Essay

In Life, societal pressures exists at all levels and in all time periods throughout the worlds history.  Weather that is the way we evolved, where the only way to survive is to conform to society or if that is how society is run, where fitting in and conforming is the norm.  We see varying degrees of this societal pressure in the 1800's Pride and Prejudice, 1940's History of Love or even in the 21st century with modern society.  In each one of these circumstances, extreme amounts of individuality and conforming occur in which each circumstance leads to positive and negative consequences.  Mrs. Bennet and Charlotte are the extreme of conformity where marriage for wealth and status is the only thing that matters and Elizabeth is the opposite where she wants to marry not for wealth but for happiness, but is isolated.  Bird is an extreme individual as he tries to become a lamed votnik, but is outcasted and Leo is an extreme negative conformer of society as all he does is fear his death. However in each individuality and conformity, the negative consequences can be negated through finding balance between becoming an individual and conforming into society.   Indeed, societal pressure weighs down heavily on some, urging them to succumb to their insecurities and to wilt under adversity; while others defy these societal pressures and ascend these difficulties to shatter their insecurities, while in both cases negative consequences arise which can be negated through finding a balance of individuality and conformity.