To Conform or Not Conform - Three Adapting Situations Final

Joyce Morris

English 101

Professor Salsich

10/13/10

Right or wrong, the pressure to conform is always an issue in society.  In the fictional account “Life Size” by Jenefer Shute the anorexic patient is told she must eat even if it is against her will.  In Eric Schlosser’s “What We Eat” and Nora Ephron’s “The Boston Photographs”, each share their views on society adapting to situations.  There are two sides to any issue and, Shute, Schlosser and Ephron offer their views for discussion.

Shute’s “Life Size” tells a fictional story about an anorexic college student named Josie who is hospitalized against her will.  It is expected that Josie obey the doctors and nurses and eat to gain weight.  Josie feels she has the right to starve herself.  Josie says, she never feels hungry, and despises those who do feel hunger.  She feels those who hunger spend their lives foraging and never learn to ignore hunger.  Josie feels “each gain against hunger makes her stronger,” as she struggles with her body’s need to conform and eat food.  By refusing to eat Josie trains her body to exist on nothing.  By doing so, Josie is convinced that “one day I will be thin enough.”  Josie feels those people threatening her crusade are willing her to weaken.  “What choice do I have, powerless as a child […] right to determine what does and does not go into my body?” Angry and humiliated Josie’s internal struggle continues as she lay in bed trapped and lost between the pages of a Vogue magazine.

In “What We Eat” by Schlosser society’s feelings and beliefs guide compliance of the food industry.  Once spread out and few, fast food businesses are now abundant.  Over the last 30 years the wants of customers have driven the popularity of the fast food industry.  According to statistics Americans spend more money on fast food than on higher education, computers and other household purchases.  This trend to spend has compelled the food industry to build rapidly. More women in the workforce are a fundamental change in society that has led to the boom of the fast food industry.  Due to conflicting schedules and time constraints, families spend more money eating outside of the home.  Faced with less time to do the traditional housewife duties families spent more money on eating outside of the home than preparing the food themselves at home.  The demand for fast food and the lifestyles of Americans wanting to purchase food made outside the home has also increased the job opportunities in food service.  “An estimated one out of every eight workers in the United States has at some point been employed by McDonalds.”  Since there are so many franchises, the wages that are paid are minimal.  Chain stores “rely upon a low paid and unskilled workforce.”  Workers are willing to agree to low wages because of the abundance of jobs.  Employees tend to stay in their positions for shortened periods of time because they feel they can get a job elsewhere.  Corporations who want to succeed comply with the population’s wants of fast food so that they can continue to grow.  The consumer complies with industry’s service and wages out of necessity to keep up with their accelerated lifestyles.

 “The Boston Photographs” by Ephron brings up the discussion of conforming to what society feels is the right way to handle news involving sensitive issues such as accidents and death.  As a past New York Post reporter and then columnist and editor for Esquire Magazine, Ephron feels that there is no story that shouldn’t be told by photographs.  It is yielding to society to anticipate a reader’s reaction to photos of death.  “The fact that the photo was taken a millisecond before the young woman died” could have decided whether or not the photo was published.  People’s responses would have been different if the woman lived.  Ephron feels that newspapers are irresponsible and inaccurate if they don’t publish photos because of a potential reaction by their readers.  Death will always come, as it is part of life and people should be able to hear of the stories that go with it.  To comply with the views of some and keep the truth away from the whole is inaccurate.  “Photojournalism is often more powerful than written journalism” because a photo can speak a thousand words, which can be interpreted by the viewer.  Photos document something that happened in the accurate way.  Newspapers and reporters should not be pressured to conform to the views put upon them by readers and viewers.

In their essays, each author illustrates situations involving compliance.  Shute’s fictional essay tells of a young girl pressured by the medical staff, her own conscience and a magazine’s image to comply with “what is the expected way to be.” In “What We Eat”, Schlosser, discusses the direct correlation of the boom of the fast food industry and the changing needs of the working family.  Ephron’s “The Boston Photographs” examines the freedom of press and what and how much the public is entitled and or needs to see and know about real life stories.  To comply, or not, is the question.  What is wrong and what is right?  The pressure to conform is always an issue in society.