What Is A State Of Being : Independently Tied To A Collective

The practices of a collective society such as the one in this book disregard all belief in the individual. By doing this, the society and its leaders brainwash the people into having no personal priority or authority. Everything is done with the betterment of the entire group in mind, no sense of self involvement. Their life is fated in almost every

Society is a person’s greatest antagonist. According to society, people need someone to tell them what to do, what to believe and even what to think. A story called The Metamorphosis, written by Franz Kafka, was able to express the idea that falling into a daily routine of following what the society wants us to do leads to our lives becoming meaningless. In addition, a poem called “The Unknown Citizen”, written by W.H. Auden, expressed the idea that “scientific data fails to capture the human quality of life” and that “our lives are largely shaped and dictated” by a greater society leading to the loss of a meaningful life (“The Unknown” 301). Despite the difference in the plot of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis and Auden’s “The Unknown Citizen”,

‘An individual’s interaction with others and the world around them can enrich or limit their experience of belonging.’

The purpose of this book is to show the challenges of being stuck in a social class limbo. This book shows how there is a constant struggle between where you were, where you are, and where you are going. Alfredo Lubrano tells his own story and the story of others like him. Through his various interviews, he was able to show the hardships people faced while climbing the social ladder.

The text proceeds from analyzing each poem individually, and later draws parallels between the two. It tries to answer the questions whether the poems are a call to social irresponsibility, and if the object of the poem, the common man should be scorned or pitied. That the common man who is busy conforming to the norms of the state and the society has lost connection with his natural surroundings evokes sympathy for him. Materialism has subsumed his capacity to think to an extent that he cannot even decide whether he is free to do as he wishes – can he say no to enlisting for war? Or can he hold an opinion that did not coincide with the larger public?

The book Never Let me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro presented many intriguing and complex portrayals of a distinctive world. While not a major fan of the writing style, it is easy to admit the author did a great job of presenting complicated concepts for the audience One of the major concepts that interested me is the role and definition of individuals within the society. The major focus will be a more in depth and complex analysis of the donors and their gated community. With these factors set it will eventually derive into one of the more important questions proposed in the literary world: Who is responsible for defining the meaning of life and humanity a specific individual or the society itself? To look at this it is best to first define the meaning

In his poem, “anyone lived in a pretty how town,” E. E. Cummings describes the life lived by the average joe, symbolized by protagonist “anyone,” in the average “pretty how town” setting. Cummings asserts that children will be born and raised to all be the “same,” with no individuality, then grow into “busy” adults who “cared for anyone not at all,” and perhaps one day get married, live their lives, and die, still with “nevers,” or an unfulfilled bucket list. It is through the use of repetition, foreshadowing, and figurative language that Cummings conveys a mood of sad inevitability as he explains how this lifestyle repeats itself in cycles and how death will come to everyone, all while they live their lives in a society that might be “pretty,” but which lacks any real sense of community and individuality. Cummings uses repetition to point out how life goes on, and how each generation repeats a cycle.

And by being selfless, they are contributing to society and discovering their place within society. (53). To illustrate,the author explains that by contributing to a specific cause within society he is able to discover his own identity. The third way a person find his or her place in society is by doing what makes him or her happy.

After reading Caroline Sacks’ story, I deduced that it is better to be a big fish in a little pond, rather than a little fish in a big pond. It is easier to become lost in the chaos of a big pond but little ponds “are welcoming to those on the inside. They have all of the support of the community and friendship” (73). Community and friendship are things that may be found in a big pond, but this seems rare due to Sacks’ experience in a big pond. “’They didn’t want to share their study habits with me. They didn’t want to talk about ways to better understand the stuff that we were learning, because that might give me a leg up’” (75) Sacks’ found competition instead of comradery. Although big ponds are seen as more prestigious, it is better to

From a sociological perspective, my interactions are deciding who I am. With this in mind, currently, I am a sociology student transcribing an essay answering the questions: Who am I? How do I fit in the world around us? What influences my decisions, behaviors, and attitudes? What does the future hold for me? This paper will address all of the questions mentioned above in an attempt to develop an attitude of open-minded inquiry into diverse human social behavior.

Communitarians often say that we have obligations we have not yet chosen. The meaning behind this statement means that being apart of a group of people we obtain an identity or a role in people’s lives. “We are not separate individuals. Each of us is a member of communities: families, nations, religious associations, professional associations, sports teams, cliques, and so on”(Handout, 1). A communitarian can fulfill the role of daughter, mother or grandparent. Any of these roles a communitarian is placed in and cannot just decide to wake up and not be a daughter or a mother, the person is obligated to fulfill that role. A person has an obligation to fill those roles even if they have not chosen to. “Our embeddness in communities produces obligations for us and see how those obligations, the binding of those obligations on us does not derive from our having voluntarily chosen them”(Lecture one). These obligations are not chosen, but instead given to us to whether we wanted to or not.

Man is a product of the culture in which he is born and brought up. For the same reason, no one can negate the influence of the society in forming one’s personality. I am well aware of the fact that my views, thoughts, and attitude have been shaped by the society I live in; hence, any attempt to sketch my personal experiences would be incomplete without referring to the part played by my surroundings. Throughout my life, I have paid utmost importance to initiating and maintaining interpersonal relationships with others. I had to face varied situations out there, both joyous and depressing. However, each instance was a great lesson for me to learn several things about my practical life – I wouldn’t be exaggerating when I say that I have learned more outside the four walls of my classroom than within them. My autobiography is closely associated with my social connections including my experiences with my family, educational institution, and the larger society I reside within.

In today’s world, people are constantly moving around from place to place. Today’s society is much more transient than generations in the past. How, then, do we as humans in this day and age hold on to our identities in the blur of people we meet and relationships we form as we try to discover the life we want to live on our travels? It is normal that we adapt as we move through life, but where does one cross the line, becoming someone completely different and losing themselves? It is my belief that one can only fully understand what the good life is if they fully understand themselves. To fully understand oneself, one must be true to oneself. I believe that people are at the greatest risk of losing themselves when they move to a new location. It is in this situation that people must adapt to the new people they surround themselves with, in hopes of fitting in and forming new relationships. People become more susceptible to changing who they are when they are trying to become a part of a new way of life. At the same time, the people already inhabiting that area adapt to the new person’s presence as well. As humans, I believe that we have the ability to find the balance between adapting to those around us and staying true to ourselves, in order to discover what the good life means to us. This ability is demonstrated in the writings by Clive Thompson and Mark Twain – “I’m So Totally Digitally Close to You” and an excerpt from “The Diaries of Adam and Eve”, respectively.

Another great example where the author uses the community as a way to describe the setting comes from the overarching theme of reputation within its members. Despite previously stating how the members of

     “The Unknown Citizen” by W.H. Auden, is a commentary on government and the materialism of modern man. The poem is written in the form of an obituary inscribed on a monument built by the government in commemoration of an average, upstanding, and decent community member. Throughout the passage, the speaker lists facts about the citizen’s life which he believes prove that the deceased was a valuable person. In actuality these facts represent nothing more than the socially accepted values and actions instilled in society by materialistic views. This makes the government appear unconcerned with the true thoughts and feelings of its people, seeing them only as statistics. We can see this in the subtitle “To