Pressure: 3; Samsa and Mimi

Kafka opens up the idea that "conformity is alienating and dehumanizing," however one would think the exsact opposite. It could be that conformity is alienating because you get further and further away from your "true" self. And, it could be dehumanizing because you go from being a part to just a whole and nothing more/nothing less. Gregor Samsa helps his family, works double time and has lost all sense of himself to provide and take care of others. In his life of being basically a busy bug -Samsa is gone.
In relation to conformity now and then. Theres a slight problem with comparing that which cannot be compared. Theyre two different scales- and its hard to weigh them equally. 1915 for Samsa was a completely different time than 2012. In 1915 the population rate was completely different and icomprehensibly smaller than now. So, with much less people the competitveness of today cannot compare as well as the attention to other around you. Today, we have the internet and the internet changed everything. Also we have Facebook, Myspace, dating sites, etc...with the internet inter-personal relationships have been compeltely changed and morphed. Connection has becomes less personal, shallow, and imcomplete- although, ironic enough, its become more convienent to communicate. With all that said- the pressure to be the crowd was so much more intense- with less people you would of stood out much more and had less people to relate to. You can see when Samsa doesn't show up for work- his boss shows up! Today, we can call in sick and our boss probably wouldn't give a heck to show all the way up at our houses. So the better able we are to blend in today- the more challanged we are to stand out. And people see that as a good thing- depending on the circumstances. As for my interview, I've decided to do it with my stepmom Mimi. She was born in Iran and lived there until she was a teenager. At the age of 14 she came to highschool in America and could barely speak any English. She had gone from a traditional persian family in Iran to a laidback Californian highschool knowing only Farsi. She'd tell me when she first came to the school she walked into the bathroom and thought it was smelled "funny" and she should tell an adult and then someone pulled her aside and said "Relax dude! It's just weed." Mimi had no idea what was going on and with the complete transition to jeans and sandels, a new curriculum in a new langange and Californians she had- to say the least- a hard time- but she knew she had to conform to American culture or else she would have an even harder time.