ipl-logo

Conformity In Philip Zimbardo's 'The Stanford Prison Experiment'

606 Words3 Pages

Theme: The Dangers of Censorship and Conformity
Literary Device: Montag's Transformation
Outside Source: "The Stanford Prison Experiment" by Philip Zimbardo
Stance: While human beings have the potential for both good and evil, the negative effects of censorship and conformity can lead to a society dominated by evil actions.

Claim 1: Montag's transformation from a loyal firefighter to a rebel who fights against censorship and conformity expresses the theme of the dangers of censorship and conformity.
Evidence 1: In the beginning of the novel, Montag is a loyal firefighter who takes pleasure in burning books and maintaining the status quo. However, after meeting Clarisse and witnessing her nonconformist behavior, he begins to question the rules …show more content…

His initial conformity to the expectations of his profession results in his willingness to commit heinous acts, such as burning books and potentially harming innocent individuals. However, his curiosity and willingness to challenge the status quo leads him to realize the negative effects of censorship and conformity.

Claim 2: Zimbardo's "The Stanford Prison Experiment" connects to the theme of the dangers of censorship and conformity in Fahrenheit 451.
Evidence 2: In "The Stanford Prison Experiment," Zimbardo and his team conducted a study to explore the effects of power and authority on individuals in a simulated prison environment. The experiment demonstrated how individuals in positions of power can easily become corrupt and abuse their authority, leading to harmful and immoral actions.
Reason 2: This experiment relates to the theme of the dangers of censorship and conformity in Fahrenheit 451 because it demonstrates how societal norms and expectations can lead individuals to engage in immoral actions. Similarly, in Fahrenheit 451, the censorship and conformity of Montag's society results in the normalization of immoral actions such as burning books and suppressing individual

Show More
Related
586 Words | 3 Pages

Montag’s disobedience is evident in the book, Fahrenheit 451; he journeys to find the significance in the items he is obligated to burn and faces the conformity set forth by his dystopian society; this urge develops when he meets his sixteen-year-old neighbor, Clarisse; her curiosity triggers Montag’s realization of how unsatisfied he is with his life. Throughout the book, Montag tries to rid his society from ignorance; Montag wants to broaden the society's outlook on life that is limited by the lack of information offered to them; as a result, Montag is able to revive mankind from the oppression, and influence future social growth. Disobedience is a valuable trait that allows Montag to face the complexity and issues of his society;

Read More
1290 Words | 6 Pages

In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury tells the story of Guy Montag as he navigates an oppressive society that seeks to eradicate any source of complex thought. Although it may seem natural to place the blame solely on the government, the novel also depicts how individuals within the society contribute to the problem. Throughout the book, readers are exposed to various reactions to said censorship from characters such as Clarisse, Mildred, Beatty, and Faber. Though he never outright mentions it, it is clear that Bradbury has a very strong opinion on the dangers of censorship. Fahrenheit 451 is a cautionary tale that explores how relationships amongst family, friends, and neighbors are manipulated when a powerful majority enforces conformity of thought

Read More
1146 Words | 5 Pages

The government can easily take control of your life because of the willingness and conformity of people. The Milgram Experiment was performed to demonstrate how willing a person is to go against their own morals to obey a higher authority, much like the novel Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury, which shows how obedience and conformity are huge in society through different characters in the story, such as Mildred. The Milgram Experiment was performed by Stanley Milgram and was motivated to be done because of the Nazis and the destruction of the Jews. He thought that it was just

Read More
543 Words | 3 Pages

Essay In the society of Fahrenheit 451, the government is controlling the citizens by burning all of the books and all of the past. The officials of the town state that the reason they are burning the books is because they are not appropriate and do not approve of the contents within that book. Some people like reading books for enjoyment and for amusement, but other people need it for learning and improving themselves. By burning the books the government could also have the ability to influence people's thoughts.

Read More
751 Words | 4 Pages

In 1971, Philip Zimbardo set out to conduct an experiment to observe behavior as well as obedience. In Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison experiment, many dispute whether it was obedience or merely conforming to their predesigned social roles of guards and prisoners that transpired throughout the experiment. Initially, the experiment was meant to test the roles people play in prison environment; Zimbardo was interested in finding out whether the brutality reported among guards in American prisons was due to the sadistic personalities of the guards, disposition, or had more to do with the prison environment. This phenomenon has been arguably known to possibly influencing the catastrophic similarities which occurred at Abu Ghraib prison in 2003.The

Read More
366 Words | 2 Pages

Individuality against conformity is a heavy theme throughout Fahrenheit 451. Clarisse is a central character in Fahrenheit 451 who opposes censorship, questioning Montag in Part One. Clarisse's boldness in asking Montag whether or not he considers the importance of what he is burning offers Bradbury’s view that people who defy anthropocentrism in censorship are more inquisitive, in turn, this could be seen as detrimental to people who try to go against an authoritarian system. The significance of individuality and rebellion throughout Fahrenheit 451 indicates that Bradbury is criticising the shortcomings of anthropocentrism, that in a homocentric society and culture of Fahrenheit, it doesn’t affect non-conforming humans such as Clarisse. Clarisse

Read More
831 Words | 4 Pages

Part 1: Response to Learning Materials. Jazz in America: Concise History by Ken Burns has the first chapter discussing the very beginnings and the development of jazz in America, focusing mainly on jazz's African American-based ancestry. It surveys the intricate web of origins that entwined to materialize jazz, for instance African cadences, musical forms from Europe, and the blues. The film introduces such pioneers as Buddy Bolden, who is typically credited with being the first "King" of jazz, since his improvisational and soulful style gave a new twist to music on an individual level. The documentary displays New Orleans as the birthplace of jazz, where their mixed culture and different music genres could combine into new paths.

