This Blog is a resource tool for the students taking the "FACING HISTORY AND OURSELVES" elective at Westborough High School, Westborough, Massachusetts.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
The Bear Story - Period 6
Today you read The Bear That Wasn't by Frank Tashlin. Please share with the class your thoughts about the story and be sure to post at least one comment on another classmate's reflective post.
Mr. Gallagher
I thought that the bear story was really good at emphisizing the importance on fitting in. It is usually very hard in life to know what your true identity is and where you belong as a person. Because the bear didnt know what his own identity was he tried desperately to fit in with humans instead and changed himself to blend in with others. The bear just shows how you can change yourself to be who you want to be despite the influence of others opinions.
I think many of us can relate to the bear story as we constantly struggle to find our true identity. The bear story showed us how society can influence ones identity to an extent where they start believing what their really not. The bear started forgetting what he truly was, and started believing what society viewed him as, although he knew deep down inside what he was. He was so caught up in fitting in that, he was ready to believe what others thought of him. I think many of us end up losing our true identity in the process of trying to be accepted by society.
Savina ... I agree with you, and think that in the end no matter what others say or do you can still change yourself to who you want to be despite the influence of others.
I agree with Pic. I thought that the bear story did a good job at showing how much people are influenced by society and the people around them. At the beginning of the story the bear seemed confident in who he was, but when other people didn't believe him, he began to not believe himself. In the end Tashlin suggests, however, that you need to listen to yourself and not society, as the bear realizes that he was a bear all along.
The "Bear Story", in my opinion, demonstrated the constant struggle of individuals to create an identity. This was demonstrated with the bear who was naturally a bear, but due to others was forced to doubt himself, and succumb to a form of peer pressure. This situation demonstrated how society as a whole molds people, and in this case animals, into something that is more socially acceptable. However, in the end the bear was able to be himself again, something that very few other people are able to do.
I think the bear story emphasized on the fact that people are going to try to tell others what to do, or who you are. But one has to be able to keep their true identity despite what others might say. I think this because if everyone conformed to one specific type of personality or style then that is the point of individuality. This story reminds me of Hitler Germany how they are trying to make an aryan race of blue-eyed, yellow haired people. And if people weren't of this certain color hair/eyes, they they would be killed. I believe that, that is one thing that is always worth fighting for, the ability to be a individual and be able to be however you like, without pressure to be a certain way.
I agree with Dev that very rarely a person is able to recover his/her true identity once they have conformed to society. I think that people should not press upon others to conform a certain way and I believe that everyone has the right to be an individual as long as it is in a legal way.
I agree very closely with Pic and Barnett's point of views. I think that the scene from "The Pianist" shown in class is very similar to "The Bear Story". In "The Pianist", when the main character's father is punched by a guard, people continue to walk by as if nothing happened at all. In "The Bear Story" he is constantly convinced of being something he is not to the point of him following what he is told. In the Holocaust, non-Jews were following how the Nazis and society perceived them. Both stories show that people will go along with the way society thinks, instead of their true feelings.
After reading all of the posts, it is obvious that mostly everyone agrees that society has a major impact on people and it can change the way people really feel. I think that the message "The Bear Story" and "The Pianist" are trying to show that nothing good can come from being a "bystander". "The Bear Story" and scene shown in class both exemplify people who are falling victim to society. In "The Bear Story", the bear determines his true identity by entering the cave at the end of the story. The Bear realized his inner feelings were more important than those placed on him by society.
I think that the "Bear Story" shows how hard it is to know your true identity. The bear began to believe that he was a human because so many people told him that he was. The story shows how society can manipulate an individual into becoming something they really aren't. I also agree with Barnett about how this story can relate to Nazi Germany. In Nazi Germany the young people heard the Nazi ideals from so many people, their parents, teachers, and the government, that they didn't really know anything else and just accepted the ideas as fact.
