Have you ever felt like your identity was being stripped away from you? I have. For many, identity is just the image of society, for others, identity is much more. For me it was becoming something that I didn't just want to prove I belonged. Having two separate companies collide together made me realize that I don't have to be the face of the company. I can be my own Vietnamese American individual. Individual vs. Society can be interpreted in various ways and the different interpretations were shown in the class readings. We become what our surroundings tell us to become and sometimes we get lost in the chaos. As individuals, what role do we play? We get extremely caught up in the image of society that we sometimes forget about our morals, our life and our identity. It is fair to say that society is our guide that structures us to be part of social norms. Once the individual breaks the mold into unfamiliar behavior, the chaos is complete and society is forced to put social norms back together. But what are the social norms? Through in-class and external readings, the theme Individual vs. Society is expressed and interpreted in different ways. It's hard enough trying to find your identity, but when society constantly pushes towards the perfect image, identities are lost and we find ourselves accepting and becoming a society robot. We all have our own identity in this world that is exploding to come out. . But our identity is stripped from us when we don't break out of society's image. Stereotypes play a huge role in how society structures our image. While everyone has their own identity, we stereotype all races by putting them into categories and stripping them of their identity. In the short article “Stereotypes......middle of paper......cysm and the word itself. In his article he states: “Racism is persuasive in US culture to the point that it deeply affects all the people of the local town and spills over, negatively affecting the fortunes of the popular world around the world. Racism is pervasive to the point that we take many of its manifestations for granted, believing that “that's how life is”” (99). We can deny all we want that society does not structure how we live but, in reality, society's image is our pattern of life. We shape how we live and become according to society's desires. Author Gloria Yamato makes a very good point about how we even accept racism, stating that “this is life.” In all the readings he interpreted Individual vs. Society in different ways. However, it all boiled down to the fact that society stripped away our identity by making us accept our path in society's image and making us society's robots..