...Parents tell it to their kids and teachers tell it to their students: “Be yourself.” It’s easier to say it than to do it. Being an individual is more than just looking different; it’s in the way we talk, think, react, and the way we listen. It doesn’t mean following a crowd of rebels because they’re not mainstream. That would just lead to another crowd that has the same scheme. Individuality is the most powerful form of expression. It all starts with your name, better known as “the real first impression.” For a long time, I really hated my own name, first and last. I didn’t know if I was named after someone, or if these names actually had a past. If it was actually a name, I wanted to know what it meant. One question I had was, “is my name English, or should I say it with an accent?” I especially hated my last name, because of the jokes from my classmates. “Why are you dressed so fancy?” as if my name was a bad trait. Now that I’m older, I appreciate my name. I haven’t read another story where our titles are the same. A name is just a name, so I knew I could get through it. What I do will set me apart, as well as how I do it. Trends flooded my high school of OHS. We all wanted to fit in, but no one wanted to confess. Snapbacks and jeans so tight that it was hard to breathe. I always thought glasses were made for people who couldn’t really see. To keep with the passing trends, a mind needed incredible speed. A shoe that was a small want a week ago becomes an outfit of great...
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...Individuality Born Kathryn Hudson, on October 25, 1984, Katy Perry grew up the middle child of two Christian ministers from Santa Barbara. At 16, Perry released a Christian pop album as Katy Hudson. "It reached literally maybe 100 people," the singer tells Entertainment Weekly, "and then the label went bankrupt." Columbia Records signed her on in 2004 however the label was not amenable with her vision and dropped her before the completion of her album. Perry's commercial breakthrough came in 2008 when she released her first mainstream studio album “One of the Boys.” This was preceded by the release of her first single "I Kissed a Girl". Several successful singles followed thereafter. “Fireworks” was released on October 16, 2010 by Capitol Records as the third single from the album “Teenage Dreams”. This song was considered by Perry as the most important song for her on the album. The song is a self-empowerment anthem with inspirational lyrics regarding participation, public speaking, awareness and exercise of rights, and many more factors that promote individuality. To say this in another way, this song is about the breaking of personal limitation that seem to hold people back. A plastic bag being blown through the wind is aimless and has no control of where it’s going. Katy Perry paints the same picture in her lyrics when she writes that “Do you ever feel like a plastic bag drifting through the wind wanting to start again?” The plastic bag in her song is an allusion to the...
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...Individuality and the Internet The internet has created a world where virtually every piece of information is available on a universally accessible platform. This international community gives rise to an atmosphere where trends and styles are immediately broadcast to the world. Ideals and habits are no longer confined to certain areas but spread throughout the world rapidly. In many ways, the internet has ushered in an international age that has created uniformity in the way people dress, think, and view the world. J.S Mill discusses the idea of individuality in his book On Liberty. Mill analyzes individuality and expresses the human need for some level of eccentricity. Mill stresses the fact that individuality is one of the fundamental components of human happiness. His main point is that individuality is imperative to social and individual evolution. The internet, in many ways, brings about new ideas and introduces the public to many points of knowledge. However in the same respect the internet often detracts from a person’s individuality and originality by imposing uniformity. In this paper I will argue that Mill’s idea of individuality and its benefits to society do not coexist well in the same world as the internet. John Stuart Mill writes that individuality should be asserted in matters, “which do not primarily concern others” (Mill, 54). The only way a person can truly cultivate his or her individuality and become a more complete human is to look within him or herself...
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...increase the quality of life within their communities. Indeed, American Individualism is solidified in the creation of America’s Declaration of Independence. Join NationofChange today by making a generous tax-deductible contribution and take a stand against the status quo. After the first World War, Individualism struggled under economic growth and security. A lot of free time for Americans meant a sudden need to celebrate ourselves as morally worthy individuals by spending money of material goods. Americans had heroes in both sports and on the silver screen and we became intoxicated by the possibilities of ourselves. Powerful organizations and corporations soon took notice and marketed heavily to the superfluous gratifications of individuality. Low and behold: corporate-run America was born. A vicious cycle began of conformist based society, where we are no longer celebrated for what we are capable of accomplishing, but what we own and might own. Today, Individualism has all but...
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...All mediums mirror the social, historical, and cultural context that they were conceived in. Subsequently, changes in time and setting usher in a reconstruction of the mores and values the relevant society holds. This is evident when comparing “The Taming Of The Shrew” and it’s teen film appropriation, “Ten Things I Hate About You”, made to appeal to the 1990’s teenage audience. The theme of individuality is explored throughout both “Ten Things” and “The Taming”, in very different ways. Kat, the protagonist of “Ten Things”...
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...Why does everyone want to be like everyone else? Don't they want to be different and express their mind with wonderful ideas? Albert einstein once said “ if you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal. Not to people or things.” I agree with the article by Casey Sims when she said “My own view of conformity and individuality as it relates to humanity, society, teenagers, and the world is we must know what we stand for, because ultimately, we have to live with the decisions we make.” Being yourself is the best way to go because you can express your mind as you would. When it comes to the topic of conformity most of us will readily agree that we want to be different. Most of us want to be different but also want to fit in at the same time. Studies show that if you are in a group of 4 or more you are more likely to conform with them because you don't want to be different or be made fun of. Conformity can also be very dangerous according to the dangerous conformity video. If you are in a room full of smoke and no one is noticing it or paying attention to it you might not pay attention to it either and might die!...
