trends. In the majority, the changes made to society's norms have benefited mankind and in today's world society has been altered to be equal to everyone, yet it has continued to put harsh regulations on certain groups and some individuals. Therefore from the four studied texts a novel, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, The Fat Boy a short story by Owen Marshall, The Kite Runner a novel by Khaled Hosseini and a film Into the Wild by Sean Penn, I want to know how society has impacted individuals and groups of people all over the world, and whether the norms from the olden ages still apply in today's world.
In conclusion, it is apparent from the studied texts that society has a tendency to influence individuals both positively and negatively, where in some cases it can be an essentiality for our survival as if provides civilization and humanity yet it can cause the loss of individuality as we all follow what the person next to us is doing.
Into the Wild, Lord of Flies, The Fat Boy and The Kite Runner all have different outcomes of how society has impacted the individuals or groups of people in the texts, but all four texts have pointed out that society is both a positive factor in our lives as well as negative, therefore the text reveals that individuals need to keep a balance between fitting in with society as well as keeping their opinion, as it is revealed from the texts the consequences of only following one extreme as it can either consequence in loss of identity and opinion or isolation. The texts have also revealed that because of our basic instinct to be wanted to fit in we all will continue to be susceptible to mob mentality because we all succumb to this flaw in our daily lives whether it is following a particular fashion trend or fitting in within a group these are all examples of mob mentality as we all fear being left out because as humans we take behavioural cues from those around us and as social creatures, we fear being rejected by a group. Hence, we tend to act as others around us do, following the social ‘norms’ of people we associate with, either by choice or circumstance, even if these do not genuinely reflect our actual beliefs and morals. I have also realised mob mentality is not a trivial thing, as it can become the cause of our destruction or a community/society which is proved by events in history such as the Holocaust, where millions of Jews were murdered in concentration camps because of their race by the German Nazi regime during WW2. Adolf Hitler a dictator had influenced Germans to view Jews as an inferior race who was believed to be a
threat to German racial purity and community which caused a destructive mob mentality as he convinced Germans that the German Aryan race was most superior therefore the mob mentality of white skin, blonde hair and blues eyes became the requirement of a Germans yet Hitler did not inherit these characteristics. This shows how mob mentality can cause the destruction of our world.