I believe that this story showed how many thoughts of the individual can be entirely swung to fit the wants of society. Society wants him to be a worker who is unshaven and wears a fur coat, and at the beginning the bear insists that he is in fact a bear. After many higher officials (such as the vice presidents and the president) scold him for his thoughts and threatened him to be brought in front of higher personnel, he still believed in himself for what he truly is. It seemed to be only after the other bears, his own kind, told him that he was not one of them did he finally give in and stop believing in himself. So it shows that in this case peers have more of an effect than higher power does on the individual. He will never be one of the higher powers. But, he does want to be a part of a population that he can align himself with. Without the bears being that group he can cling to, he feels a bit hopeless and gives in to believing he is that unshaven factory worker who wears a fur coat.
I disagree with dev. I think the only reason that people don't revert back to the way they were before society molded them is because deep down they really don't want to be different. they just want to fit in. If a person really wanted to stand out and go back to the way they were before society changed them, they can. This story is an example of it.
The bear story left me truly feeling the importance of being yourself. No one is willing to accept the bear for who he is until he finally stops listening to everyone else's opinion and taking his own course of action. I feel like this is an experience that all of us go through at some points in our life and we always learn from it.
Yes very valid point Barnett, people sometimes have a very hard time conforming to society and they feel lost in their own little world. Many people these days are just trying to fit in and that is creating an unbalanced diversity of people in the country.
The Bear story clearly demonstrates how society can impose its social accepted views onto an individual that doesn't fit into what people deem as acceptable. The bureaucracy that is present in the story shows how the people at the top decide what is socially acceptable and try to get people to view the world their way. It was inspiring to see that the bear was able to reject trying to fit into what other people saw him as, and instead chose to be a bear.
Barnett I couldn't agree more with the fact that people are always going to try to tell others what to do,or who they are. The most important thing someone could do in a situation where people are trying to change their identity would be to reject it and simply know that you are who you want to be. The whole point of keeping your own identity is so that you can be viewed as an individual instead of as just another member of a group, like some sort of clone.
I thought the bear story was really cute. I also thought that this story emphasized an important point-losing one's identity. In my opinion, this story can be easily related to anyone's life because we all seem to struggle to find our true identity as we grow older. The reason why I say as we grow older is because, just like the bear was told by higher authority as to who he was, everyone is basically told my society, or the environment that they are in, as to who they are.
I agree with what Liz said. I completely think that a person is 100% capable of changing themselves if they so chose to. If they don't want to change deep down inside, then they won't. However, I think that society has so deeply rooted what is deemed "right" and what is deemed "wrong" that people can't really hear the "voice" within themselves that tells them to change.
I thought that the bear story was very good in showing the power of the individual to be resilent as society tells them to be somthing they are not. Throughout the whole story the bear was told that he was somthing he was not, however in the end he went with who he was a bear. I think the moral of the story is to just be who you are no matter what others say.
Barnett bro, totally agree with you its true that people are always going to try other people what to do however its the individual that has to make the choice whether they're going to conform others or retain their individual identity, and that sometimes this will be very tough.
This story deals with how people can lose sight of their own individual identity when others label them as something else. Though the bear knows that he is truly a bear, he later questions this as everyone continues to tell him that he simply a man who needs to shave and wears a fur coat. However, in the end, the bear is once again able to realize that he is not what the outside world tells him that he is, but that he is still a bear. This can be hard to do in the face of adversity, and this story does a good job of showing that. It also shows that no matter what those in society say, that it is always possible to maintain self identity.
I'm going to hop aboard the Klane Train as well and agree that in society people are always going to tell others how to act. However, this is just because people are so insecure with their own lives that they are forced to take power from others in order to feel better about themselves. We cannot let these people win. We will not let these pepoel win. We must always strive to be ourselves even in the toughest of times.