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...Indivisible Individuality In Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, the needs ideas, and duty of the individual are proven to be more significant than that of the group, so one's own identity is preserved. Each individual, both black and white, has both a responsibility to their community and an obligation in retaining their own personality as an individual. The main character, the Narrator, represents this himself in never telling the reader his actual name, and how he had temporarily lost his sense of individuality (however deems himself "ready" to come back by the end of the book). He is continually tested throughout the novel as he struggles to maintain the division between his own self and that of the needs the Brotherhood recurrently demand. From the beginning of the novel, the Narrator struggles with the beliefs taught by his grandfather, social expectations, and what he personally believes, which over the course of his journey, begin to change shape through his many experiences. This struggle is an underlying cause for many of the actions he will take, such as quickly joining the Brotherhood when the chance arises in an attempt to have his voice heard. As stated by Dykema-VanderArk, "Achieving that "realization" requires the narrator to come to terms with his personal history and with his place in the larger history of America." ("Overview of Invisible Man" 1). Every action he takes is a result of a recurring event, such as his overall decline in trust and confusion...
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...Losing Individuality Everyone should be able to have their own individuality. The purpose of the story is to inform the readers why individuality is important and why people should not be afraid to be different. Equality 7-2521 is more special than anyone in his society. The most unique thing about Equality is that he is very independent, he does not let anyone stand in his way. The process behind losing individuality in Anthem’s Society requires 3 things strict laws, brainwashing the people of their society and the unclear. In the Anthem Society, Equality 7-2521 is affected by his society’s strict laws. Their education is stopped at the age of 15 because of the strict laws, his society has something against people in their society learning...
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...In Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, the characters Kathy, Tommy and Ruth deal with trying to figure out who, or what they are and suffer identity crises because of that. While in Kurt Vonnegut’s short stories, the characters also deal with individuality and what that means for themselves. All of the texts deal with what it means to have an identity and personality and the limitations that they can have. A person’s individuality is shaped through their many experiences, the different values that society places on them, and what they find in life to help them understand themselves. In Vonnegut’s short story Harrison Bergeron set in the future in the year 2081, all people are completely “equal every which way” by use of handicaps. People...
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...In Charlotte Perkins’ “The Yellow Wallpaper” we are shown the oppression of ones individuality, particularly women’s during the 19th century. We begin by being established with a woman who enjoys writing and are told the story through the consciousness of this woman leaving her unnamed throughout the story. Early in the story we learn that she has a depressive condition which she feels is causing legitimate harm to her, however she believes that her husband John a well known and highly respected physician is only making a bigger deal out of her condition than what it actually is and we can see a better image of how confused, helpless, and oppressed our narrator really is through the repetition of such phrases such as “what is one to do”....
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...There are simple things in life that we didn’t expect that will greatly affect our whole personality. Gender, social status, intelligence, performance, educational background, and integrity are some of the constituents that are used to judge and label our individuality. There are conjoint places around the world that we thought will be safe for us, will value and appreciate who we truly are, and a lot of us consider that to be the last place who will treat us punitively and unreasonably. Most of the times our sexuality overthrows us in a way that we are being restricted to the benefits that should be offered and experienced by everyone without any stress and difficulties in obtaining it. If we are going to examine our current situation with great depth and sincerity we will come down with a notion that will make us realize as to when an individual’s sexuality became a passport to be treated discriminatorily and differently. One of the major topics that are a worldwide concern is the sexism among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans (LGBT) patients and healthcare professionals. According to Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing,...
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...for the society in which he lives is innovative, yet it is not for others that he conducts his experiments. Ayn Rand conveys that Equality’s primary incentive in the novella Anthem is to unearth his individuality and re-affirm his self-accomplishment, while partaking in an activity that brings him joy. Yet, Although expressive self-exploration traces to his direct motivation, Equality’s discoveries could benefit humanity greatly. Insubordination --disdained in our society,...
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...This is Mill’s more salient argument. Mill notes the “intrinsic worth” that individual spontaneity holds, yet how society views this tendency as a “rebellious obstruction” to societal progress (Mill 4). Mill does not waver on his stance, claiming “individuality should assert itself” when matters do not “primarily concern others” (Mill 3). In his most impressive and emphatic clause, Mill states: “He who lets the world … choose his plan of life for him, has no need of any other faculty than the ape-like one of imitation” (Mill 5). This statement bolsters just how integral free will is in the process of human thinking, for without free will, humans are reduced to an ape-like caliber of thought. While it is important to share ideas with others, if individuals do not first independently conjure unique ideas to fuel discussion, no “whole force” exchange of ideas can take place (Mill 2). The importance of free thinking is the basis by which a society can ultimately begin to think at a higher...
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...From an individual perspective, it would be of essence to identify with the mechanisms implemented by the slaves with the objective of depiction upon their cultural resources in order to challenge the dehumanizing thrust of slavery. Having led to the extradition of Africans, the individuals displaced brutally from their native lands, viewed it necessary to draw on the resources of their cultures while anticipating for survival from the dehumanization enhanced by captivity. Substantially, the major mechanisms implemented by the slaves revolved around the existence of slave individuality, entrenched in African beliefs. Importantly, the invention of original communal set-ups would be viewed as the core mechanism that confronted the ill-treatment...
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...Anthem Anthem written by Ayn Rand is a novel written to show that individuality is important in life. It takes place in a dystopian like society, and everyone is nameless. The people in this society aren’t allowed to show any emotion or affection to the people outside of the “we”. The topic of this book is mostly individuality leading the theme to be that one’s individuality is stronger than any group, or one person trying to bring one down. The main character in this book Equality 7-2521 demonstrates plenty of individuality. He demonstrates it when he is described in the book as taller and smarter than everyone else. “I stand here… I wish to know the meaning of things. I am the meaning. I wish to find a warrant for my being. I need no warrant for my being, in no word or sanction upon my being, I am...
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