The Mayor of Casterbridge: Social Standards
What kind of person auctions off their wife and baby? In The Mayor of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy explores the personality of a man, Michael Henchard, who hands his family off to a stranger, Richard Newsom, for a mere five guineas. Oblivious to the consequences of such an act, Michael Henchard, intoxicated, lets go of his wife, Susan, and daughter, Elizabeth-Jane, who remain silent and unsure of what lies ahead. Just beginning his struggle in accepting standards of society, Michael Henchard realizes the disastrous effects of alcohol and promises to never drink again for twenty-one years. In his novel, Thomas Hardy examines the standards of society in Casterbridge at the turn of the twentieth century while detailing Michael Henchard's responses to these standards.
In addition to not tolerating alcoholics, people did not permit adultery. A couple stayed together a while before committing to marriage. Marriage lasted until death. People sought to keep their families together, and families existed as the basis of society. The husband worked to provide food, clothing, and shelter for his family, while the wife raised the children and kept busy with household chores. In order to gain respect, people composed themselves in a positive manner when in the workplace and all around. Political figures reflected the utmost dignity and honesty. People avoided working for and buying from people who lacked the respect of others in society. The wealthy helped the poor and people in society worked together to make their lives the best they could be.
In contrast to the many people who obeyed society's rules and aspired to follow these standards,...
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...g. He returns, looking for his daughter and Henchard lies and says that she died. The lies dug him deeper and deeper into the ground. Not accepting the standards of society, he lost Elizabeth-Jane.
If Michael Henchard had followed the standards of society, he may have led a happy life. Instead, he gave away his happiness, his family, and his wealth. He had many chances, too. He could have gone back for his family after the auction. Instead he hoped the problems would go away. He began treating people poorly, and lost respect from the people of the town. Then he lied and could not stop the lies. His personality consisted of many different sides--both good and evil. He didn't have the ability to take control of his life. When he saw his happiness go away, he did not grab hold of it. He reverted to revenge, envy, and lies. In turn, he lost all he had.
The book, “The Irish Way” by James R. Barrett is a masterpiece written to describe the life of Irish immigrants who went to start new lives in America after conditions at home became un-accommodative. Widespread insecurity, callous English colonizers and the ghost of great famine still lingering on and on in their lives, made this ethnic group be convinced that home was longer a home anymore. They descended in United States of America in large numbers. James R. Barrett in his book notes that these people were the first group of immigrants to settle in America. According to him, there were a number of several ethnic groups that have arrived in America. It was, however, the mass exodus of Irish people during and after the great famine that saw the use of the word “immigrant” being used to refer to them. Irish people descended to America fully loaded with their culture and religious beliefs that according to the writer of this book enabled them to assimilate faster into the American society more than any other group. Phrases and words like, Irish-American policemen, Irish-American teachers, Irish –American politicians were coined in social cultural set up of America. This wave shaped the process of assimilating other immigrants that came after them.
...ther, and nearly kills an innocent woman. In a broader perspective, conformity can leave people walking aimlessly down the beaten path with no real direction except conformity, doomed to live yet another meaningless life in a society based on archaic principles.
I too think that these diseases are divine, and so are all others, no one being more divine or more human than any other; all are ali...
Healthy People 2020. Improving the Health of Americans. Aug 28, 2013. 2020 Topics and Objectives. Retrieve from: http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/overview.aspx?topicid=33
Currently, there are many discussions regarding society’s views on how a “good” person should act. For example, in one society going to war may be viewed as a patriotic act, while in another society it may be viewed negatively because it can be seen as an act promoting violence. Furthermore, there are flaws in always conforming to society’s standards because it takes away one’s individuality. These topics are raised in the “Unknown Citizen” which is a poem by W.H. Auden that describes a man who is viewed by society as a perfect person and also in “Do Not Go Gently” by Dylan Thomas where he urges society to not accept death and fight it. As a result, there are actions that society declares as being righteous, but it is also important that people follow their own intuition because that way they become their own person.
