Obedience In Mr Braverman

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Growing up as the youngest child of three, I was always given much leeway. My parents never really disciplined me in ways my friend’s parents have. They taught me right from wrong through a reward system. If I obeyed, I was rewarded in the form of toys. If I disobeyed, I was scolded. After many cycles of repetition, many children including myself, come to realize that obedience is expected in society. Not only is it a learned trait, but it also comes from within in certain circumstances. As I grew up, I learned that obedience also helps us fit into society. Obedience makes people feel as if they are a part of an institution larger than themselves. This larger institution protects them from harm. Even though obedience has been helpful in numerous …show more content…
Braverman essentially says that he kind of lost control of himself. He became so obedient that he had a psychological breakdown that resulted in his coping mechanism, laughing. He could not deviate from being obedient. In a sense, his inclination to obedience took control of his actions. Mr. Braverman’s particular situation is interesting. He could not stop being obedient even if he wanted to. It was as if he lost control of his psyche. Additionally, Mr. Braverman’s wife suggests he call himself Adolf Eichmann, the German soldier who excused his involvement in World War II on the basis that he was just following orders, to justify his actions in Milgram’s experiment. Mr. Braverman’s situation shows that the inclination to obedience can be a character trait of humankind. It shows that humans may subconsciously obey because they have a predisposition to do so. Additionally, Erich Fromm offers further details about the subconscious experience of obedience in his essay. On the second page of his essay, he states:
One is the ‘authoritarian conscience’ which is the internalized voice of an authority whom we are eager to please and afraid of displeasing. […] The case of Adolf Eichmann is symbolic of our situation […] Eichmann is a symbol of the organization man […] He is a symbol of all of us. […] The organization man has lost the capacity to disobey, he is not even aware of the fact that he obeys. At this point in history the capacity to doubt, to criticize, and to disobey may be all that stands between a future for mankind and the end of civilization (Fromm

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