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Leah Poppe
Ms. Meyer
English I
23 May 2016
Self Interest
An individual can have the power to persuade a group, therefore I believe it is more
important than a society. Gandhi himself as an individual led several others in protesting for civil
rights. It is important to have your own opinion on any topic. You shouldnt have to give in to the
conformity of a society. If you believe something is right you should stand up for what you
believe in. A group of people belonging to a society can sometimes make a person feel weak, as
if they dont belong. We should allow every individual concept or idea to be accepted.
Individuals should be able to have their own opinion. If people did not stand up for what
they believed in our world we be a very different place. If Martin Luther King Jr. did not stand
up for equal rights our society could still be segregated. If everyone listened to what the society
had to say, our lifestyles would be very one sided. There wouldnt be any controversial outbreaks
or arguments because everyone would just follow each other's opinions. In the book The
Giver the society was extremely bland. They didnt have a choice in what to wear, nothing was
very creative. In the book Raisin in the Sun the main character Walter went against the society
and moved into the white neighborhood even when they tried to pay him to not move. He wanted
to prove that he and his family deserve equal rights.
Individuals promote freedom and creativity. When you think of the word individual you
think of freedom. Freedom to think, say, or do whatever you would like. Many forms of art come
from the minds of individuals. The paintings and drawings are very different from one another. I

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think this could be a metaphor for individuality, being able to express who you are. If everyone
was the same and had generally the same thoughts we would lack in diversity.
Some people might think a society can be more important. They might say A society
keeps individuals in their place. In reality no one is going to have the exact same thoughts as the
person next to them. We all think and process differently, if we dont believe in something we
shouldnt have to change our opinions based on others. It is selfish to think for just yourself
this is false. There is nothing wrong with thinking for yourself, as long as it doesnt affect a large
group of people. In order to live a healthy life you cant always take care of others, sometimes
you have to set a certain amount of time to yourself.
Overall I believe individuals have more power than a society because individuals can
make up sed society. Having opinions and going against society may cause controversy but that
is a normal part of life. Life is not one sided there are many outcomes for any given situation. If
there werent individuals who thought for themselves we would have a dull population of like
minded citizens.

Works Cited
Graham, Stedman. "Your Identity Matters." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web.
26 May 2016.
"Individualism vs. Collectivism: Our Future, Our Choice - The Objective Standard." The Objective
Standard. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 May 2016.
Foulkes, Arthur. "The Individual and Society." FEE Freeman Article. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 May 2016.