Individuality vs. Conformity The future is one idea that many authors try to write about, but only a few capture the essence of what society can truly become. Ray Bradbury has created astonishing works about how technology influences people's lives and one’s choices can affect their life. One of his works, a dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451 is about firefighters who start fires rather than stop them.
We live in the era with the most convenient communication tools the humanity had never had before, such as social network services, text messaging, and telephones. However, the survey shows that many Americans, almost three-quarters(72 percent), feel lonely. The increase of the smaller family style and the vanish of small communities would be one of the reasons for this prevalent loneliness. Then, what altered the once existed extended family and local communities into the current state? To find the answer for this question, we examine how immigrants are assimilated, since they are tend to have traditional family and communities when they arrive.
It has long been a ubiquitous phenomenon that people are 'normal ' if they follow the conformity. They just uphold the belief of being the ideal person everyone expected from is perfect and on right track. However, most, if not all, of the trend followers will eventually lose oneself and autonomy. To reconstruct own identity, the only way is self-discovery. Germany poets Rainer Maria Rilke said, “The only journey is the one within.”
In the paragraph, Beatty explains why they don’t allow people to read books. In the world Montag is living in the government doesn’t allow people to have their own thoughts or opinions. They are worried that if they read books they will have different opinions causing them to fight with one another or the government. The government is limiting their knowledge so everyone will be “happy”. However, no one is truly happy because they believe the same thing as everyone else.
Throughout history, members of cults have engaged in horrific activities, mainly including the suicide of themselves or murder and sacrifice of others. Researchers and the general public have always thought about what possesses people to do these types of things, and many times a reasonable answer cannot be found. Cults have one person, normally the leader, who they idolize and will do anything for. As soon as this person is established, members of the cult follow all the rules and ideas proposed by the leader. The truth of cults is that the people involved in them are simply conforming.
Although most people think conformity is just following after rules , it’s more like following the rules even if you disagree. Being a leader , someone who does their own thing , making their own rules or decisions , and doing what you believe in takes toll on the definition of conformity. On Animal Farm there were rules known as “The Seven Commandments” helped differentiate conformist from nonconformist , and my conformist is Clover. The point-guard of Oklahoma’s basketball team , Russel Westbrook, is my conformist . Clover knew Napoleon was wrong in situations but because she was not a leader but a follower she went along with everything Napoleon did or suggested.
You would think that individuality is the number one thing we must always seek after. But is it really? Conformity and individuality are both complete opposites, that doesn’t mean there is a good side to choose from. They both play a big part in our lives such as: decision making, teamwork, and creativity. So why not have both, it’s good to have conformity in one hand and individuality in the other, having these traits will keep us open minded and at bay with our peers.
Conformity Despite the Facts Conformity. It’s something everyone does without really knowing they are. Mary Drebbe even says "Our desire to conform is greater than our respect for objective facts". Studies on conformity date back to 1932. Several more have been conducted by well-known psychologists since as it has become more prevalent in today’s society.
Our society is doomed. Everyday we become more and more similar to the society within Fahrenheit 451 as we become less and less patient and more and more conform becoming what we think society wants us to be rather than what we ourselves want to be. Have you ever wanted something so bad and you just had to have it right now, you couldn’t wait any longer? This means you have felt instant gratification the need to have something right now no waiting. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury the society is full of people who constantly have instant gratification.
Webster’s Dictionary defines individuality as “the quality that makes one person or thing different from all others”, and conformity as “behavior that is the same as the behavior of most other people in a society”. John F. Kennedy says, “Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.” Oftentimes, much like in Kennedy’s case, individualism is praised over conformity, labeling the former good or courageous and the latter bad or lazy, because individuality fuels change, whereas conformity prompts a societal stasis. However, it needs to be taken into account that humans are, in Aristotle’s words, social animals and thus, in societies as complex and intricate as ours, stasis suggests stability, which is not necessarily a bad thing.