When people think of organized crime they think of the Italian mob and the Russian mafia. They are the ones that they see in movies and on television, and the ones that they hear about the most. However, they were created a couple centuries after their Asian counterparts, the Yakuza in Japan, and the Triads in China. These Asian syndicates were founded in the sixteenth and seventeenth century and consisted of merchants and other people in what was basically the middle class. They were just groups of poorer people who were just looking for protection or were trying to help other people. The first organized crime syndicates were a kind of Robin Hood, they helped the poor. They weren’t big or powerful, and they didn’t have large numbers. The Italian mob was the same way, small numbers and very little power. Over time though, these organizations began to grow beyond even what their founders pictured. As this started to happen, and these organizations became more of a nuisance, governments started to take notice. They began trying to stop them by either slowing the growth or causing them to cease existence. Despite efforts to eradicate organized crime, it is stronger than ever.
Imagine living in a world where almost everyone lived the same lifestyle. Same cars, styles, and personalities, almost everything was the same. There was a set social norm and if you were different, you might have been judged for the way you lived. You feel the need to change your lifestyle in order to fit in with the world’s “social norm”. There is a pressure from the people around you or the town/city that you live in. Now it is highly encouraged to be different amongst the rest of the people to stand out. However, before being “different”, many people felt the need to conform to society’s norm. In the books The Sun Also Rises and Babbitt, social conformity plays a huge role in their storylines. The term social conformity is a society or
Societies standards are what everyone wants to fit into it is the norms that are used as a guide to living life. The grandmother and the misfit in O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” follow the way of social values, thoughts, and way society sees one another closely in 1953. Both the grandmother and the misfit are different in many ways, but have one common value of society’s views are important to them. The way society views and judges people causes both the misfit and the grandmother to act differently but subtly makes them more alike than either of them could tell. The shared value of society’s point of view on a human being can explain both characters views, behaviors, and actions because of how heavily it weighed on the grandma and
...ohnson, Ben. "How the IPad Can Transform Classroom Learning." Edutopia. N.p., 9 July 2012. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.
This leads to the first example of human duality which is the good and bad side to conforming to societal ...
The Washington D.C. City Council made a law on September 24, 1976 generally banning residents from having handguns and making sure that all guns in private homes be kept unloaded and for the time being inoperable or must contain some sort of trigger lock.
Though conformity is a humane feeling, many examples of conformity going wrong can be found throughout history. For example, multiple Germans conformed to follow Nazism and prosecuted millions of innocent Jews. Southern whites conformed to segregate thousands of African-Americans. By looking at multiple sources of literature, one can see conformity becomes unacceptable when innocent people are hurt and/or killed and affects the way one thinks or acts.
Conformity is vital to people’s life. Humans, being compound animals, live in a culture that works as a whole. Therefore, if there is a fault, the whole system might disintegrate. So, people are obligated to respect the affairs of others so that they can stay together as a whole. On the other hand Individuality, just like conformity, is necessary to life even despite the fact that modern person may not understand its worth. At one point people may want to be special from all the rest in one way or the other. As a result individuals might dress a bit in a different way as well as choose to do things we actually like. And, for on one occasion, we might create the opinions based on what we actually feel. However, earlier or later we are required to curb our impulsive desires so that society or culture does not tag us as eccentric or else weird, simply for the reason that people fear being alone.
The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy is a novel about the rising and plummeting of a complex man named Michael Henchard. Michael Henchard does not just have one characteristic or just one personality for that matter. His personality can be described as thoughtful and strong-minded but also as ruthless, stubborn and cold. Henchard's impulsiveness, aggressive attitude, childishness and selfish nature made failure and misery inevitable in his life. The essence of his character is the root of his demise and misery.
... the outcast. No one wants to feel like they are on the outside from everyone, and that sense of acceptance gives people a reason to fit in, so they can be included with the crowd and not shunned out. When people do follow norms, they receive positive sanctions, when deviance occurs then people receive negative sanctions. This social control encourages people to follow social norms because people want to be rewarded and not punished, and positive and negative sanctions enforce these desires. “The man who has done his duty finds, in the manifestations of every sort expressing the sympathy, esteem or affection which his fellows have for him, a feeling of comfort” (Durkheim pg. 242, 1915). In other words, people are not entirely motivated to follow what is normal: people’s reactions do matter. People will do what others expect them to because it is part of our nature.