The Shinning Houses

People long to be accepted by a group throughout life. This acceptance gives the assurance of support and comfort from others who are alike. People in such groups have set beliefs which cause them to be ignorant towards differences in their surroundings. The strength in organizations provokes fear in those who want to express their individual differences. Those wanting to be different are afraid of the judgmental ridicule they will face from their fellow group members. In the story "The Shining Houses" the author Alice Munro develops the idea that conformity causes people to respond to individual differences with ignorant judgments. The threat of these convictions causes members of groups to fear revealing their individual variations.

Affiliating with a group bestows people with encouragement, friendship, and comfort, as long as the affiliate continues to have the same conceptions as the rest of the group. The members of the new subdivision are a tight group. Since they are mostly young families and many aspects of their life "[are] not sorted out yet" (pg.1), their need to belong to the community is great. The members all have "similar houses that [look] calmly out at each other, all the way down the street." (pg.4)

. . .

There is evidence of comfort in their conformed lifestyle. One man came up with a plan to which all members agree on. 7) Conformity and ignorance has made these people blind to the facts behind Mary's arguments. 1) The connection Mary feels causes here to sympathize with her neighbor and disagree with the groups plan. All Mary has "really done [is] serve [herself] up as a conversational delight for the next coffee party. According to the new community's views, her house is ruining the appearance and market value of the new houses. 7)

If the community took the time to get to know Mrs. "The spirit of anger [rises] among them [and] they

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