Ideas and Values Shape Who You Become in Society Essay

Most people strive to have a good social standing and the ideas and values they h previous(a) on to smoke often put to work their place in night club. Society dictates which ideas and values give be accepted and which will be rejected. The values that stick with us the most argon usually taught to us as children and help to influence who we become. In daughter and true throng, the characters were raised to have unearthly values and to exculpate in a focal point that will acquire it easy for them to fit into their society. The main characters in these stories had their values imposed on them at a young age, and helped to shape who theyve become and how they behave in society.Read more Good people by David Foster Wallace striveReligion is a cornerstone for the characters in both stories. They are taught what is unimpeachable in their religion, in this case Christianity, and realize certain actions could alienate them from their social groups. In Girl, the young woman is g iven specific instructions on how to behave, including simulatet sing benna in Sunday school (Kincaid, 120). She is taught that cantabile folk music on the Lords day is improper, and yet though she doesnt sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school (120), she is explicitly told a few times not to do it. There, it is important for her to be on her best behavior. On Sundays she is shown she must try to walk like a lady and not the street girl you are so bent on becoming (120) because how she is perceived on Sundays can be detrimental to her public image.In Good People avenue A. dean Jr and his daughterfriend Sheris values constrict heavily on their thoughts as they consider their options when making a significant decision. The two are very religious and theyd prayed on it and talked it done from every different angle (Wallace, 152). They are worried about how their society will perceive them and if they are still good people if they go through with having an abo rtion and never really mention the word in conversation. Evenon the phone they speak in a conformation of half code in case anybody accidentally picked up the adjunct (153).Neither of them goes to a friend or even religious leadership to talk about their situation, not Pastor Steve or the prayer partners at campus ministries, not his UPS friends or the spiritual counselling available through his parents old church (152) because they are ashamed. Specifically, Lane feels like he knew now wherefore it was a true sin and not just a leftover rule from past society (152). In Girl and Good People, the main characters religious values have an restore on who they are in society, a good person or someone who gets to touch the b prove (Kincaid, 121).Even though Lane Dean and Sheri had made the appointment, they were still uncertain of their decision. Lane knew he couldnt contain up his young ladyfriends mind because he knew if he was the salesman of it and labored it upon her that wa s awful and wrong (Wallace, 152) and he chouses it isnt his place to experience a decision for her. However, he wishes he could know what Sheri is thinking and get her to undetermined up and say enough back that he could see her and read her heart and know what to say to get her to go through with it (152). Sheri knows Lane Dean is a good person, and that he respects her enough to know he cannot force her to side with him, but he still wishes he could persuade her to have the abortion. Ultimately, it is Sheris decision to have the abortion, or remove the appointment.Similarly, included in the long list of instructions in Girl is how to make a good medicine to throw away a child before it even becomes a child (Kincaid, 120), so the girl can decide for herself whether or not to have an abortion. Beside how to make medicine, the girl is taught other gender specific lessons that include cooking, sewing, laundry, and grocery shopping. She ask to see to it how to sew in order to hem a dress so to prevent yourself from looking like the slut I know you are so bent on becoming (120) and looking indecent in public. All of these instructions are aimed to make it easier for the girl to find a husband by teaching her how you set a table for dinner party with an important guest how to behave in the presence of men who dont know you very well (120). Understanding of gender roles and how to behave around men, or be a wife, are important lessons for the girl to learn in order to survive in her society.Class tie-in plays a role in the upbringing of the girl. She is instructed to wash the white vesture and put them on the stone heap(119) and when buying cotton to make yourself a nice blouse, be sure that it doesnt have mussitate on it(119-120) because it doesnt matter which social class she belongs to, she still needs to have clean, well-made clothes. Sewing is a useful skill for her, because she cannot impart clothes that are already made, or even premade fabric. Hars h terminology and phrases that are repeated throughout the story such as slut and wharf-rat boy accentuate the point that there is a certain way for her to behave in society and that if she acts like a slut or associates with wharf-rat boys, people will view her as being lower than them. remote the girl, Lane A. Dean Jr seems to belong to the upper middle class found on his name, and the fact that he attends junior college while living at home with his parents. He was named after his father, and perhaps this close affiliation with the paterfamilias of his family makes him apprehensive of confiding in his parents about his situation. He is close with his beget as well, and she thinks Sheri is good peopleshe made this evident in belittled ways (150). Lane is worried their decision and their sins mean they will no longer be viewed as good people to the people in their upper class society and knows Sheri can neither have an abortion today nor channelise a child alone and shame her family (155).Trying to fit in to society, whether upper or lower class can be an laboured task with many lessons to learn and roles to play. Knowing your place and where you fit in determines your success. The ideas and values imprinted on youth to build character and deter severity behavior allow them to conform to society.Works CitedMays, Kelly J. ed. _The Norton Introduction to Literature._ Portable eleventh ed.New York Norton, 2013. Print.Kincaid, Jamaica. Girl. Mays 119. Print.Wallace, David Foster. Good People. Mays 149. Print.