Raw by Scott Monk

An institution by definition is anything where the behaviour of more than one individual is controlled by a system of rules and regulations. These rules are to maintain a balance of orderIn all instances where these rules and conventions exist individuals can either comply or protest the rules and regulations. Institutions can have positive and negative effects that can alter and individual's perceptions, judgment and values. The positive effects of an institution are individuals learn to behave themselves and be responsible for their own actions. The negative effects of an institution on individual are the environment that the individuals have to fit themselves in such as the harsh rule.

In Raw, by Scott Monk, we meet Brett Dalton who has been sent to this low security institution called the Farm. His first impression of the farm is that no matter hard this institution tries to reform him he is determined not to be changed, as his early comments suggest "Like every juvenile detention centre, it aimed to turn troublemakers like himself into model citizens, Brett snorted. As if." He continues to critize the people who are in charge of the institution, this shows his attitude towards institutions are negative "They couldn't be so stupid as to put so much trust in a bunch of delinquents, could they?" Well from the sounds of it they are. From the very start Brett sees the institution that of an enemy that needs to be beaten "He'd beat the system before it beat him. In the end Brett would win." The farm was that it's different from most detention centres in the regard that alot of trust is given to the inmates."Brett was getting really confused. What kind of detention centre was this? Inmates were allowed out on day trips. There weren't any bars on the cells. There weren't even cells!" (Page 37). The Farm is run in a different way, to bring a different approach to the inmates, a more friendly approach to them.

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