In the novel, Anthem by Ayn Rand, conveys a deep understanding of collectivism. Collectivism is when you give a group priority over yourself as an individual. The main character, Equality 7-2521, does not have an identity and cannot express himself as an individual. In Equality’s world they can not be self-centered and always have to think about others. Anthem takes place in the future, and the citizens are unaware of the past. Equality 7-2521 is unique and different than everyone else. He believes there are greater things in the earth yet to discover. Ayn Rand focuses this book towards the future, but makes connections to the past.
Individualism is a fundamental tenet of Romanticism. Romanticism is a movement that reflects the power of the individual and emphasizes the role of emotion and passion in a person’s life. The Romantic ideas of passion and purpose have been woven into the very fabric of American culture. America was founded on the principles of opportunity and self-reliance because the Founding Fathers believed every person has the inherent right to be free to think, make choices, and pursue dreams of their own preference. A person whose life story compellingly reflects individualism is Frederick Douglass. Douglass’s slavery testimony embodies the spirit of American individualism because of his thirst to acquire knowledge (literacy), his tenacity to freely make his own life decisions, and his unrelenting effort to escape the dreadful bondage of slavery.
Civil Disobedience means “the refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest,” according to Dictionary.com. Thoreau used the term “Civil Disobedience” to describe his refusal to pay the state poll tax implemented by the American government to finance the war in Mexico and to enforce the Fugitive Slave Law. Henry David Thoreau (1817-62) believed that this was a wrong thing to do because it would have caused a huge problem. He wrote the essay “Civil Disobedience” to expose the fact that individuals would do what government told them to and not ask questions. Thoreau uses the concepts of individualism and self- reliance in “Civil Disobedience” to get people to think about what the government is doing.
Transcendentalism has been embraced by society through the movie The Lion King. The Lion King is a story about a young cub, Simba, who is born son to the king in a thriving kingdom. Simba goes about his days playing and enjoying life until his uncle, Scar, decides to plot a scheme to overthrow the throne. When Scar puts his plan into play, Mufasa, Simba’s father and king, dies. Due to the circumstances, Simba is led to believe it was his fault and runs away to hide from this accident. Consequently, Scar takes over the kingdom and brings it to ruins. During this time, Simba has found two new friends, Timon and Pumbaa, while hiding who take him in and teach him ideals very similar to that of transcendentalism. Transcendentalism is a philosophical belief system in which nature and personal thought of one’s self is believed to be the most important keys to life. The Lion King displays
Frederick Buechner once said, “Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else's skin.” Similarly, an author by the name of Barbara Lazear Ascher wrote an essay called “On Compassion,” in which she states that people learn about compassion when they experience hardships and begin to put oneself in another’s place. Along with the idea of compassion being learned, Ascher also tries to make us wonder what our motive is that leads us to being compassionate.
The amount of strength and determination required to be individual is immeasurable, and only through lifelong strife can a person ever hope to achieve the strength possible for this feat. For somebody to become individual, not only will a person have to overcome the chains of society as a whole, but also the odds placed against them by the human species as whole. Once a person overcomes these challenges, only then can he or she be remembered as a Julius Caesar, or a Susan B. Anthony, or a Bill Clinton, only then can they be remembered as an
“Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary” (Dead Poets Society). Seizing the day and living out of the ordinary is a Romantic and Transcendental belief. It is a lesson that Mr. Keating from Dead Poets Society taught his students. The boys in the movie took Mr. Keating’s lessons about Transcendental ideas and acted out their lives based on those ideas. The boys used the Romantic idea of passive resistance to bring themselves and others joy. The characters also practiced the Transcendental belief of individuality which brought delight to the characters. The characters in the movie Dead Poets Society acted out Romantic and Transcendental beliefs such as non-conformity and passive resistance, acting out these beliefs brought
What are individuality and conformity? Individuality is a quality or trait of a person or thing that distinguishes or separates them from others. Conformity is a social idea involving a change in belief or behavior in order to fit in with a group. But I believe that The potential risks of individuality do outweigh the benefits that come from conformity.
Human beings: wonderful creatures who must rely on others from time to time, and occasionally become overconfident in their abilities. In Walden; Or, Life in the Woods, Thoreau encourages self-reliance by articulating the benefits. Thoreau’s experiences influenced Chris McCandless, whose untimely death in Alaska inspired the book and movie Into the Wild. The book and movie about McCandless in turn drove others to become overconfident in their abilities to try to live in the wild, which led to dangerous situations and sometimes death.
In the science-fiction film Metropolis directed by Fritz Lang in 1927, poverty and ignorance to worldly issues are emphasized as immense obstacles impacting the 1920’s society. Although there have been several modern advancements, today’s society is still struggling with both impoverished individuals and blindness to alarming threats haunting our society. As a poor girl who was born into an underprivileged life, Maria’s life greatly contrasts from the rich boy Freder’s life. Maria shows Freder that most of the working class people live in the dark and cold of the underground city, every day solely accompanied by hard factory work. In the underground city, Maria notices the challenging labor the men are subjected to and encourages the workers to
In the essay “Famine, Affluence, and Morality” by Peter Singer, he argues that people who are more than financially stable will not donate as much resources to a less fortunate person where a less fortune person would rather give up half of what they may have to help people in need. His main argument through out this essay is that a person’s decisions are based on their moral values. For example, if a train was coming towards two children, and a person had a chance to save them by hitting a lever that will direct the train into the path of one adult. Therefore, that person is most likely going to pull the lever to hit the adult over the children because they think of the children over the adult, and it has no true impact on themselves. Similarly,
In the essay, “What Should a Billionaire Give- and What Should You?” by Peter Singer, he begins by asking, “What is a human life worth?” (Singer 338). He mentions that many people might not want to donate to charity. However, there are some people who agree that the value of a human life is precious. Singer mentions that many people are suffering from poverty. He also details Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, who donate millions away to charities. Throughout the essay, the author reveals his idea by questioning how much of our income we should be required to donate. I agree with his argument when he includes a breakdown of how much every person should donate at the end.
Every single day, there are people, mainly children, dying because of hunger. Yet, there is more than enough food for everyone in the world. Sadly, not everyone is lucky enough to have sufficient amount money to buy food to feed themselves and their loved one. The problem is that several people are trapped in the severe poverty and they are becoming weaker and weaker each day. Peter Singer wrote “The Singer Solution to World Poverty” and it is a short story about world poverty and his goal to stop the poverty.
For this reason, the reframe of individuality is collectivism. It is worth mentioning, that this term is not entirely accurate, since most of the time is it being used to describe political standpoints, on the other hand it is the closes term that describes a certain togetherness which helps people to overcome individual challenges. Therefore, in contrast to individualism, collectivism is a more comfortable choice in a modern society.
According to Schermerhorn (2015) Individualism view states that the base of ethical behavior develops when one’s primary commitment should be to advance long-term self-interest to advance long term self-interest. An example of how the individualism can be seen in a business could be if a manager of a car shop offers a bonus to the top employee who has top sales to motivate the department to find new ways to increase sales. Promoting individualism can lead to greater proficiency, as employees strive to find new ways to cut assembly time and