Conformity: A Result of Judgment and Expectations

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When pondering about what an individual thinks of you, people have varying views. Some people are not concerned; to others it is the most critical matter on their mind. The feeling of being judged is a very potent emotion. Likewise, conformity is one of the largest controversies in today’s society; the behavior of someone in accordance with socially accepted conventions or standards. So if someone personally made his or her expectations on what you should be like evident, would you change? In Matthew Quick’s The Silver Linings Playbook, he illustrates that judgment and expectations conform a person into someone they are not due to their personal identity. This can be seen through a character’s loyalty to another, dominance and the vulnerability it includes, and a character’s love and devotion. Conformity and the reasons for its appearance will be analyzed through samples from Matthew Quick’s bestselling novel.
Being loyal has negatives and positives when someone is faced with judgment and expectations. In The Silver Linings Playbook, Pat, Ronnie, and Danny exhibit this characteristic and show how it can be either good or bad. For the most part, Pat has spent 30 years of his life on Earth believing that his only purpose is to care for Nikki and provide her with anything she could ever want. However, his personality clashes with this desire, this longing, so Nikki intervenes. She purposely manipulates Pat into thinking that it is his fault that she wants to take a break in their marriage, consequently making him believe that if he changed to what she deemed fit, Nikki would reestablish their former married state. Pat explains to his therapist Dr. Patel, “‘…Nikki will come back, because I have improved myself so very much through physical fitness and medication and therapy’” (Quick 15-16). It is quite easy to see Pat is convinced that Nikki will return to him

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