The Repercussions Of The Norm

Have you ever asked yourself the question, if I died today, would anyone notice or care? People live life just as another part of society, operating in the normal standards of society and being complacent with their overall life. In today’s society people think that they are special, but the truth is that people are at the hands of the next persons ideas. I am saying that we only do what others consider to be normal and we do not do certain things for fear of being judged or/and ridiculed. We make decisions based on other people’s opinions only to be considered in the norm and to be socially accepted. Because of this, society has drowned out some of its dreamers in the world and as time passes it is getting worse. Though “the norm” is considered alright, what are the repercussions of this stigma? Throughout the poem “Not waving but screaming” written by Stevie Smith, a man shows how blind society is to a man who is dying in

front of them. Because of the changes in society, people are not able to help. You also have to ask yourself, are you putting yourself out there to let people know you? In “Not Waving but Drowning”, the characters, literary tools, and all the natural elements come together to convey the main outlook of society today and its effects.

The characters of the poem is a man who happens to be drowning and the people who sees him.

As the man is in the water, he is thrashing around and slowly drowning, but to society he is conveying a different

story.

All they see is a happy man who is clearly enjoying himself in the water. As time passes he grows closer to death with no person to come to his rescue. Because society is so misconstrued, they let a man who could have maybe been saved die a slow death.

It is the lack of everyday human connection and love that people either don’t care or are not able to conceive what people are feeling. The man does have to ask himself did he give them a chance to really get to know him and get close to him. Society cannot be blamed for one hundred percent of the problem, but it has greatest influence on the cause and effect. The man who was drowning may have done the same thing on different occasions and faked drowning and people caught on to what he was doing. This could have caused them to think he is only playing and this time he is actually drowning.

Society causes people to stay secular and not go out and make connections because people are judged on every aspect of that person, and this causes people to not care about others and or/even themselves. This can lead to future suicide and self-abuse, which is something a person cannot take back. To help convey a strong message Stevie Smith (Smith) made a strong plot.

The plot of the story takes place in some body of water, where a man who may have been swimming began to drown.

He begins to thrash and yell but no one recognizes what is actually happening. He is slowly drowning and people are thinking that he is having fun and enjoying himself in the water. As he is dying he looks back and reflects on how his life has basically been a lonely journey. Looking at the setting, I also have noticed that people may also be hiding the truth of what they are actually feeling like. Everyone is seeing a beautiful beach and a man is enjoying its luxuries, but to him the beach is a cruel place where his is slowly losing his life. The tone the poem has affects your senses, almost making you feel what the man felt. The tone of this poem effects the senses making a person feel what the man in the story

felt.

There is a gloomy, lyrical, reflective, and critical tone conveyed throughout the poem. There is a gloominess about the poem because of its overall sadness. The line “Nobody heard him, the dead man” gives him the role of a dead man already and the poem has not had more than two lines. As you read it gets worse because a man died and nothing was done about it. Because of society and its overall blindness to the truth, a man paid the greatest price. It is even sadder when he realizes that this is not the only time he was misunderstood, it was his whole life that he was totally misunderstood. It can also be said that it is his fault because he loved playing jokes and now it has come back to bite him in the ass. It is like the story of the “Boy who Cried Wolf”.

There is also a lyrical tone to this poem. When the poem said “I was much further out than you thought”, it went from third person speech to first person directing that line back toward the author (smith). This could be how the author felt about her own life. She may have loved playing jokes on people and one day when she need someone to help her they may have though she was playing and she dies. When the people actually start to realize what is going on it is too late. The reflection comes in where he notices that all his life he has been misunderstood. This gives the reader a sad feeling and makes a person think about their own life and how the world perceives them. There is a critical tone because it says that the man is giving the signs of a drowning man, but by society perceiving it a different way he drowns. This makes the reader blame the people for not saving him. The man can also take the blame because he always played joke and the people may have thought it was a joke and no one bothered causing him to die.

Overall both the people and the man can be blamed for what happened. Society has become so blinded to what is going on in the world and has become so self-centered. People are ridiculing each other for what they look like, believe in, and much more. They are not taking the time and opportunity to actually get to know the person. What you see may not be what the person is actually like and how they feel. With all the ridicule in society, people are feeling bad about themselves and are dong malicious things to themselves. Some feel as if that there is no love in this world for them, forcing them to attempt suicide. The phrase “the norm” is a silent killer that is forcing people to hide their true selves, and silently suffer. The person also plays a role in this situation because they not only harm themselves they harm the people who actually do care for them.

In conclusion I feel as if society is something that will only get worse in the future. There are more and more suicides each year being the highest it has been in twenty five years. People need to open their eyes and see what we are doing to each other and maybe try to change our ways. The question you have to ask is, is it too late? With that question, the poem answers it with the death of the drowning man. I have hope that we can change and make a difference in the world, but we have to start with ourselves. I admit I have bullied people and been bullied and I know how it feels. I have never contemplated suicide but I did run from my problems by drug usage. I also contemplated running away with the mindset that no one cares about me. I say fuck society and its standards, no person should tell another how to live their life. I end with one more question, what have you done to make a difference?