Values and Choices

Think about a time you witnessed bullying/ostracism/peer pressure/exclusion/discrimination/violence. How did you respond? How do you wish you had responded? What stopped you from responding that way?


One example of bullying I had witnessed this year, was when a friend of mine went and knocked another one of my friends to the floor ( more like, shoved him, it didn't hurt too much), and then grabbed his legs, and dragged him around. Why he did this, still remains a mystery to me.I'm pretty ashamed about how I responded, I just kind of stood there and laughed at him, but I did eventually go and help him out. I wish I had immediately went and helped him out, instead of laughing first. I guess I didn't react the way I should have first was because I thought it was a joke, but when I decided that enough was enough, I did stand up.

Respond to the questions below
1.Where have we seen examples of bullying/ostracism/exclusion occurring in texts studied so far this year- factual as well as fictional?

One example of exclusion is like when Peeta wanted to be excluded from the team training with Katniss. Or like the Jewish community being ostracized at the Auschwitz Nazi Death Camp.


The In-Group


1.Select one line/phrase/group of sentences that are significant to you. Explain why.

"Often, being accepted by others is far more satisfying than being accepted by oneself, though that satisfaction does not last. Too often, our actions are determined by the moment" was the final quote which deeply moved me, as I thought this was a good, short description to what normally happens in a bullying situation, like how people normally becomes a bystander, or even a perpetrator.

To think about:
How is ostracism different from other forms of bullying? When does ostracizing or excluding someone from a group become part of bullying?

1.What’s familiar about the incident Eve describes?

Eve's incident here is familiar in a way that it was similar to the holocaust, and how people who didn't actually support Hitler ended up actually supporting him, because everybody else was doing it, an they didn't want to seem like an outcast.

2.What surprised you?


It surprised me that Eve laughed when she read the diary of another girl, as she was also a victim of bullying, and would know how it felt like, and would not easily forget it.

3. How does Eve’s story relate to bullying? Was she bullied? Did she bully? How would you explain her behavior?( perpetrator/bystander/victim?). make sure you justify( back up your answer.


Yes, Eva was, in a way, bullied by other people, and I don't think that laughing at the girl's diary FULLY counts as bullying. Bullying is defined by any action that made other people feel bad- mentally or psychically. The whispering behind Eve's back made her feel bad, therefore rendering it as bullying, however, her laughing at the other girl's diary was a sort of human nature which Eve didn't mean to let loose.

Psychologists Michael Thompson and Lawrence Cohen point to the powerful influence of peer groups in guiding our behavior: ‘We all know that groups can go terribly astray in terms of their moral reasoning. Everyone not in the group can be considered an outsider, a legitimate target…It affects every group because we are all prone to that feeling of us versus them and the idea that if you’re not with us you’re against us. Speaking out against a risky, immoral or illegal decision is hard to do because that makes you an outsider yourself’.

4.How did Eve’s need to belong affect the way she responded when another girl was being mocked? Why does her response still trouble her? How do you like to think you would have responded to the incident?


Say Eve was to stand up for the girl being mocked, she might also be mocked. Maybe for being "too sensitive" or something. And I guess the response still troubled her because she knew that she was wrong, and is ashamed that she was once hypocritical to her anti bullying cause.

5. Eve concludes “Often being accepted by others is more satisfying than being accepted by oneself, even though the satisfaction does not last.’ What does she mean?


She means that it's in the human nature to get what they want immediately, and we don't really think about things in the lon run, and that we tend to do things foolishly and without thinking it through.