Summary Of Repent, Harlequin ! Said The Ticktockman

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Conform or Suffer “Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman” presents an interesting commentary on conformity and the dangers of mass conformity within a society. Interestingly, Harlequin seems to be the only person in the story who really realizes that the people of their society have absolutely no freedom or autonomy. He also seems to be the only person who is willing to take a stand against something that is wrong. We see what conformity does to people if we look at Harlequin’s wife as an example. Even though she may love Harlequin, she has been conditioned to believe that what he is doing is wrong. There is no way to convince her that the Ticktockman has imposed unjust rules on the people. We may compare this to what we read before in “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” If we look at the situation that King was facing at that time, we can see a stark similarity. The people of America had been conditioned to believe that black people did not deserve the same rights as white people. They were conditioned to believe that black people were less than white people. King points this out in his writing, and he points out that the people have conformed to something that they should already know is not right. He points out the hypocrisy of adhering to …show more content…

In fact, questioning the norm seems to be wrong – even if the norm is in reality wrong. This raises the question of how far people should go toward fitting in to society and following the law. Harlequin is independent in breaking out of the status quo to point out a major flaw in society. No one stands with him. However, as readers of the story, we can see him as a hero. Despite how we may feel about Harlequin in the story, in real life, we may see someone who acts out against government rules as a rebel or even a criminal. When we really think about this phenomenon it is clear how we have been conditioned to believe that we must

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