As much as I agreed emotionally with Samantha after reading “The Mohawk,” I still was not able to rid myself of the psychological thoughts about judging others and it left me thinking considerably about society. In this non-fiction account, Samantha describes how the change in her hair style affected how others viewed her. She mentions the impact it had in her school environment and in the article, Samantha takes a stand, writing passionately about how the judgment that accompanied her Mohawk frustrated her greatly.

Sadly, I understand what Samantha experienced; on numerous occasions, I have criticized people for their Mohawks and other different hairstyles. At the moment, I just didn’t understand why anyone would do that to their hair. It seemed silly and what made it worse was that most of the people I had met with similar haircuts were rather pretentious and arrogant. Although I never thought less of them, perhaps, I see how it may have been frustrating to have been placed into that stereotype.
However, overall, the concept behind the hairstyles continues to confuse me. One part of me recognizes how it must have felt, but the other makes me wonder why people make these crazy hairstyles. You can’t just expect to walk in one day with something different or new and not expect other people to judge your values or you in general. Samantha has a perfect defense that hair is just hair, but in my opinion, you can’t change without expecting judgments to pass. I completely understand that it was ridiculous to have been thought of as less with a Mohawk, but whether its hair or clothing, your actions are always being viewed and perceived differently by others. The idea of looks helping you in the business world is an ideal example, people being taken more seriously if they had certain specific physical characteristics. Perhaps it is the fault of society, but I still feel that by making certain decisions, you have to realize that criticism will follow along as well.