Kunka 1

Zack Kunka
Mrs. Greenfield, English 11
June 7, 2015
The Puppeteer of Your Decisions
Why do people act so radically different based on the given situation?
When I look around the room, there are very few people that are conspicuous in the
crowd. I say this referring to those who are constantly disruptive and are troublemakers by
nature. I think to myself, How can their parents deal with them every day? They probably act
different at home. By no surprise they do, and for good reason. These people act differently
because of seemingly invisible social norms and their own comfort level of the situation.
Taking myself as a prime example, in school or at a party, I rarely engage in social
interaction, and even try to avoid if at all possible. But in places like my home, when I situate
myself on Xbox, I am constantly in a conversation or making some sort of noise. I feel much
more comfortable within the confines of my home and can converse with consistency and ease.
Another factor that affects how I act is the social norms that exist in society.
These social norms that exist were put into action naturally, not by law or word of
authority. Performing certain actions that are uncool or otherwise out of the norm will get you
looked down upon or shunned. For example, if somebody was smoking cigarettes in school, I
could snitch and report it to authority, but would be looked down upon as untrustworthy by that
individual, thus having the norm embraced against me. This causes me to act differently because
it restricts me from performing some actions. Not only this, but I am forced to watch my actions
and avoid those in the norm to maintain my reputation with my peers.

Kunka 2
In Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, Jack, the leader of the choirboys, leads them
in a civilized manner when first meets Ralph. As the book progresses, the choirboys are assigned
to be the hunters of the group, bringing back meat and other sorts of game. At some point in the
novel, the choirboys diverge from the larger group because they only want to hunt, and because
of this, become unruly, disorderly, and savage. This eventually leads them to performing the
most gruesome chain of events in the novel, because of the lack of rules in place to prevent such
savagery.
The main factors that contribute to the radically different actions and mindsets of people,
whether real of fictional, are social norms, level of comfort, and existing laws and rules. With
myself, social norms and comfort level affect me. I dont feel as comfortable outside of my home
as I do inside of it. For others, the pre-existing laws and rules stagger their intentions. The laws
constantly affect everybodys conscience in terms of present and future actions. Everyone has to
watch their own actions and take life more slowly.