Kurt Vonnegut Conformity In Society

The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified on July 28, 1868. The amendment granted citizenship to everyone who was born or naturalized in the United States, which included former slaves and African Americans who were freed after the Civil War. Also, the amendment allowed African Americans to be treated equally as all other citizens. However, the Black Codes, Jim Crow Laws, and the result of the Plessy v. Ferguson case took away these rights that were guaranteed to African Americans.

The poems “The Harlem Dancer” by Claude McKay and “I, Too” by Langston Hughes, both were written during the 1920s. Something significant happening during this time was the the boom of African American culture which took place mainly around the 20s and 30s in New York. Specifically their literature, art, music and much more. The Harlem Renaissance was going on during the time both poems were written, in fact, they were written because of the renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was the movement of African American culture. Some of the significant subjects were music, literature, poem, and art. The poets Langston Hughes and Claude McKay were some of the most influential poets from the renaissance. The poems “The Harlem Dancer” by Claude McKay and “I, Too” by Langston Hughes will be used to compare and show how two poems form the same era could be similar yet different based on their subject, purpose, style, tone, and rhythm.

Conformity is defined in the dictionary as “compliance with standards, rules, or laws.” Is Conformity bad? In some cases it could help calm situations and prevent negative events. In other instances too much Conformity can lead to the lack of individuality. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest raises the question, where is the balance between too much control and too little? In Ken Kesey’s novel he illustrates a tale about Conformity and the struggle against it. He tells the story through the eyes of a big Native American called Chief Bromden. Kesey uses machinery to display the system of the hospital and the environment that the patients are in. The fog is the representation of conformity in the hospital. The Hospital is divided into two separate

Before we look at the different Social/Psychological Determinants of Health it is important firstly to define what a social determinant of health is. According to the World Health Organization (2017) “The social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age.” These conditions are as a result of a wide range of factors that are ultimately governed by the way in which money, power and specific resources are shared at different levels including those at global, national and local levels. We have all been a part of and will experience different social determinants of health throughout our lives but it is the standard at which we experience these determinants that will ultimately lead onto them affecting our health or ultimately leaving us unaffected.

When like everyone else, you will be understood, respected, loved, and go through a life with no bullying. Conforming doesn’t make you special. When you die, you will just be a statistic. Those who are written in textbooks, are household names, and have holidays aren’t famous for being like everyone else. A poem named “The Unknown Citizen” by W. H. Auden encourages this idea. “He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be/ One against whom there was no official complaint,/And all the reports on his conduct agree/ That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint, (Auden).” This poem talks about a man who was loved by many and was called nothing but positive things. Conformity leads to having a comfortable presence for everyone else. “For his Union reports that he paid his dues,/(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)/...Social Psychology workers found/That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink./... bought a paper every day/...normal in every way./... fully insured,/...once in hospital but left it cured (Auden).” The man in the poem was perfect for this world. Due to him conforming so well, he had benefits that not everyone was able to have like being popular and having insurance. Being like everyone else, in this case, doesn’t seem so bad yet. This poem seems very pro-conformity until the end, where it takes a turn. “He was married

Luis J. Rodriguez has written a poem called, “Race Politics”. This piece shows that the diversity between two parts of the town he grew up in and how it affected everyone. Rodriguez helps his readers learn that diversity isn’t an ‘old’ problem and that it didn’t end after the civil war, but that it still happens and it can affect people strongly. “Race Politics” can help prove that diversity is still going on and it’s still a major problem.

Everyone has certain childhood memories and objects that shape them and their identity. For Marilyn Nelson Waniek, one of these was a quilt. The speaker in this poem uses the literary techniques of diction and symbolism to show how childhood objects and circumstances, like the quilt, can shape and show our identity. The speaker also uses hyperboles to emphasize how important a sense of identity is to people and how that identity shapes our lives.

In essence, these two poems are drastically different works of art. "Dulce et Decorum est" is a more graphical and relational work compared to the latter, as you go on a journey as a soldier who gets to experience traumatic and graphic events, it begins to alter what you think about war and conflict. As you read on, it gives you graphical wording to prove that the saying "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" is a misrepresentation of actual war. After reading, the underlying message becomes apparent, it wants you to alter your current perceptions about war and how pointless they really are. In contrast, "The Things that Make a Soldier Great" aims to clear up what soldiers really go to war for, they are not there for "The pomp and pride of kings" but only when you "Endanger but that humble street whereon his children run—You make a soldier of the man who never bore a gun.", soldiers fight to protect their homes, not their kings. The poem aims to glorify soldiers and certain aspects of war, it goes on to prove that in reality there really isn 't good vs bad on the battlefield, it 's just a man who "sees his children smile at him, he hears the bugle call, And only death can stop him now—he 's fighting for them all.", and this is our hidden meaning.

