Conformity Essay

A nonconformist is a person whose behavior or views do not conform to prevailing ideas or practices of the society. In the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury the main character Guy Montag was a nonconformist to his society, and in the movie Cool Hand Luke directed by Stuart Rosenberg, Luke Jackson was the nonconformist. Guy Montag was considered a nonconformist because in his society you weren’t allowed to read books, and he did. In Luke’s society he was considered a nonconformist because he went against the jail and ran away repeatedly. Luke is more of a nonconformist compared to Guy Montag because Luke was a man who refused to be nailed down or conform to the rules and regulations of a society. Luke from the movie Cool Hand Luke was sent to jail after he cut the heads off of parking meters. He was sent to prison where he later didn’t conform to the rules. Luke is a nonconformist for opposite reasons than Montag. Luke wasn’t liked by the people in the prison at first, and kept to himself. After later having a boxing match with one of his inmates Dragline, and was repeatedly knocked down but kept getting up was respected by the inmates. Luke never cared about what people thought of him, and never had anyone influence his actions or opinions. Luke did what he wanted to, when he wanted to. Luke wasn’t scared to go against the law several times after he already knew the consequences, and received them before. Guy Montag from the book Fahrenheit 451 was a local firefighter for his town and was suppose to burn books but instead he read them, and had to be fugitive and flee his town. Montag is different than Luke by many reasons. Montag was always respected by society for his job until he was caught reading books and was labeled dangerous by the news when he was on the run. Montag fought with the society as a whole and the government, where as Luke fought with individuals. Montag was influenced by one of his neighbors, a little girl named Clarisse. She opened his mind and made him think about things. For example she asked Montag if he was simply happy, and then Montag was left puzzled thinking â€Å"Of course I’m happy. What does she think? I’m not?† (pg10). Montag also blames other for his actions. For example when he blamed his hand for taking the book and putting it into his coat, â€Å"Montag had done nothing. His hand had done it all, his hand†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (pg 37) . Luke and Guy Montag are both similar because they both impacted their societies, Luke’s being in the prison and Montag’s being the town. Both had societies with an ultimate tool of conformity, the box and the mechanical hound. Both characters fought for what they believed was right. Montag wanted to rebuild the society after it was bombed, and Luke wanted to prove that he did know wrong from right before he was put in the box. Both Montag and Luke took major risks and both knew the consequences before they made their actions making them nonconformists. Montag used a little ear piece called the green bullet that allowed him to talk to Faber for his great escape. Luke was severely beaten multiple times by the prison warden, and he still ran away. Luke is more of a nonconformist than Guy Montag. Luke went against the most important thing in a conformist society, the law. Luke became the leader after people followed him, and wanted him to be the leader. Luke had a less of a need to be affiliated with anyone, like when he first got to the prison and just ignored what Dragline had to say about him or any other inmates. Most importantly Luke was more of a nonconformist because he went against the conformist’s rules and values, having to go in the box accepting the punishment and not running away.