INTRODUCTION
How do the actions and words of a society affect the way people act? In Never Let Me Go, author Kazuo Ishiguro depicts a society in which individuality is threatened by the pressure to conform through methods such as peer pressure and social expectations. Without a doubt, peer pressure is most commonly found in schools today, just as social expectations are suffocating the middle class’ desire to become their own unique person.
If conformity means to “conform to a social role… brought about by a desire to ‘fit in’ or be liked,” then the characters of Never Let Me Go are a wonderful example (McLeod). In Hailsham, the school where the Ruth, Tommy, and Kathy grow up, the Guardians expect all of the students to be extremely creative; …show more content…
And, as is commonly known, adolescents are the most prone to succumbing to peer pressure (Brown). Throughout his childhood, Tommy does all he can to create artwork; however, he cannot seem to accomplish anything particularly spectacular. The other children look down on him because of this, and go as far as excluding him from group activities because they are embarrassed to be seen with him. Of course, there is always a minority opinion; one day a guardian named Miss Lucy pulled him aside and told him it is “quite all right” for him to be different, and that “he wasn’t to worry about it” (Ishiguro). As a result, Tommy gives up on being creative. Later on, Miss Lucy recants her statement and Tommy is unaware as to …show more content…
“Social conformity has been practiced in societies around the world since ancient times,” and the reason it is so effective is that humans have an inherent need to be accepted as part of a group (Sadat). Furthermore, Hossna Sadat reports that:
“Individualistic cultures, in the western-hemisphere, [such as the United States,] emphasize… personal identity and self-determination. Conformity is far less pervasive in individualistic societies because democratic choices and laissez-faire viewpoints are somewhat considered.” (Sadat)
Despite this, there continue to be incidents where middle class people are devastated when unable to achieve the so-called American Dream. Of course, the social expectations of a society are generally set by the previous generation and cause the newer generation to feel guilty when they cannot meet them. In order to avoid this feeling of guilt and insufficiency, people are willing to give up their unique hopes and goals; thus creating a society of people that are cohesively identical. Students in today’s universities are amazingly bright and creative, yet change their majors to those society has placed honor on, such as medicine, law, and engineering. The amount of innovation
How do the actions and words of a society affect the way people act? In Never Let Me Go, author Kazuo Ishiguro depicts a society in which individuality is threatened by the pressure to conform through methods such as peer pressure and social expectations. Without a doubt, peer pressure is most commonly found in schools today, just as social expectations are suffocating the middle class’ desire to become their own unique person.
If conformity means to “conform to a social role… brought about by a desire to ‘fit in’ or be liked,” then the characters of Never Let Me Go are a wonderful example (McLeod). In Hailsham, the school where the Ruth, Tommy, and Kathy grow up, the Guardians expect all of the students to be extremely creative; …show more content…
And, as is commonly known, adolescents are the most prone to succumbing to peer pressure (Brown). Throughout his childhood, Tommy does all he can to create artwork; however, he cannot seem to accomplish anything particularly spectacular. The other children look down on him because of this, and go as far as excluding him from group activities because they are embarrassed to be seen with him. Of course, there is always a minority opinion; one day a guardian named Miss Lucy pulled him aside and told him it is “quite all right” for him to be different, and that “he wasn’t to worry about it” (Ishiguro). As a result, Tommy gives up on being creative. Later on, Miss Lucy recants her statement and Tommy is unaware as to …show more content…
“Social conformity has been practiced in societies around the world since ancient times,” and the reason it is so effective is that humans have an inherent need to be accepted as part of a group (Sadat). Furthermore, Hossna Sadat reports that:
“Individualistic cultures, in the western-hemisphere, [such as the United States,] emphasize… personal identity and self-determination. Conformity is far less pervasive in individualistic societies because democratic choices and laissez-faire viewpoints are somewhat considered.” (Sadat)
Despite this, there continue to be incidents where middle class people are devastated when unable to achieve the so-called American Dream. Of course, the social expectations of a society are generally set by the previous generation and cause the newer generation to feel guilty when they cannot meet them. In order to avoid this feeling of guilt and insufficiency, people are willing to give up their unique hopes and goals; thus creating a society of people that are cohesively identical. Students in today’s universities are amazingly bright and creative, yet change their majors to those society has placed honor on, such as medicine, law, and engineering. The amount of innovation