Essay On Search For Meaning In Lasse Hallstrom's Chocolat

Consider sitting in your high school with multiple different groups of people around. You hear numerous conversations coming from every direction and laughter filling the halls, but you are left standing in the hallway alone, feeling outcast, because you have no connection with those people. Having desolate feelings comes in response to this situation, and overall, it takes away from that sense of belonging. The unspoken rules present in these groups are responsible for the loss of belonging. People that do not fit the requirements within the rules often find themselves feeling as though they are outcasts in society. Individually, they will perceive themselves to be outsiders without a belonging in the social order because their traits do not match the desired ones in society. Additionally, the people in each specific group will begin to exclude the said outcasts because they do not belong in the clique. As a result, social events and conversations become more exclusive to those who fit the unspoken rules. This unfortunately can lead to bullying, for the exclusive people will make the outsiders feel unwelcomed and criticized. One who does not “fit in” with others will find themselves feeling insecure about their life and role in the community. Therefore, the unspoken rules of society affect each individual’s sense of belonging in both a positive and negative

Throughout generations in literature, “to live deliberately” has been the goal and purpose of life. As Alexander Supertramp (aka Chris McCandless) said, “The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun” (57).

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

Wolf argues that since meaningfulness in one’s life is a factor in well-being, we should try to increase the amount of chances people can have meaningful lives. To understand why meaningfulness is important in our well-being, we must understand what Wolf believes a meaningful life is. Wolf describes a meaningful life as one that is participating in a project that that is bringing positive value. Also, the project has to be successful and completed to be meaningful. If the project is not completed the life will be considered a meaningless one. Wolf also argues that we should want a meaningful life, that is occupied with a project that brings a positive

All around the world, society pushes people to become who they are. Whether it is a trend or a way of life, those people get to choose how they want respond to society. This develops the person's traits and allows other people to understand why they act the way they do. With character development comes maturity, realization and a path away from society’s norms. The same idea is shown throughout the books The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, and Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Jeannette Walls believes society’s influence is more helpful to character development because it allows the characters to form around this idea of society and decide how they want to

There is but one thing that no one can ever have enough of. Admittedly, there are various substitutions that can suffice as satisfactory for one’s happiness. Yet, there is an exception that creeps and remains ubiquitously unseen and incessantly yearned for. As Zora Neale Hurston, author of Their Eyes Were Watching God, puts it, there are “ships at a distance [that] have every man’s wish on board.” Indeed, these desires ride a boat which sails on, perhaps, the ocean of time. There are those who are fortunate and whose ships “come in with the tide,” relying on the chance that their aspirations come in miraculously from the vast ocean or window of opportunity. There are also those who are unfortunate and whose ships “sail forever on the

Social conformity is a dangerous, chaotic force. A simple gathering can spontaneously lead to surges of violence and atrocities. As one stone is thrown, another follows, each one faster than the last. They have muddied their identity into a mob. Social conformity is the suppression of one’s thoughts and identity to conform to the herd.

Most of society conforms as a whole, otherwise one may appear to be “outside” of the society that they live in, becoming unconventional or dangerous to the “norm” of their society. These conventions have a major role within society because they are general agreements on a social behavior. The force making toward conformity in society is essentially the stability of the society itself, which is created by people conforming to please others. However, people who do not

People do many different things in attempt to fit in, even while wanting to make a difference. However, that person could be too afraid to do so, and instead go along with the crowd. This is conformity, trying to blend in with society just because they’re too afraid to speak out. A person can live a fulfilled life by not conforming to society’s standards and opinions, and by living their life bravely.

As humans, we all conform to one idea or another. These ideas can have positive and negative effects on the people and world around us. We are unable to avoid conformity, but we can show our individuality. Norman Shpancer’s article states that all humans conform to ideas that might not necessarily cause problems, but there are instances where the choices they make cause immense harm to others around them. Logan Feys’ biography on Leopard Man claims that people who act out of the ordinary, or looked at as freaks by society, live a happier life than the “slaves of society.” [Thesis].

Society doesn’t like things that go against the norm and force them out. In Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut and A Perfect Day for Bananafish by J.D. Salinger society rejects the people who stand out from what’s normal. People naturally fear the unknown because they don’t know it well. In the world today we see many examples of this in our own life or in other people's lives. This is a common theme that is shown in both life and in literature and can be connected in the short stories Harrison Bergeron and A Perfect Day for Bananafish.

It takes a lot of courage and sacrifice for someone to maintain their integrity while trying to belong in a group of people. They are also tempted to give up some part of themselves that they think people do not like about them. In the film “Chocolat” Vianne Rocher demonstrates this point throughout the entire movie. Vianne appears strong and independent on the outside, but inside, wants to belong somewhere, and is tempted to change herself to fit in with the rest of the villagers. She has a lot of courage and strength to stay as herself and not change just to find belonging with other people.

For life, many people succumb to societal expectations which turn them into someone totally different. This idea is explored in Todd Strassers’ “On the Bridge”. In this story, there is a boy that tries to be recognized according to societal expectations. This however, sacrifices his happiness whilst doing so affecting the him negatively. Seths’ experience suggests that societal expectations can affect people negatively , this is because many people want to be one with society.

Life is a complicated twist of suffering, laughing, and learning all merging to tell a great story - or great many stories. Based on this view, "it is not the end goal or outcome of life that gives life meaning but rather the quality of the story, the quality with which one lives out and develops his or her role."

In modern society very few people are living a meaningful life, where they are happy to live their lives on a daily basis doing something that enriches their happiness. The majority in the other hand live their lives in different ways: They live in the future for which most of their dreams and goals are set, they live in a mechanical life, or they try to understand this world to find it meaning. The way the most people live their life is not meaningful, they waste most of their time waiting for something, as a habit and they forget to enjoy their present time. Such way of living has no meaning and is not worth living.