Read More
445 Words | 2 Pages

In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, conformity is a prominent theme that is explored through various literary techniques. They convey the idea that it harms society by creating barriers to communication and hindering critical thinking. The novel is set in a dystopian future where books are banned, and individuality is discouraged. Bradbury uses his characters' experiences with each other and technologies to demonstrate the dangers of blindly following societal norms. The use of literary devices such as metaphor and symbolism allows him to highlight the harm caused by conformity and warns readers about the dangers of this society.

Read More
1334 Words | 6 Pages

In addition, taking after Clarisse, Montag begins to ask questions himself, and realizes that the way society functions isn't right, and he is no longer happy with his choice of profession.(STEWE-1) " ‘I've tried to imagine,’ said Montag, ‘just how it would feel. I mean, to have firemen burn our houses and our books’” (Bradbury 31). Here, Montag has his first realization that being a fireman is not only wrong, but also an inaccurate, untruthful version of who he wants to be.(STEWE-2)

Read More
720 Words | 3 Pages

Montag is made especially aware of the saccharine happiness among civilization through Clarisse McClellan, a teenage girl who is eccentric in terms of society, but is simply a girl who enjoys talking about “…how strange the world is” (27). Clarisse befriends Montag and makes him the aware of the natural pleasures of life around him. However, Montag is antagonistic towards Captain Beatty, the chief firefighter at the firehouse Montag works at. In an intense conversation with Montag, Beatty insists, “…we must all be alike” (55) in order for all people in society to be happy, and the burning of books is what creates this happiness, as men cannot be offended by the ideas of other men.

Read More
1260 Words | 6 Pages

Fahrenheit 451 Theme Analysis Sir Francis Bacon once said, “ipsa scientia potestas est” or “knowledge is power” and we often say this to encourage education amongst others. However, the power and knowledge struggle in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is a prevalent theme in the book. For example, books and other forms of entertainment of similar substance are banned and even burned regularly because of this. Also, many people (because they don’t know) are unwilling to learn and even go as deep as to fear them. The public fears knowledge of this capacity because the government makes them afraid, but the government is no different- they also fear an educated public that have opinions and to a large extent, free will.

Read More
799 Words | 4 Pages

After Montag and the other firemen burn down a man’s house filled with books, he “trie[s] to imagine […] just how it would feel […] to have firemen burn [their] houses and [their] books” (Bradbury 37). Bradbury characterizes Montag as empathetic by showing that he is putting himself in another person’s shoes and wondering what they would have felt. He is becoming aware that his job isn’t as perfect as he thought it was, and realizes that hewhat he does harms people. Bradbury reveals how Montag slowly transitions into becoming someone who doesn’t conform to society . Bradbury builds on this transformation by using freedom and happiness as an example.

Read More
1215 Words | 5 Pages

In the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Montag, the protagonist, finds pleasure in burning books and takes pride in his occupation as a book-burning fireman. He lives in a society where the government suppresses people from reading and having their own personal thoughts and perspectives on life. Clarisse, a girl Montag encounters, is known for being antisocial and is labeled by others as "17 and crazy. " Clarisse’s curiosity about society affects Montag as he realizes what kind of society he currently lives in and becomes determined to break free from the government's possession. The impact Clarisse has on Montag is evident in his self-awareness and change in attitude towards society as a whole.

Read More
737 Words | 3 Pages

Fahrenheit 451 –Analytical Essay There are a few common aspects of the setting of Fahrenheit 451, a book by Ray Bradbury and today’s society. Just like any books being burned in Fahrenheit 451, our government holds certain information as classified and does not let it out to the general public. Both societies use censorship as a way of limiting knowledge. Oversight and surveillance continue to be allowed at an alarming rate and was a part of Bradbury’s concerns. Fitting in and being "normal” or mainstream are not as accepted in either setting.

Read More
1572 Words | 7 Pages

Even though there are people willing to risk it all to go back to the life they had, there are some that become submissive and stop fighting. In Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by Stanford phycology department. They recruited college students to run a mock prison so they could study the effect of becoming a prisoner and a prison guard. In this experiment that was supposed to run for two weeks ended up being stopped by the researchers on the six day because it was getting out of control. This is stated by the heads of the experiment Philip Zimbardo, Craig Haney, W. Curtis Banks, and David Jaffe in their report of the experiment.

Read More

More about Conformity In Philip Zimbardo's 'The Stanford Prison Experiment'

Related Topics

Open Document