Conformity at its Finest

Emily Dickinson's Much Madness is divinest Sense  presents a theme about the negative view society and leaders often hold for dissenters of opinion. "Assent-and you are sane-Demur-you're straightway dangerous" (Dickinson, 830). This quote presents the idea that society does not like change or disruption; rather, those in power prefer likeminded thinking so as not to disrupt their rule or order. These ideas remind me of the theme of Lois Lowry's The Giver. In this novel, citizens of  the city live completely by the laws of the rulers without question. Doing so, however, leads to the blind acceptance of possibly inhumane practices, such as the killing of the babies at the end of Lowry's novel. Another example of the result of failing to question tradition is presented in last unit's short story The Lottery. Dickinson is attmepting to warn against such tragedy with her extreme diction near the end of the poem. By using the phrase, "handled with a chain" (Dickinson, 830), Dickinson hopes to bring to light the extremely disapproval some societies have for the questioning of authority, and in turn, she hopes to call the reader to action.