Social Mores Essay

506 Words3 Pages
The way you act in public is how people perceive you. This is why you should always watch how you act in public. The topic of this paper is social mores. In England, during the early 1900's, the way people acted was varied because of the constant procrastination of the upper classes. In the novel Pygmalion, Eliza Doolittle is the cause of some of these changes of social mores in upper class society. The conversations have changed, as well as the small talk, while she progressed through her learning of a better way of speaking. This change has had positive effects on her progression, but negative effects on her life. “Social mores is the customs and manners of a social group or culture. Mores often serve as moral guidelines for acceptable behavior but are not necessarily religious or ethical.” (dictionary.reference.com/browse/mores?s=t) Social mores is basically how you act in public. Its your ethics and your moral code. The society focused on is early 1900's England on the novel pygmalion. “Social Mores depended on if you were working or middle class.” (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_was_England's_everyday_life_in_1900's) The mores being used from this society is the way they speak. The character Eliza Doolittle was very different before and after her change. before this, she was poor and ill-spoken. No matter what, she tried to stay mannerable and polite. "Garn! Oh do buy a flower off me, Captain. I can change a half-a-crown." (Shaw Act 1, pg. 19) This quote shows how poor she is. She is on the street selling flowers for as much money as she can get. "Nah then, Freddy: look wh' y' gowin, deah," (Shaw Act 1, pg. 15) this quote shows how ill-spoken Eliza is. Eliza does not form her words correctly, or use proper grammar when she speaks. Another example of her speech is "A woman who utters such depressing and disgusting sounds has no right to be anywhere - no
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