Robert Lopshire's I Want To Be Somebody New !

With todays’ advancement of technology and social media, the prominence of the individual has greatly increased. Self-portrayal has essentially become a way to express the significance of an individual. However, many believe that the newfound importance of the individual is constantly walking the line of narcissism. Yet in a world where it’s so easy to follow the crowd, I believe it’s important to celebrate the individual and praise one for being who he wants to be.

Individuality is the quality that people that makes each person unique and distinguishable from each other. It is important to remain distinct from others, even among groups of people that are classified as either the same or very similar. While individuality is a concept that many people agree with and want to ensure, the pressure from most people’s lives, including their environment and the people around them, forces individuals to lose who they truly are and morph in order to fit in. I strongly agree that individuality, while important, is difficult to keep because of outside factors, a concept that was presented by Logan Fey.

Today more than ever we are being increasingly conditioned, influenced and bombarded by a multitude of messages and experiences about who to be and how to be. Current forms of social communication processes, particularly mainstream media, advertising, television and film, along with family, friends, teachers, political agendas, religion, society’s rules, our perceptions, perspectives, interpretations and assumptions, and those of others, all play a part in creating our identity. 
We seek and create our identity through these external influences, we all wear these masks and cloaks, so that we fit in with the world around us. The degree to which we choose our identity, versus having it imposed on us via external influence, is arguably a matter of consciousness and awareness. When we are unaware of the power of external influence we are akin to pieces of clay, being unconsciously molded to fit into the accepted or preferred norms of someone else’s reality. When we are aware we can take responsibility for the creation of our identity. We can make empowered choices that best serve our selves, rather than serve people and systems outside of ourselves. In Unpolished Gem, society plays a daunting role on Alice as she tries to change her way of thinking from a Chinese-Cambodian way of thinking to a very different Australian way of thinking. As Alice starts her new

Individualism in today’s society is the “belief that each person is unique, special, and a ‘basic unit of nature’.” The individualism concept puts an

Nonetheless, doing so will not change the perceptions that other individuals who are familiar with them possess. An individual cannot wholly abandon their heritage. Their identity will remain the same in their loved ones eyes, despite the tenacious effort put in towards changing it. This is first demonstrated when the narrator realizes that “[your] uncle [will] still call you Roy Boy”. Regardless of his desire to create a new identity, he understands that those that are familiar with him will never abolish their perceptions. Furthermore, those in his town will act the same way towards him and their lives will not change because he decided to achieve his dreams. The “pheasants sun themselves beside the tracks” whether he returns or not, their lives will not be affected and he will not have an impact on their perception of him. Their attitudes will not change because they were once acquainted with his past identity in which he is so utterly ashamed of, and are unaware of this new one which he is proud of. Additionally, when he realizes that “corn grow so high that if you [stand] in the field you’d disappear”. This elucidates that he understands that his new dreams will not impact anything in any way. Everything will remain the way it was when he leaves. The only aspect that will change is his altered perception of himself. The boy understands the insignificance and normality of his identity that would be created if he decided to pursue his aspirations. Aspects of the past that were once in an individual’s life will not alter, only the individual’s perception of themselves will change. Their newfound identity and goals will not impact those that were once familiar with them. No matter how much effort is put in towards creating a new identity and leaving the past, it can never truly be forgotten because people cannot

The concept of what is "individuality" and what is not has plagued and delighted man since the dawn of time. “All the Pretty Horses” by Cormac McCarthy adds 302 more pages to the pile of all the works that have been on the quest to define individualism. In this novel, McCarthy takes us through four faces of the key character’s life, John Grady, to portray the idea of illusory individualism. He contends that John Grady is simply a product of a society in contrast to his (Grady) notion of free will. Simply put: Grady has no alternatives but an obligation to conform to society. McCarthy uses him to create the platform in which to comment on oppression of individuality, expectation of conformity to the values of the society and the fact that

Growing up in a generation with high expectations of identity that are constantly altering whether it’s the latest trends, styles and even mind-set principles, can be over whelming. When asked to describe one-self, we often are stuck thinking of what particular word could fully describe who we are as a person. We have such a hard time of coming with just one word because there is no form of describing one’s self. How we see ourselves, we may not want to be that the next day. “Looks can be deceiving” or “the first impressions are the most important” is commonly instilled in our mindset which it is true to some extent. Our work

The concept of individuality is one that has been debated over the decades. Each person holds their own definition of this vague idea, but no one truly knows it at all. The theory of conformity versus nonconformity is based on how a person reacts to society. To be a nonconformist includes questioning society and going against the norm. Society as a whole is typically at odds with others who reject the standards. They are seen as weird or freaks and shamed for being themselves. Logan Feys “The Sociology of Leopard Man” is an informative article that touches down upon this subject, written in 2016. He states that individuality requires individual tastes, value, talents, and goals. Along with that, he expresses how society weighs down upon people and forces them to change. To a degree, Feys is correct. To be an individual and truly unique person one needs their own values, however not their own tastes, and society does put pressure on people to change.

