Individuality And Freedom In The Selection By Kiera Cass

The poem “Invictus” by William E. Henley, and the novel Anthem by Ayn Rand, both have common themes that discuss the importance of individuality. Each of the themes that these works have to offer will be discussed throughout the paragraphs of this essay.

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

The value of participating in life, and society is particularly important and plays a major role in one’s health, and mental state. The two novels from our class display a clear image of the pain and agony you feel after being rejected, and looked upon differently. Stephen Chbosky’s, The Perks Of Being A Wallflower and Mary Shelley’s, Frankenstein, we witness how characters in both novels try to participate in life, and just want to be accepted like everybody else. However, they all encountered problems as the society refuses to accept them for who they are. They are either picked on or completely disowned and forced to stay away from civilization, and as a result, their mental state begins to decline, which leads to consequences. These consequences

Individuality arises when an individual encounters and endures a life, taking their first step with their family which is the first society an individual faces. Through their lives, individuals promote their own exclusive originalities, while Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem characterizes a totalitarian society suppressing individualism. In the society depicted in Anthem, individualism is oppressed by the society imposing children live away from their families which is one form of totalitarian dictator’s authority. The intention of totalitarian dictators enforcing the arrangement of children living apart from their families is to impede individualistic society- avert dissimilarities transpiring in the process of family influences in education, forfend the enlightenment of emotions, and the establishment of collectivism.

In a society where conforming is normal, individualism is a necessity to be oneself. The first example of being oneself is of Clarisse. Montag and Clarisse are walking in the moonlight on their way home when Clarisse says, “Isn’t this a nice time of night to walk? I like to smell things and look at things, and sometimes stay up all

Having ideals that contradict a way of thinking, will make it strenuous to achieve satisfaction. In his novel, Oxherding Tale, Charles Johnson exemplifies his unique perspective on the ambiguity of freedom through the main character, Andrew Hawkins. For the duration of his journey, Hawkins gains a sense of freedom, but not in the way he imagines it to be. Aida Ahmed Hussen’s article, “‘Manumission and Marriage?’: Freedom, Family, and Identity in Charles Johnson’s Oxherding Tale,” expresses Hawkins’ clash between his conservative mindset and progressive ideals. Indeed, Andrew abandons both, which on a larger scale, suggests that Andrew must go against his values in order

This analysis have shown me how important is to be faithful to your own principles, even when the world takes you to unknown. The knowledge of the society in which each one has to life is what shows that opposed positions that seem irreconcilable are part of a whole and as Collin’s suggests, each individual has to decide what is right or what is wrong in the society and then take a position and try to change what is wrong. (Hentrhone,

In the world today, society has created individuals that conform to the expected norms and those that rebel against them. In each of the pieces selected there is a character that conforms to meet the needs of the society. A conformist is someone who follows the rules that are given to them without any complaints. Each of the three literary writings has a character that is considered rebellious within the norms of society. A rebellious person is someone who does not follow the rules that are given to them. The poem “The Unknown Citizen” by W. H. Auden is mainly about an unnamed man who is a conformist, because he listens to all the rules that are made for the society. On the other hand, the short story “A & P” by John Updike and the play “Antigone” by Sophocles there is a conformist character which enforces the rules set in place, and a rebellious character which goes against the principles of society. Each author depicts a character to represent the conformist and rebellious individuals within today’s society.

As a person looks around themselves and their surroundings they can pick up little details about themselves as well as their society. Society has a lot to do with the things that are bought, taken home, displayed. Society depicts what things are fashionable and what’s not. This alludes to the fact that one acquires the ideals of the society around them. Though conforming seems like the best way to make one’s self seem respectable, does it mean that one must lose themselves in order to gain the respect of society? That is the very struggle that presents itself in Virginia Woolf’s Orlando.

The sense of belonging humans naturally seek in life reflects the feeling of security and being accepted. They struggle with their identity as they make the choice whether to reject the individuality and belong to a community or group. When individuals seek to belong and rigidly follow society’s norms and practices, they must adhere to the strict rules of their society. In doing do, the desire to belong comes into conflict with the need to be an individual. These ideas are powerfully evident in Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible”, “Catcher in the Rye” by J.D Salinger and the Gurinder Chadha film “Bend it like Beckham.” In each of these texts, most desire to belong but need to restore the balance between the need to belong and the

The arousal and provocation of my thoughts and emotions have occurred in many instances, while discussing the literature provided this year. The pieces of literature that have aroused my thoughts, and expanded my sympathies after reading have been “The Crucible”, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and “The Yellow Wallpaper. Each of these pieces have had the largest impact on me while provoking the idea of conformity on characters in each piece. These three literary works have conveyed a large stress on conformity during the time period when the novel or short story has taken place and shows how that era put pressure on those characters to conform to a certain situation, just as society today pressures us to conform to situations. They have each incited my thoughts differently and similarly in numerous ways after reading.

"  Like the value of individuality, the attitude of clearly expressing likes and dislikes has been unnecessary esteemed. Desire and freedom may carry similar values. Now that I think about it, in the modern era, we have constructed a society in which every single person has been able to express his or her desire."

Society places value on a person based either on who they are, what they believe, or how much money they make. What happens when society places value on how “normal” a person is? Using the texts of “Merchant of Venice” and “Taming of the Shrew” I will argue that in dealing with difference, society often unintentionally annihilates it; but what remains in its wake is often far more disturbing.

Individualism is upholding behavior or beliefs that are divergent from mainstream standards. Furthermore, the relationship between the individual and the community is one of constant turmoil because the community’s obstinance in considering new ideas is in direct conflict to the individual’s tendency to dismiss conformity. An English autobiography from the late-medieval era, The Book of Margery Kempe, delineates the author as an outlier within the community due to her outlandish Christian practices. Similarly, Cervantes’s Spanish Golden Age novel, Don Quixote, illustrates the titular character falling victim to communal rejection as a result of his eccentricity. This paper will argue that in both texts communities reject individualism because they fear that their value of conformity is being threatened. It will conclude that a resolution to this conflict is constituted in the compassion and acceptance of various characters throughout the two texts.

Day by day, society changes and evolves based on desires at the time. This endless changing allows for peoples’ thoughts to change along with the norms. One of the most prominent examples of this change is the fight for women’s equality. While women are still fighting for their complete equality, there’s been major improvements from how things were in the past. These changes are well rendered through the summer reading novels- 1984, Tale of Two Cities, The Road, and The Awakening. Though each of them display vastly different examples of societal norms, they each display the fight for individuality in our constantly changing and evolving world.