Consequences of Conformity Everyone wants to remain anonymous when dealing with their personal predicament; being nameless as a group is easier than sharing responsibility. According to Shelby Ostergaard's "It's No One's Fault When It's Everyone's Fault," anonymity is defined as remaining hidden, but diffused responsibility is described as failing to address a group issue. The two concepts that fit into the categories of anonymity and diffused responsibility are Cheboygan Day and The Man is the Well, and we will talk about those two in this text. When we talk about anonymity and diffused responsibility, what is the first thing that pops into your head when you think about a definition for those two concepts? Did you think of remaining hidden…show more content… In (“CommonLit | Cheboygan Day by Brittany Allen | CommonLit”), we are faced with diffused responsibility and anonymity, because no one wanted to stand up for Adale, and the main character,Owen, saw this and started to conform and act like the rest of the group,performing the act of divided responsibility. In paragraphs 87–107, it states, “Townies—that was the word I thought of then, looking at my classmates’ faces, all twisted up and mean.”. “like the fun house mirrors the corny old haunted houses on the boardwalk. Everywhere I looked, people were dressed like Claude.” To further explain, Owen was faced with a confused responsibility when he tried to prove that Adele was nice, but he laughed at it when he tried to call on one of his friends, and they made the crazy symbol. In the story,everyone starts to dress like Cluade and act like he is a saint,while they treat Adele like she is an outsider. Even the main character tries to treat her like that, even though he is on her side. Paragraph 53 reveals the following theme: Gossip can erroneously portray someone as good or wicked. So Cheboygan Day illustrates both anonymity and diffused responsibility, but what about The Man in the…show more content… They didn’t want the man to know who they were,so they kept him in the well,but when he found out their names,he asked them why they didn't want to help,thus showing that the character didn’t really want to help as a whole when the leader didn’t do it by himself. This clearly shows anonymity,and earlier on in the story,the children did want to help,but they also didn’t make any moves to actually help him,thus showing us confused responsibility. the children's lack of visual interaction with the man, their lack of familiarity with his name and vice versa, and lastly, how the children hide behind each other. This anecdote raises an intriguing theme: groups of people often act on the impulse of their group rather than acting on their own. Groups, cliques, and gangs may act in certain ways due to the negative influence of peer pressure, yet when they act alone, their conduct usually differs greatly from that of the group. Cheboygan Day and The Man is the Well are two ideas that fall under the categories of anonymity and distributed