I think the story is very thought provoking in its presentation of this bear who has lost its identity. The reader watches the bear forget who it really is in the face of intense pressure to fit in. Because he couldn't successfully identify with bears he was labeled as a human being which is meant to be absurd because it is sending the message that major generalizations are sometimes made and these circumstances can get out of control quickly. It is true that once one without identity is lost, it is too stressful on the mind to stand completely alone and maintain sanity.
Barnett I think your point is a valid one. The situation illustrated by the story does resemble Nazi Germany in some ways and your lesson about being human and choosing your own identity is very important for everyone to listen to.
I agree with the previous comments. I think that the Bear story conveyed the constant strain on the individual to conform to society and the struggle to maintain one's true self. The Bear was so certain that he was, in fact, a Bear- but when influenced otherwise he began to doubt himself. Society needed the Bear to be someone else for its own benefit. I think this shows how society doesn't care about the importance of individuality, and rather pressures people to conform to set standards that benefit a "higher" purpose. I really enjoyed that in the end of the book the Bear realizes that only he can know his true self.
What Dev said about the struggle to find your own identity after societal influence made me think about something we discussed in Psychology this year. Dev is definitely right in saying few people can find their true identity after society intervenes. I think it is also important to note the initial struggle to find identity in the first place. Many people are confused about who they really are and happily welcome society's intervention and gladly conform. The difficulty to embrace one's self in the first place attributes to society's ability to alter one's identity.
I enjoyed reading the bear story in class. It's commentary on personal identity and the way that society influences that identity was quite interesting. The story asks the questionof whether a person should conform to societal standards based on outward appearance or retain their own individuality. In the case of the bear, he found himself surrounded by a highly organized bureaucratic environment that, in order for it to survive, needed him to change who he was. The pressure that was put on the bear is reminiscent to the kind that many people feel today. In addition, there is always the fear of being ostracized for being different that is prevalent in our lives. Overall, I think that the story was provocative and sent a resounding message about identity and society.
I also agree with Savina, the most important thing in life is to find out who you are and what you want to do. We are all at a pivotal stage in our lives in which we go off to college and decide these things; the bear story certainly shed some light on the subject for me.
Today you read The Bear That Wasn't by Frank Tashlin. Please share with the class your thoughts about the story and be sure to post at least one comment on another classmate's reflective post.
Mr. Gallagher
30 comments:
I thought that the bear story was really good at emphisizing the importance on fitting in. It is usually very hard in life to know what your true identity is and where you belong as a person. Because the bear didnt know what his own identity was he tried desperately to fit in with humans instead and changed himself to blend in with others. The bear just shows how you can change yourself to be who you want to be despite the influence of others opinions.
I think many of us can relate to the bear story as we constantly struggle to find our true identity. The bear story showed us how society can influence ones identity to an extent where they start believing what their really not. The bear started forgetting what he truly was, and started believing what society viewed him as, although he knew deep down inside what he was. He was so caught up in fitting in that, he was ready to believe what others thought of him. I think many of us end up losing our true identity in the process of trying to be accepted by society.
Savina ...
I agree with you, and think that in the end no matter what others say or do you can still change yourself to who you want to be despite the influence of others.
I agree with Pic. I thought that the bear story did a good job at showing how much people are influenced by society and the people around them. At the beginning of the story the bear seemed confident in who he was, but when other people didn't believe him, he began to not believe himself. In the end Tashlin suggests, however, that you need to listen to yourself and not society, as the bear realizes that he was a bear all along.
The "Bear Story", in my opinion, demonstrated the constant struggle of individuals to create an identity. This was demonstrated with the bear who was naturally a bear, but due to others was forced to doubt himself, and succumb to a form of peer pressure. This situation demonstrated how society as a whole molds people, and in this case animals, into something that is more socially acceptable. However, in the end the bear was able to be himself again, something that very few other people are able to do.
