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.

Pressure: 2

Creatures habituate with one another for social, environmental, emotional, and natural reasons- and beyond this there are consequences to not conforming. Such as alienation, lack of skills (education), lack of opportunities, lack of chance and success. Like i said, people need people both to be well as a part of the whole and as a whole together. Looking back the biggest chances in success were To conform. However, looking at todays structure- the biggest chances at success are indeed breaking the norm- being different and innovative. The competition is more intense than ever and everyone is fighting to be new and different in hopes of finding success, happiness, etc. Not a lot of people today are going to get "big" by blending in- people want to stand out, be influential- whether it's with big ideas or a big personality. Examples? Lady Gaga, Steve Jobs, Steven Hawking. The economy, expectations, society, religion, civilization and culture are different now than are older generations- but the pressure will never dissipate, only change form. I

Pressure: young vs. old

Thoughts at the moment: Back then, the pressure was more intense. The time's were more repressive. There was more of a narrow character to obtain than today. Today, our culture encourages being different, taking control of your life and doing what make you happy. Back then, there was a more stereotypical narrow type to fill: classic business money making, care-taking, family man. Darwinism: In human nature: it is in our DNA and natural to follow your species. That's how young learn from the old. That's how animals learn to adapt. Conformity is not all bad, to conform can be to agree that an action or thought is right- is that conformity? or is that information? adaptation? catorgizing? natural selection selecting? Also, I believe pressure comes from a myriad of things, there is not just one cause. It is the media as well as the culture as well as insecurities as well as human nature. For the freedom to choose, i'd say, yes and no. Or at least, yes to an extent. You cannot completely stray from the pressure to follow. People need people. People need people for advice, experience, guidance, survival. Call it conformity or following - but i call it adaptation.
As of now, i'm struggling to narrow my topic down. However, i think i'm going to anaylze the pressure of older generations vs. ours and finally why the pressure even exists.

P3

The conflict "between what we profess to be and what we are" rises soley from the development of civilization. Civilization demands sacrifices that restrict our natural aggressiveness, instictual tendencies, sexual desires and selfish gene. Our culture commands obligations from modern civilized man and holds that to maintain such a measure of structure- man must procure peace. However, this leads mankind away from itself - it's "tendency to aggression", it's "inertia of libido", it's temptations to gratify" and towards the denial of ourselves in a reality of civility and morality. Homo homini lupus is gone, man no longer preys upon man and this ultimatley creates an "absurd gap." Furthermore, in civilizations plight to control, man becomes a repressed creature. And, to deny man its freedom would cause much unhappiness to any truly aware man. So, mankind keeps in denial of his condition and attempts to stay in a state of satisfaction in his own darkness. Yet, no one can deny the powerful measure to which man has a natural capacity "to use sexually","to seize posessions", "to humiliate", "to torture" and "to kill". It is this selfish gene- coined by Richard Dawkins that so plainly achieves the nature between men. However, civilization tries to quell that relationship and ease nature's aggressiveness. But to deny and deprive the existence of "our aggressive tendencies in mankind" is in itself the gap between our professment of what we are and what we are.

P2

Civilization's purpose is to create an order among humans. It is to repress the people into a structural foundation that will create some sense of tranquility and uniform. We see that society instills a certain ego in ourselves. We see that it is society that keeps us in check. We are good people not because we are good beings but rather we fear punishment and consequences from acting against the mainstream pressure of repression. We fear condensation, alienation, and gossip from our groups so we stay in line. Society commands discipline of its people and in this, repression and restraint are commanded. Society has put upon its members a professed disguise; yet, beyond the ego we are what we are. However, it is through deciet and denial that we avoid the truth of scoiety's purpose. Throughout Marlow's evolution, he comes to see this wide gap "between what we profess to be and what we are" and is marveled by the absurdity of his position in the world. Indeed, civilization has tried to rationalize the irrational and control the uncontrollable. Yet, the denial is the darkness. The denial of oneself's true expressions of desire, irrational forces, and sexual urges is Conrad's conception of the void. Civilization has been belived to be the light, bringing man and choas to morality and structure- but Conrad tries to show that it is actaully the dark and brings nothing but a false perception of manself and ignorance. In a sense, man has lost themselves to a false reality of the superego and is professing to be what they surely are not.

Introduction: The Concealment of Civilization; A Vain and Floating Appearance

      In Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Marlow gains insight into the true absurdity and discontinuity of the world. As he travels further into the darkness, he is more free to pursue an uncontrollable journey into the representation of mankind. And, throughout his fruitless endevours Marlow encounters what is surely his most fulfilling and important discovery- "the absurd gap between what we profess to be and what we are." It is through art, alientation, langange, and nature that Marlow finds his concealed "hidden self" and gains a better truth on the disguise civilization has put on his own existence. Indeed, Frederick Karl and Sigmond Freud's idealology provide a modern rendition to this skewed relationship between ourselves and the universe. Consequently, in stressing these irrational elements in humanity- Marlow and the reader are able to travel further into the unconscious and disinteregate from reality.

Essay Points!

Intro: The Concealment of Civilization; a Vain and Floating Appearance

Main Points:
My main points will be on the massive symbolism in Heart of Darkness
The absurd and pointless, meaninglessness of life
The gap of reality and appearance: what we are and what we profess to be
The inevitable darkness of mankind and the illusions that cloud the truth of this nilihism
The irrational and rational of exsistence
The suffering of alientating unimaginable "banality of evil"
**I will be covering mostly Karl's psychoanalytic work/essay on his troubling truths.