Society Sets Boundaries For Individuals example essay topic

We are not what we are; we are who society recognizes us to be. The responses from society for our actions are what gives us our sense of self. Without other people your identity does not exist for it is society who acknowledges or denies the individual their identity. We are who society allows us to be. Society represents that which is more powerful than the individual. Society's needs are always greater than the individual.

The identity of the individual will suffer for stepping outside of the boundaries set by society for that individual. Society sets boundaries for individuals that give the individual a certain area of movement, actions, and speech. Those individuals that cross those boundaries not only could lose their identity but will most likely suffer societal penalties that often result in death. Those individuals that live their lives and reach for goals within their boundaries, using what is within their boundaries set by the society that individual lives in, will be rewarded by reaching their goals set within the scope of limits set by society. Using examples from the movie "The Return of Martin Guerre" one can see the importance of complying with the demands of society in order to obtain the desired identity.

In 1527, a family with the name of Daguerre moved from French Basque country to a village called Arti gat. This village had different moral attitudes about whom and what the individual is. The family understood this and from the beginning made changed to themselves that allowed society and the individual family member to fit together in a tighter fashion. For instance, the family Daguerre changed the name to Guerre in order to 'fit in' to their new society. Also the Guerre family learned to speak in a different dialect because their new found society also spoke that dialect.

The most extreme example of conceding to the demands of society was the women in the family were no longer equal to the men in the family. This inequality of the sexes was demanded the most at the local church. The women in the Guerre family abide d by these laws. In the end, these compromises made by the family in order to be accepted and contribute to their new society paid off. For instance, when an imposter threatened infiltration into the Guerre family the society of the town rose up and made efforts to back the family and protect them. If the family had not chosen to make concessions, then it would not be surprising if the society they lived in would leave them to their own devices for their own defense against the imposter.

In contrast, an example of what rewards individuals receive for being accepted as a part of a particular society is from the book "Colonel Chabert". The story is used to demonstrate that because of the greed, selfishness, and treachery of humans; one who has neither title nor estate will become invisible to society and might as well be dead. The book tells a story about a man who was heavily wounded in the Napoleon war. Because of his extreme wound, Colonel Chabert was considered dead. Because of his perceived death, his current wife grabbed as much of his estate as she could carry and remarried and had children.

As was revealed in the story, she knew earlier than expected that he was alive and prepared a defense for his impending arrival. Madame Ferrand, Colonal Chabert's wife, prepared defenses and planed of keeping Colonel Chabert from reclaiming his title and thus keeping him invisible to society. Keeping Colonel Chabert from being acknowledged by society would in turn keep him too weak to fight for what was rightly his. During the story, the author, Honor'e de Balzac, demonstrated how the lack of identity can keep the individual week and hopeless by allowing the main character Colonal Chabert to receive just a small acknowledgement of who he really is by his attorney, Counselor Deville.

Upon receipt of only a small dose of identity, Colonel Chabert gained happiness and physical strength he had not felt for years. However, Colonel Chabert never succeeded in gaining his true identity because of being so weak, and ended up rotting in a hospice outside the city. Colonel Chabert did not realize until the end that the society that he was trying to regain access to, no longer wanted an old glamorous Colonal from Napoleon's war and simply chose not too readjust himself to the new boundaries that society gave him and thus was punished by an impending solitary death. There are no better examples of rewards and punishments handed out by societal conformance then when one looks at individuals that are black.

It is not argued that black individuals have a much smaller playing field than do other individuals who are white. Those who accept their plight and reach for goals that lie within the boundaries set by the society they find themselves in, are more likely to be rewarded with reaching those goals then not. Am excellent example of black individuals who accept the boundaries set for them by society and adjust their individual identity to work within it is in the movie Sugar Cane Ally. The film is placed in the Caribbean islands in sugar cane fields. At this time blacks are presumably free from slavery but still have extremely tight boundaries that keep them in a position of the identity of slaves to a white sugar cane field owner. Their particular society has devised a financial mechanism to keep them very close to home, very poor, and very desperate.

