My response
The conformity response has a lot of valid points. Donnie is in a band, is a musician, and the music environment that he is exposed to day in and day out just bring a lot of stress. The people in this industry tend to be exposed to a lot of peer pressure and turn to drugs and alcohol as a mean to escape and to boost their inspiration. However, let’s not forget that Donnie comes from a big town where he most likely has been exposed to a lot of these influences.
He clearly states that Donnie had few close friends in high school and his attention was mainly focused on school and music. We also know that Donnie is determined and focused in succeeding in his music career. In high school, peer pressure could be just as strong as it could be in college; nowhere that does it show that Donnie has ever succumbed to this kind of pressure. Therefore, in my opinion, Donnie being of strong determination and focusing on his future, to make it without having to succumb to peer pressure.
There are great musicians out there that have succeeded and resisted all of these outside influences, nowhere does it say that to succeed in the music industry you need to give in to peer pressure. It is a stereotype which is not a hundred percent true.
John on the other hand came from a small town and is more likely to suffer the cultural shock of living in a big city. He is good in school and loves friends. He is an athlete that always wants to be accepted. Because of this, I still believe that John wanting to be accepted, to fit in and to be popular and also, because of his need to please and to be liked might have a greater tendency to follow the “everyone does it” philosophy.
As a result of this, if John falls into the wrong crowd, he will have the tendency to stay out late, to party hard by alcohol and drug binging.
In prospective both arguments are rational. John and Donnie have a fifty fifty chance to go either way; and all arguments are valid. What we are not given here are the personality, the values, the upbringing, the strength and character of either one of these individuals that would have helped us, have more accurate assessments of their future outcome.
3 answers