I think the bear story emphasized on the fact that people are going to try to tell others what to do, or who you are. But one has to be able to keep their true identity despite what others might say. I think this because if everyone conformed to one specific type of personality or style then that is the point of individuality. This story reminds me of Hitler Germany how they are trying to make an aryan race of blue-eyed, yellow haired people. And if people weren't of this certain color hair/eyes, they they would be killed. I believe that, that is one thing that is always worth fighting for, the ability to be a individual and be able to be however you like, without pressure to be a certain way.
I agree with Dev that very rarely a person is able to recover his/her true identity once they have conformed to society. I think that people should not press upon others to conform a certain way and I believe that everyone has the right to be an individual as long as it is in a legal way.
I agree very closely with Pic and Barnett's point of views. I think that the scene from "The Pianist" shown in class is very similar to "The Bear Story". In "The Pianist", when the main character's father is punched by a guard, people continue to walk by as if nothing happened at all. In "The Bear Story" he is constantly convinced of being something he is not to the point of him following what he is told. In the Holocaust, non-Jews were following how the Nazis and society perceived them. Both stories show that people will go along with the way society thinks, instead of their true feelings.
After reading all of the posts, it is obvious that mostly everyone agrees that society has a major impact on people and it can change the way people really feel. I think that the message "The Bear Story" and "The Pianist" are trying to show that nothing good can come from being a "bystander". "The Bear Story" and scene shown in class both exemplify people who are falling victim to society. In "The Bear Story", the bear determines his true identity by entering the cave at the end of the story. The Bear realized his inner feelings were more important than those placed on him by society.
I think that the "Bear Story" shows how hard it is to know your true identity. The bear began to believe that he was a human because so many people told him that he was. The story shows how society can manipulate an individual into becoming something they really aren't. I also agree with Barnett about how this story can relate to Nazi Germany. In Nazi Germany the young people heard the Nazi ideals from so many people, their parents, teachers, and the government, that they didn't really know anything else and just accepted the ideas as fact.
I believe that this story showed how many thoughts of the individual can be entirely swung to fit the wants of society. Society wants him to be a worker who is unshaven and wears a fur coat, and at the beginning the bear insists that he is in fact a bear. After many higher officials (such as the vice presidents and the president) scold him for his thoughts and threatened him to be brought in front of higher personnel, he still believed in himself for what he truly is. It seemed to be only after the other bears, his own kind, told him that he was not one of them did he finally give in and stop believing in himself. So it shows that in this case peers have more of an effect than higher power does on the individual. He will never be one of the higher powers. But, he does want to be a part of a population that he can align himself with. Without the bears being that group he can cling to, he feels a bit hopeless and gives in to believing he is that unshaven factory worker who wears a fur coat.
I disagree with dev. I think the only reason that people don't revert back to the way they were before society molded them is because deep down they really don't want to be different. they just want to fit in. If a person really wanted to stand out and go back to the way they were before society changed them, they can. This story is an example of it.
The bear story left me truly feeling the importance of being yourself. No one is willing to accept the bear for who he is until he finally stops listening to everyone else's opinion and taking his own course of action. I feel like this is an experience that all of us go through at some points in our life and we always learn from it.
Yes very valid point Barnett, people sometimes have a very hard time conforming to society and they feel lost in their own little world. Many people these days are just trying to fit in and that is creating an unbalanced diversity of people in the country.
The Bear story clearly demonstrates how society can impose its social accepted views onto an individual that doesn't fit into what people deem as acceptable. The bureaucracy that is present in the story shows how the people at the top decide what is socially acceptable and try to get people to view the world their way. It was inspiring to see that the bear was able to reject trying to fit into what other people saw him as, and instead chose to be a bear.
Barnett I couldn't agree more with the fact that people are always going to try to tell others what to do,or who they are. The most important thing someone could do in a situation where people are trying to change their identity would be to reject it and simply know that you are who you want to be. The whole point of keeping your own identity is so that you can be viewed as an individual instead of as just another member of a group, like some sort of clone.
