Mirroring Culture in Popular Novels
Peter L. Berger, sociologist and Protestant theologian said “The past is malleable and flexible, changing as our recollection interprets and re-explains what has happened.” (BrainyQuotes.com) What Mr. Berger means by that Often culture is stored in stories such as in the short story “My Favorite Chaperone” by Jean Okimoto, and The Chocolate Wars by Robert Cormier and stories that also explore what happens to Culture when it attempts perfection and fails such as “The Giver” by Lois Lowry.”My Favorite Chaperone explores how cultural differences create conflict in families. “The Chocolate War”is a story about how school settings also have a culture that influences how students faculty treat each other. The …show more content…
At the same time the culture also determines how those who don’t meet the norms or different should be treated. In all three cultures they try to change those who are different so that they conform. On the short story “My Favorite Chaperone”, the main character Maya’s brother Nurzhan is bullied because of his accent, “... Telling him he could never be a real american making fun of the way he talked.” (Okimoto, 9). In the Chocolate War, the author create a top peer group at all boys Catholic high school, who believe it is ok to bully the main character because he fails to live up to the school culture norms. (Cormier,#)The contrast between these two cultures is the type of punishment used to force members of their society to conform to established norms. In the text “The Chocolate Wars”, those in charge of enforcing conformity applied both the threat and carried out physical punishment. In the short story “My Favorite Chaperone” nonconformity was punished by public and private verbal abuse. In both examples, the authors text reflects how modern culture treats those considered outcast through alienation by verbal, physical, and public …show more content…
The main job of ruling tier is to create rules to keep culture functioning. Then you have to enforce through verbal, physical, and public shaming to get people to conform, and the workers are the bottom tier. In “The Giver pg 61” it says “Now everyone can fit in” and in the “Chocolate Wars” it said “Everybody did what the vigils said.” In these literary examples it shows that there is a set or established social order. It is the same way in modern day culture, there will always be some type of social
Peter L. Berger, sociologist and Protestant theologian said “The past is malleable and flexible, changing as our recollection interprets and re-explains what has happened.” (BrainyQuotes.com) What Mr. Berger means by that Often culture is stored in stories such as in the short story “My Favorite Chaperone” by Jean Okimoto, and The Chocolate Wars by Robert Cormier and stories that also explore what happens to Culture when it attempts perfection and fails such as “The Giver” by Lois Lowry.”My Favorite Chaperone explores how cultural differences create conflict in families. “The Chocolate War”is a story about how school settings also have a culture that influences how students faculty treat each other. The …show more content…
At the same time the culture also determines how those who don’t meet the norms or different should be treated. In all three cultures they try to change those who are different so that they conform. On the short story “My Favorite Chaperone”, the main character Maya’s brother Nurzhan is bullied because of his accent, “... Telling him he could never be a real american making fun of the way he talked.” (Okimoto, 9). In the Chocolate War, the author create a top peer group at all boys Catholic high school, who believe it is ok to bully the main character because he fails to live up to the school culture norms. (Cormier,#)The contrast between these two cultures is the type of punishment used to force members of their society to conform to established norms. In the text “The Chocolate Wars”, those in charge of enforcing conformity applied both the threat and carried out physical punishment. In the short story “My Favorite Chaperone” nonconformity was punished by public and private verbal abuse. In both examples, the authors text reflects how modern culture treats those considered outcast through alienation by verbal, physical, and public …show more content…
The main job of ruling tier is to create rules to keep culture functioning. Then you have to enforce through verbal, physical, and public shaming to get people to conform, and the workers are the bottom tier. In “The Giver pg 61” it says “Now everyone can fit in” and in the “Chocolate Wars” it said “Everybody did what the vigils said.” In these literary examples it shows that there is a set or established social order. It is the same way in modern day culture, there will always be some type of social