of conformity being the world’s most dangerous psychological disorder because truthfully there are a lot worse out there. On the other hand, Feys also states in paragraph six “To be human is to be an individual human, with individual tastes, talents, values and dreams that are destruct from those of others. Living in society, we are under constant pressure to surrender our individuality to the will of the majority school, the workplace, the family, etc.” This is the most honest quote in this essay because as a
The author, Logan Feys in his article, ¨The Sociology of Leopard Man¨, discusses the topic of society and being a nonconformist. He claims that people should be psychologically free and strong enough to live independently, leaving society and entering society on their own terms. He supports his claim by first comparing abnormal people and ¨normal¨ people. For example, in the article he states, “Plenty of weird people do have serious mental problems. But so do plenty of ¨normal¨ people.¨ (Feys 1). He then goes on to explain the dangers of conforming to society. ¨Conformity can be seen as the world's most common but dangerous psychological disorder. Living in society, we are under constant pressure to surrender our individuality to the will of
Chris McCandless is an excellent example of someone who uses non-conformity as a trait in his life. In chapter twelve, McCandless attempted to convince his teachers, parents, even the principle of his school that he did not deserve to be in the accelerated program, when he was in third grade. He did not want to conform to the program like the other kids that were accepted did. In Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" p. 406- 415, Thoreau explains everyone is different, go at your own pace, no one can be the same. In "Walden" a man travels to different places, doing the exact opposite people expect him to do, like this, McCandless did not want to listen to what his parents and teachers were telling
The act of people conforming is seen every where. Any activity performed by someone that is “in the ordinary” is them conforming to the norm. In the crucible, all the girls conform to the norm, set by Abigail Williams. When Abigail faints, the girls faint, when Abigail screams, the girls scream. They mirror her in her every action due to their fear of what would occur if they did not. Same concept is seen today, for example, when you shower regularly you are conforming to the norm. You shower in fear of judgement if you were not to shower, and you shower in following the actions of others. This common action of following in others footsteps affects us by causing people to become identical and influencing people to ignore their personal morals and follow the mob of society blindly. People force physical change upon themselves due to fear of being that one
Conformity- behavior in accordance with socially accepted conventions or standards. When does conformity go too far? In Anthem by Ayn Rand people conformed out of fear. Everyone in there society has to be the same skill level, same intelligent and same physical attributes. People are given numbers at birth. People are also assigned jobs that they can not reject. Equality who is the main character does not follow the rules and is rubellus. He meets a girl that is just like him who he calls the Golden One. He make electricity and shows it to the highest people in there world, and they think it is evil. He gets sent to prison ,but he escapes because there were no locks on the doors. He goes to the forbidden forest. The Golden One finds him ,and they find a house in the mountains. They find all new things that they don't know what it is. But Equality plans to get his friends from the town and start his own society with his rules. Social conformity goes too far when the people do not have a choice for anything.
Why are people conforming to soctiety? In the article, "The Sociology of Leopard Man", by Logan Feys uses Tom Leppard as an example of both a conformist and non-conformist person. Tom Leppard also known as Leopard Man, is tattooed from head to toe, but he does not live among society. Instead he lives in the scottish wilderness, in a small and isolated cabin, away from people. In this article, Feys argues that some people change their appearance because they want attention. In my opinion, I agree with Feys when he argues that certain individuals change their appearance just to be notice by others around them. On the other hand, I disagree with the fact that Feys believes that all people change their appearance for the worst and not for the good.
Society forces people to conform to its standards. “Society is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater.” (Self-Reliance) To live deliberately is to live according to one’s own standards. McCandless sought to escape conformity by living on the edge of society, he chose to ignore government
Like The Crucible, conformity is also highly present in everyday society. At a very basic level, this is seen in how people conform to “unwritten rules” of society, such as bathing regularly, and saying “hello” when greeting people. Although there are no requirements or strict punishments for not performing these actions, humans’ concern for what their peers think of them drives them to do them so they do not stick out of the norm. This is seen similarly in how people dress, like wearing suits for office jobs and how kids dress for school based on dress codes. People wear what they consider normal, or what is mandated, in order to conform to the people around them, allowing them to not stick out and to be accepted by people around them. This idea was also demonstrated in an experiment conducted by the producers of the television show “Brain Games,” where they planted some people in a doctor's office waiting room, and told them to stand up when a bell rang, and sit down when the bell rang again. They found that actual patients stood up and down with the planted extras, despite not knowing why they were doing it, essentially conforming to the group in order to avoid being the outcast. Clearly, conformity is very present in society today.
They believe that being extraordinary means acting like a freak because, " Society looks down upon freakish and extraordinary individuals..." (4). There are many individuals that conform to the "social norm" rather than being themselves. What those people don't understand is that it's alright be an individual and have individual thoughts and actions. People might be afraid to be non-conformists and they'd rather blend in than attract too much attention. The Leopard Man is a non-conformist who is happy in his own skin; he, "… unlike so many millions of people who are slaves to society's demands- is happy" (7).
In the essay “Sociology of Leopard Man”, Logan Fey suggests that people should be able to balance whether they are following society’s values and when to be an individual. According to Fey, “to be human is to be an individual human”. He develops this claim by first describing “Leopard Man”, a man who is covered in leopard tattoos. Then, he explains how being an individual can free you of mental disorders. Toward the end of the essay, Fey tells us about how “Leopard Man” is now happy since he has seceded from society.
Conformity has been the target of many works of literature even before Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye spewed angst about everyone around him being a “phony.” To many people, there are forces in the social order that shape others to fit a certain mold, and one who does not fit the mold will be considered an outcast by society. During the 1960’s, rebellion was a shared act among the majority, including authors and artists; this was due to the conflict in the East as well as the Civil Rights movement. To these people, the government was a criminal, even a machine perhaps, which threatened one’s individuality. This provides some historical context on the background of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Ken Kesey, the author, worked in
example of how conformity is a big ideology in the society. His statement proves that they believe
Conformity: Adjusting one’s behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard. In the movie, when Judy said that she though that the predator’s attacks were due to genetics, everyone conformed to this idea. The prey started to separate themselves from the prey and conform to this idea.
Emerson believes that conformity turns men’s lives into a lie. Conformist men act other characters and do not represent their actual point of view. They are willing to be untrue to themselves just because they are influenced by the majority. Emerson says that it is effortless to be a conformist human and to live after the opinion of the majority and those people are no true men. Who wants to be “a man, must be a nonconformist (pg.56).”