Sameness allows for the cultivation of insecurity and fear in lieu of the success of others. Rather than viewing differences gifts among individuals, those who desire sameness fear not being identical with others. Sameness is uniformity; it is the printing of one piece of art, rather than several unique original pieces. A cautionary tale regarding sameness can be found in Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron.” In “Harrison Bergeron,” Vonnegut crafts a dystopian future America that has concerned itself with sameness. Everyone was forced to be equal, or rather, identical in uniform and totalitarian manner. The story is set in the living room of the title character’s parents, George and Hazel Bergeron. They are watching a performance of ballerinas on the television. Vonnegut’s description of the ballerinas serves as an example of the uniformity of this nation: “They were burdened with sashweights and bags of birdshot, and their faces were masked, so that no one, seeing a free and graceful gesture or a pretty face, would feel like something the cat drug in” (1961, p. 8). In this version of the United States forces Americans to be the exact same, both in intelligence and physical attributes, all for the sake of fairness. Rather than run the risk of people existing as different entities, they force them to stay the same for the sake of equality. While Vonnegut’s short story may be an extreme example of sameness, “Harrison Bergeron” displays the terrible outcome that could be caused by the concentration on sameness. Drawing back to a less extreme example, imagine the two men at the gym. Perhaps one man is naturally stronger than the other man and therefore is able to lift more weight. Sameness in this circumstance is forcing the stronger man to deny himself of progress and lift the same as the weaker man, despite his natural

The poem I, Too, Sing America written by Langston Hughes shortly after World War II in 1945, is a lyrical poem about the neglected voices in America as a response to the Poem “I hear America singing.” During this time, African Americans were oppressed in society and they did not have equal rights to Caucasians. This poem expresses Langston Hughes hope for the future where black people are not oppressed when equality is achieved between races. This poem helps assert Langston Hughes’ ideas of racial pride, hope, and equality.

On Friday, March 3, 2017, the students at Montevallo High School had a special speaker visit. His name is Jesse Jackson. The name sounds familiar because Jackson worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement. Jesse Jackson was born on October 8, 1941 in Greenville, South Carolina. When his mother was sixteen he was born out of wedlock to professional boxer and well-known figure in the black community, Noah Louis Robinson. However, when his mother married, he was adopted by Charles Henry Jackson, his step father. During high school he experienced segregation and Jim Crow laws. After high school he attended the University of Illinois on a football scholarship. He then transferred to North Carolina A&T. At North Carolina A&T he became involved in local civil rights protests. He then attended Chicago Theological Seminary but dropped out to focus directly on the Civil Rights Movement. He worked closely with MLK Jr. and was even present when he was shot. After the assassination he made is his own Civil Rights operation named People United to Serve Humanity. He ran for president twice. Needless to say, he is a very remarkable and astounding man.

In the poem, My Papa’s Waltz, the speaker, Theodore Roethke, writes about a father and son waltzing. Further investigation suggests there is more going on than a waltz. The poet utilizes figure of speech and a negative toned vocabulary throughout the poem. Thus, alleviating the reader of the harsh truth of an abusive relationship whilst never dehumanizing the father.

Langston Hughes was an American poem born in the early nineteen hundreds, who became known as the leader of the Harlem Renaissance. He published many poems that brought light to the life of people of color in the twentieth century. There are three poems that the speakers are used to portray three major themes of each poem. Racism, the American Dream, and Hopes are all the major themes that Hughes uses to highlight the average life of a person of color. Theme for English B,” “Harlem,” and “Let America Be America Again” were three of Hughes’s poems that was selected to underline the themes. Meanwhile, the readers can learn something for each of the poems and apply it to their life. They can also noticed how Langston Hughes’s poems often contains hope and noted the possibility that both white and black people can live together in peace and harmony. And the poems also represent the average person of colors’ life and their struggles and frustrations towards the white community throughout the twentieth century.

In “Soldiers home” by Ernest Hemingway, there also appears to be differing presentations of conformity. In this short story, the main character Krebs, a soldier returning home from World War Two, has a difficult time adjusting himself back to his life in Oklahoma. He no longer fits in to the society that he left behind.

Among numerous other poets, Walt Whitman is unquestionably the greatest supporter of democracy. Of course, many of English romantic poets were faithful adherents of democracy. However, Whitman’s vision of democracy was much more vivid and realistic. It can be stated that he was a systematic follower of political realities. He denounced all prerogatives and vested interest and reflected complete harmony between the individual and society. Walter Whitman was transcendentalist who believed in individual freedom and democracy and it definitely affected his poetry which is mainly focused on the ideas of democracy, equality, and brotherhood. For instance, in the poem Song of Myself, Whitman puts an emphasis on equality of all men and women. To him, all individuals are equal and all professions are equally honorable. In his interpretation, Whitman states that the freedom which is offered by democracy is for all should include all people, and not renounce those of other races, whether any social standings. This essay will focus on the main ideas presented in Whitman 's vision of equality in democracy in his Song of Myself.