No expression of yourself, just you, one man or woman. You don't have favorite colors, foods, animals or music. What you like defines you. it is the makeup of yourself. If you can’t have any preference it makes life boring. In a my society we have lots of freedoms that you have never had. I can have preference over one thing or the other. If I don’t want to be a streetsweeper then I don’t have to be. If I want to a scholar then I can try as hard as I want to be that. I have lived with these rights for years without appreciating them because I expect to have them. I am asking you to just try a individualistic society for a little while and then you can g back if you want to but I doubt that you

As stated by Alan Keightley, “once in a while it really hits people that they don't have to experience the world in the way they have been told to”. In the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Profiles in Courage, a volume of biographies written by John F. Kennedy and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest a novel by Ken Kesey, it takes characters a great deal of confidence and bravery to suspend themselves into individualism and out of the uniformity of the environment that they live in. It is a natural human tendency to desire a sense of personal identity and resist conformity in society; this being greatly noted in Fahrenheit 451, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Profiles in Courage.

According to Lee, the key social problem is “reconciling principles of conformity and individual initiative, group living and private freedom of choice, social regulation and personal autonomy” (Lee 5). She explores how we as individuals are usually in one social structure or another; but we do not get the freedom we as individuals

Individuals go through many experiences in life, and through their experiences they learn about the world, and how to react to the way it treats them within a society. A society has many expectations that mold people 's attitudes and moods. Throughout life, people are constantly changing themselves to fit into the society and once people fulfill its requirement to meet its expectations they can fit into the world, because the world is built on society’s expectations. The society can make people distant from themselves, when they are busy, and are always being pressured to complete a certain task on time. The society can impact people 's decisions by alternating their ways of treating them. They can be strict, and force people to put their ego aside, while in other situations they want the the people to only think about themselves, and what they want, and how they should value themselves more often, Especially children, who at a young age are trying to find their place in society. In “An army of one” by Jean Twenge, many children are surrounded by coloring books, and other activities that support their self-esteem, hoping to build a concrete understanding of the importance of self. In “Project Classroom Makeover” by Cathy Davidson, students are surrounded by rules, and regulation, that always lead to standardization, and a way for students to forget about themselves, but Davidson wants to change that with technology and restore the students’ self-esteems. The ability for an

As humans, everyone has their hearts’ desires, one of them often being the sense of belonging. However, with this ambition many lose what makes humanity so wonderful: being an individual. In his article “The Sociology of Leopard Man,” Logan Feys argues that “Living in society, we are under constant pressure to surrender our individuality to the will of the majority, the school, the workplace, the family, etc.” (1). Furthermore, Feys focuses on the importance of distinction in society and the pressure it may have on someone. As an example, Feys uses Tom Leppard, a man tattooed from head to toe, to justify his case. Although Leppard is certainly no ordinary person, he does not seek the attention from others in society many others do. Nevertheless,

“If one’s different, one’s bound to be lonely.” This is a line stated by John the Savage in the novel: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. This quote arguably summarizes one of the core themes of the book. On the second reading of the first line, the thought arises if this is very far from the truth of our present-day society here in the real world? Hipster culture in contemporary society was an attempt to strive to be “special” or “different than the masses”. But is this not the very thing that makes us similar at the end of the day, or is the whole individualism issue just an illusion that is also evidently present in the novel? In this essay, these topics will be explored with evidence from the book and from my own experience in the world.

In an era of abiding comfort in the amount of likes we receive on social media, Youtube fame, and ultimate self-promotion, we, as a society, have become obsessed with the “self” and will claw and scratch to keep the “self” up front and glorified. Personal constructive criticism has taken a back seat to the self-exalted praises that only encourage and heighten the need of notoriety and fame. This movement in our society and culture has damaged a majority of teenagers who struggle with identity crisis, myself included. His name is Joshua, a person of great integrity and confidence who refuses to give into society and give up during the complexity of life. Out of all the people that I’ve encountered, this peculiar boy has sparked my interest. Devoted, rebellious, and caring, Joshua is an influential person in the small town of Woodbury that has a direct positive effect on those around him.