Obedience
Blindly obeying authority often results In disobedience to one's personal morality. Since rules were established and exist for the common interests of the general population, some would say adhering to the rules is obedient. Contrary to popular belief, disobedience does not center around ignorant rebellion. In fact disobedience is the manner which people shed enlightenment on the well-traveled trail of benightedness, by offering another point of view. In "The Lottery", by Shirley Jackson, a fictional town is introduced in which all the villagers participate annually in a lottery used to determine which inhabitant is to be stoned to death; performed out of habit, it demonstrates ritualized unthinking obedience to custom. Moreover, in "Group Minds", Dorris Lessing asserts that a lack of awareness of the extent to which groups mitigate a person's individuality makes that person susceptible to the pressures of groups. Using the threat of world total destruction as a backdrop, Erich Fromm's "Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem" distinguishes between disobedience that is destructive and disobedience that is life affirming. Lessing and Fromm have different analysis of obedience when it comes to the stonin
Compliance and obedience are necessary for any society to function,but in order for a society to grow and evolve,as it must, the individual members must willingly face public disapproval and censure,paying the price brought on themselves by asserting their thoughtful obedience when their society takes a wrong turn. Therefore, as Erich Fromm and Dorris Lessing explain, one should distinguish between disparaging and constructive obedience, and should discern to what extent they get implicated within a group. g of Tessie Hutchinson and the father/son relationship in "The Lottery". Another simple example of Jackson's "The Lottery" is the Father/Son relationship. The father's role in the village was to work and earn money, tutor his children, and set rules in the house.Therefore, he was the major authority in the house. "Bobby Martin ducked under...his father spoke up sharply, and Bobby came quickly and took his place between his father and his oldest brother". (384) This shows that the son could not defy his father's command as he did to his mother's.According to Fromm,there exists two forms of conscience,the first form being the authoritarian conscience, and the second being the humanistic conscience.Fromm best explains the humanistic conscience when he says:...the humanistic conscience;this is the voice present in every human being...and i
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Approximate Word count = 912
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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