Prompt: ‘To conform to the expectations of others can be destructive to the individual.’
Statement of intention:
This persuasive piece explores the ways in which young adults and even others in work places conform to the expectations of others and highlights the fact that this can be destructive to the individual. The writing will draw on specific stories from the text “Growing up Asian in Australia” to show how people change their identity in order to fit in, such stories include ‘Sticks and Stones and Such-like’, ‘The embarrassment of the Gods’ and ‘Perfect Chinese children’. I will use formal language mixed with colloquial to convince teens and young adults who read this on a blog why conforming to the expectations of others can be bad and also show some of the effects.
Essay:
It is human nature to want to belong, as individuals we will continue to change ourselves whether it be through looks, personality, activities and rituals in order to fit into a group. We change in order to become socially accepted and in some cases do whatever it takes to meet the expectation of others or to simply get some recognition. Changing ourselves can at times be for the better but it will still be destructive towards us as an individual. By conforming to others we change ourselves and therefore change our identity.
We will always want to have a sense of belonging to somewhere or some one whether it be family, friends or other groups. The story of ‘Sticks and Stones and Such-like’ showed us how Sunil Badami had a tough time fitting into school. He was not socially accepted due to his vast difference in looks and most importantly the pronunciation of his name. He tried his best to conform to the expectations of others; as a means of fitting in he had rubbed his skin thoroughly in the attempt of turning his skin lighter. He would take in the constant verbal and physical abuse at school to appear like he wasn’t a ‘bad