Although the individuals in the society are "free", they still carry the identity of 'slave'. The story is about a black, older lady attempting to do whatever she has to do to ensure that her grandson leaves the sugar cane fields by helping him create an identity that includes the element of "extremely educated", something no society can ignore. Jose's grandmother does things that all lie within her boundary set by society that will allow Jose to gain the education he needs to escape the virtual slavery he is in now. She saves newspapers, she moves herself and Jose to Fort-de-France so Jose can get to school easier.

Although moving creates a situation for M'Man Tine that makes her work even harder, she does it because that is all she can do. In the end, M'Man Tine and Jose are rewarded by a full scholarship for Jose and the viewer can easily picture in their minds the doors of opportunity opening for Jose. This is a reward for M'Man Tine's ability to reach for a goal while staying within her boundaries set by society. To contrast and support this theory of reward for compliance, one only needs to read the story of Ourika by Claire de Dur as.

The story is actually very simple. A black girl saved from slavery by a white women, (obviously to have a little 'black girl' pet), raises the black girl outside of the boundaries set for black individuals. One day, Ourika learns that she is entirely different from the rest of the society she only knows about because she is black and as an individual she will never be accepted into the society where she was raised. Ourika was raised within a white society.

However the readers of Ourika never quite believe in the absolute devastation she feels she is in because she is black. Most of her devastation is brought on by her self loathing. Ourika obviously has an opportunity to live her life out as a black person within the boundaries set by her particular society for a black person, but refuses and insists on staying within the white society. This insistence becomes her fatal flaw and she ends up alone, with a broken heart waiting to die.

It is proof that the individual should not reach for something outside of the boundaries set for your particular identity unless you work to change your identity. However in the case of Ourika, the element of being black is unchangeable and must be accepted, unfortunately she does not. Sometimes not altering the individual's moral and personal beliefs can sometimes shove you out of the boundaries set by society for the individual. For instance the story of Antigone by Sophocles demonstrates what happens to a young girl that does what she feels is right rather than doing what simply is necessary to achieve he goal.

Antigone insists that her dead brother needs to have a proper burial because her beliefs are, if he does not, his soul will wander the earth for eternity. Antigone sees only one way to do this. Defy the king, bury her brother and be killed as a punishment. The king she is defying sees things almost at a stark contrary to her.

Along the way, she is offered several alternatives that would be a compromise and meet everybody's goals. However, Antigone never budged from what she felt is right and suffered for it by death. If she had let go of her personal values and morals and did what was necessary, she would have remained alive. To support the argument that doing what you need to do rather than doing what you feel you should do in order to remain in your societal boundary and be rewarded, one only needs to look as far as the movie of Lucie Aubrac. Lucie Aubrac is a story about a French resistance fighter during the Occupation of France. She belonged to a resistance cell that fought the Nazi's and eventually was captured.

She remained free but her husband was kept for a sentence of death. Lucie demonstrated that doing anything and everything regardless of the individuals beliefs results in achieving the reward of an obtained goal. For example, after Raymond, Lucie's husband is captured, she plans and executes multiple plans to achieve her goal of freedom for her husband, On of these plans was to admit that her husband was really a person that she has had casual sex with and now is pregnant and very much alone. The attitude of the times looked at this situation of hers very, very badly. She allowed herself to be humiliated, she lied, and allowed her and her family to be humiliated. All in all she let go of all moral and personal values in order to manipulate what she had control over in a way that allowed for her to aid in her husband's escape.

This movie proves that the individual will be rewarded for letting go of his or her values for the interest of others. As anyone can see by the example given by these movies and books, individuals who stay within the boundaries and work with what they have available without crossing the boundaries, will be rewarded. Those who insist that their own individual identity is more important than that of society will be punished. An identity is made up of an individual and the society that holds the individual as its own. When an individual betrays society, society releases that individual and the identity of that individual dies.