Conformity Essay, Research Paper

The passage, written by Pat Mora, suggests that young women growing up in the United States are falling victim to an identity crisis. Young female minorities, in particular, are feeling ashamed of their cultural background, and are constantly searching for ways to adjust to American culture. Mora blames the media for painting a distorted image of the idealistic woman. Ideals that boast, beautiful is being thin, and hints quietly that what they have does not suffice. She is concerned that these messages are leaving lasting impressions on the way these women feel about themselves. She claims that they re beginning to abandon their own cultural roots to conform to America s woman.

The poem Immigrants is about the fear parents, of a different descent, feel for their children. The fear that others will reject their children, that society will not accept their child as a real American. Mora explains how these immigrants surrender their children s cultural identity by ways of conformity. They give them American names, feed them traditional American foods and buy them American toys in hope to mold them into American cultural. At the end of the poem, Mora exposes the parent s insecurity with, Will they like our boy, our girl, our fine American boy, our fine American girl?

I agree with the passage, the media has manipulated the minds of not only young female minorities, but also every adolescent. In fact, everybody is a victim of the media. Every time you turn on the television, you re bombarded with advertisements. Advertisements that claim they ll sculpt your body into their ideal shape and size. Advertisements that suggest driving their automobile will increase your appearance and acceptance in society. When you flip through magazines, on the cover will probably feature a very slim woman with enhanced features or a highly muscular man. When you drive down the street, those huge billboards advertising luxury sports cars cannot be avoided. A debris of negative messages is being spread with these ads.

Everywhere I go, I see advertisements. Just the other night, I saw a commercial with an over weight man, that usually go unrecognized, driving a luxurious car. Where ever he would drive, people would look astonished. They watched him pass in awe, mesmerized by his vehicle. At the end of the commercial, the car passed by in slow motion, fully displaying all its features, and read chicks dig it. These kinds of commercials are sending messages that advocate materialism.

The perfect body image is advertised everywhere I can think about. I can be sitting at home watching television and countless commercials will be aired about how to shape and tone your body. Suggesting that being muscular is more attractive and will invite the respect of others. Every men s magazine has a male model showing off his rock hard abdominal muscles or a slim female model flaunting her chest. Being exposed to this kind of material, makes it impossible to not desire it.

In the perfect society, nobody would be judged by his or her possessions, but rather on personal merits. But we live in reality, and people unfortunately do prejudge. It has been instilled in our brains since childhood. We have been exposed to the media everyday of our lives, no wonder why we think the way we do. It s a vicious circle, no matter what you do, advertisements will never go away. The slender, tall, and voluptuous woman will always fill the slot, which will be idolized as the ideal woman. Mora asks the perfect question about society today: How are young women who are Afro American, Asians American supposed to feel about themselves?

I also agree with the poem. Mora raises great points with such few words. New immigrants are training their children to be as American as possible. It is as if they are ashamed of their own cultural, that they can t give their own children names of their own descent. They feed them American foods and force them to play with the typical American toys, so they can grow up to be as American as possible. The traditions that each ethnic background brings to America are beautiful, and shouldn t be hidden away due to the fear of rejection.

I remember back when I was a child in elementary school. Whenever lunchtime rolled around, I would be ashamed to open what my mother packed for me. I didn t have the traditional sandwiches everybody else had, instead I had rice. I was ashamed of what I had, I wanted what everybody had. All my other Asian friends had the traditional American food. It wasn t until my early high school years I realized what was going on. The parents of my Asian friends were ashamed to pack their kids the foods they had at home. They wanted their children to grow up Americanized, maybe because they were afraid of them not being accepted.

The media is brainwashing the youth of America, and killing off ethnic diversity along with it. Nobody wants to keep their original names anymore; they all want American ones. Children are growing up on television sitcoms and idolizing everything advertised. Even the parents give their children two names, one of their own nationality, and an American one. By doing so, this is sending a message to the child that it s okay to conform. The cultural these children are identifying with won t be of their own, but of America s.