I thought the bear story was really cute. I also thought that this story emphasized an important point-losing one's identity. In my opinion, this story can be easily related to anyone's life because we all seem to struggle to find our true identity as we grow older. The reason why I say as we grow older is because, just like the bear was told by higher authority as to who he was, everyone is basically told my society, or the environment that they are in, as to who they are.
I agree with what Liz said. I completely think that a person is 100% capable of changing themselves if they so chose to. If they don't want to change deep down inside, then they won't. However, I think that society has so deeply rooted what is deemed "right" and what is deemed "wrong" that people can't really hear the "voice" within themselves that tells them to change.
I thought that the bear story was very good in showing the power of the individual to be resilent as society tells them to be somthing they are not. Throughout the whole story the bear was told that he was somthing he was not, however in the end he went with who he was a bear. I think the moral of the story is to just be who you are no matter what others say.
Barnett bro, totally agree with you its true that people are always going to try other people what to do however its the individual that has to make the choice whether they're going to conform others or retain their individual identity, and that sometimes this will be very tough.
This story deals with how people can lose sight of their own individual identity when others label them as something else. Though the bear knows that he is truly a bear, he later questions this as everyone continues to tell him that he simply a man who needs to shave and wears a fur coat. However, in the end, the bear is once again able to realize that he is not what the outside world tells him that he is, but that he is still a bear. This can be hard to do in the face of adversity, and this story does a good job of showing that. It also shows that no matter what those in society say, that it is always possible to maintain self identity.
I'm going to hop aboard the Klane Train as well and agree that in society people are always going to tell others how to act. However, this is just because people are so insecure with their own lives that they are forced to take power from others in order to feel better about themselves. We cannot let these people win. We will not let these pepoel win. We must always strive to be ourselves even in the toughest of times.
I think the story is very thought provoking in its presentation of this bear who has lost its identity. The reader watches the bear forget who it really is in the face of intense pressure to fit in. Because he couldn't successfully identify with bears he was labeled as a human being which is meant to be absurd because it is sending the message that major generalizations are sometimes made and these circumstances can get out of control quickly. It is true that once one without identity is lost, it is too stressful on the mind to stand completely alone and maintain sanity.
Barnett I think your point is a valid one. The situation illustrated by the story does resemble Nazi Germany in some ways and your lesson about being human and choosing your own identity is very important for everyone to listen to.
and I cant really work this thing, but that anonymous post was me sorry.
I agree with the previous comments. I think that the Bear story conveyed the constant strain on the individual to conform to society and the struggle to maintain one's true self. The Bear was so certain that he was, in fact, a Bear- but when influenced otherwise he began to doubt himself. Society needed the Bear to be someone else for its own benefit. I think this shows how society doesn't care about the importance of individuality, and rather pressures people to conform to set standards that benefit a "higher" purpose. I really enjoyed that in the end of the book the Bear realizes that only he can know his true self.
-Gayle Heim
What Dev said about the struggle to find your own identity after societal influence made me think about something we discussed in Psychology this year. Dev is definitely right in saying few people can find their true identity after society intervenes. I think it is also important to note the initial struggle to find identity in the first place. Many people are confused about who they really are and happily welcome society's intervention and gladly conform. The difficulty to embrace one's self in the first place attributes to society's ability to alter one's identity.
I enjoyed reading the bear story in class. It's commentary on personal identity and the way that society influences that identity was quite interesting. The story asks the questionof whether a person should conform to societal standards based on outward appearance or retain their own individuality. In the case of the bear, he found himself surrounded by a highly organized bureaucratic environment that, in order for it to survive, needed him to change who he was. The pressure that was put on the bear is reminiscent to the kind that many people feel today. In addition, there is always the fear of being ostracized for being different that is prevalent in our lives. Overall, I think that the story was provocative and sent a resounding message about identity and society.
I also agree with Savina, the most important thing in life is to find out who you are and what you want to do. We are all at a pivotal stage in our lives in which we go off to college and decide these things; the bear story certainly shed some light on the subject for me.
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