Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
What makes someone an outsider essay
Essay on being an outsider
Essay on being an outsider
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: What makes someone an outsider essay
Being an outcast in our society in today’s world is very common. Many people are outcasts, and it is not a good thing for our community. When people do not fit in, they usually do not do anything to make themselves fit in, so for some people being an outsider can last longer than a small period of time; instead, it could last a lifetime. Many people feel the same about being an outcast, yet nobody ever speaks up about it or does anything that will permanently change society. Everybody experiences being an outsider in some way, for it is a universal feeling that everyone experiences at some point in life. An outsider is someone who is isolated or detached from the activities or concerns of one's own community. This isolation is caused by the community around us rejecting people, since they do not fit into the standards that our community puts in front of us. There are many reasons for someone to think that they are an outsider. People can easily convince someone that they are an outsider because they may act different, they might look weird, or even where they live. In the story, “The Doll’s House”, the Kelvey sisters were considered …show more content…
In the story, “Fences”, the whole family thought of themselves to be an outcast since they were not able to play on the beach. “Once my little sister ran barefoot across the hot sand for a taste. My mother roared like the ocean, No. No. It’s their beach” (Mora 218). In this story the family were outsiders because of where they lived, and how they could not go over to the beach. I can consider myself a outsider to my friends; since, I do not play football like them. In that situation, I am considered an outcast since I do not play the sport that all of my other friends play. I do not play football, but I play basketball, so they may also feel like a outcast since they do not play basketball. This proves that everyone can feel like an
Though unbeknownst to many, the experience of being an outsider is a sensation that everyone can go through. In the world, it is entirely possible for a person to be judged on physical appearance, opinions, and status among other things. It is simply how humans have adapted; they experience society by forming social groups that they are comfortable in. Generally, this group is seen to those involved with it as the “inside group”, and those not directly related to it are seen as “outsiders.” Even in literature, it is clear that the feeling of being one of these outsiders is universal. Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, Fences by Pat Mora, and The Doll’s House by Katherine Mansfield all properly display how anyone can be an outsider.
Isolation can be a somber subject. Whether it be self-inflicted or from the hands of others, isolation can be the make or break for anyone. In simpler terms, isolation could range anywhere from not fitting into being a complete outcast due to personal, physical, or environmental factors. It is not only introverted personalities or depression that can bring upon isolation. Extroverts and active individuals can develop it, but they tend to hide it around crowds of other people. In “Richard Cory,” “Miniver Cheevy,” The Minister’s Black Veil,” and “Not Waving but Drowning,” E.A. Robinson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Stevie Smith illustrate the diverse themes of isolation.
Starting off, what is an outsider? An outsider is someone who does not belong to a particular group. An example of an outsider would be main character, Gregor, in “Metamorphosis,” by Franz Kafka. Gregor
Most people want to feel like they fit in, but for refugees and immigrants, that feeling was even more important. “Young refugees and immigrants... were caught between the world of their parents and the new world of their friends and schoolmates” (105) and had to choose whether they would vie for the approval of their peers or their family. One young boy on the Fugees soccer team refused to cut his hair because his peers thought it was cool, and ended up being kicked off the team (111). Other young refugees in Clarkston gave in to the allure of gangs, and ended up in a cycle of violence and crime, just for a sense of belonging and safety. “Gangs… promised both belonging and status”(105) and provided a way to become American, despite all the trouble and anguish they put their members in. As adolescents between worlds, young immigrants experience a heightened sense of liminality, when a person “becomes neither here nor there” (221), and struggle with finding out who they are and where they
The term out¬¬-sider, according to dictionary.com would be considered as a person not belonging to a particular group, set, party, etc. The way society treats outsiders is by separating them into different groups because of things that are different from what people are used to, and in the novel, they’re based and judged by their looks. The greasers who live on the East side are the ones who are considered “outsiders” to the West side of town, home to the Socs (a vicious gang of rich kids) who were always drinking and looking to get into fights with greasers. To be more precise, in the book The Outsiders, Ponyboy one of the main characters is considered an outcast throughout society mainly because he lives in a lower social class and is a member of a delinquent gang of greasers. However, Ponyboy is somewhat of an outsider in his gang, unlike the other members he’s sensitive, intelligent, does not enjoy harming others, and has conversations with Soc members and understands their perspective on
I am not a targeted minority and I have never felt discriminated against, but I certainly have found my self weighed down, unable to keep up, in the constant rush and roar that is our society. I have felt isolated and left behind by everything around me, and this utter loneliness is not something that is easy to deal with. This loneliness inevitably turns to self-hatred as I ask myself why I can’t keep pace with everyone else when they seem to be doing just fine? Reading James Baldwin has reminded me that I’m not alone, and that there are many ways to deal with the isolation one feels within society. For some, struggling to keep afloat in the mainstream as it rushes along is the most comprehensible way, but for others, like Baldwin, it’s easier to simply get out of the water and walk along the bank at his own chosen pace.
Almost everybody feels a sense of alienation or isolation at some point in their life. Maybe it was when you were a young kid at a playground in school, being left out of activities. Or maybe this feeling is being experienced by an adult who is having financial or social issues. Whatever the source is for these feelings, it is not a pleasant one, and one we tend to try and avoid as much as possible in life. In the two stories I’ll be discussing, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin, there are two characters who experience feelings of alienation, isolation and oppression quite heavily.
The outcast archetype describes a figure or character that is rejected by a group. There is often a high level of anxiety linked with this idea, as there is a great deal more vulnerability living outside the group than there is in being an integral part of it. Grendel and his mother are elucidated as outcasts from the very beginning, being descendants from Cain. “Grendel was the name of this grim demon haunting the marches, marauding round the heath and the desolate fens; he had dwelt for a time in misery among the banished monsters, Cain's clan, whom the creator had outlawed and condemned as outcasts. For the killing of Abel the Eternal Lo...
Just like Richard Rodriguez one can have struggles with school and home, for instance at home one is taught to speak their mind, told that everyone will understand. At home formal does not exist; serious and organized is an option. Yet at school one must learn to think before speaking, to raise your hand and to make sure you sound just like everyone else. At school one is taught to not make a fool out of themselves, to be serious and formal to be just like everybody else. But yet again as a student, although one has been taught to be like everyone else, one can still feel like an outsider, like Rodriguez describes you still don’t fit in. As a student one must learn the difference between formal and informal and when to use both, for some students like me formal and serious might be the only way to socialize. And just like Rodriguez one
Society is filled with outcasts. Everywhere one looks, there is someone who is different and has been labeled as an outcast by the others around them. People fear disturbance of their regular lives, so they do their best to keep them free of people who could do just that. An example of this in our society is shown in people of color. Whites label people who do not look the same as them as and treat them as if they are less important as they are. The white people in our society, many times unconsciously, degrade people of color because they fear the intuition that they could cause in their everyday lives. Society creates outcasts when people are different from the “norm.”
Acceptance, a key part today's society, is being in the norm and fitting in. In today's society, the social class is based off of acceptance. In the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, some of the characters from the poor side of the town “greasers” were not
In my opinion, outsiders are misunderstood and misjudged. They may just have their own opinion about something that others don't agree with. Maybe they do something that seems weird to other people. Yes, sometimes people are strange, but that isn't always the case. They are outsiders because people make them outsiders.
In Outcasts United Warren St. John reveals that refugees were getting picked by cops/civilians because of who they were and what they looked like instead of actually doing anything wrong. Chike Chime an immigrant was driving and got pulled over for doing nothing. He then got told to get out of the car and get his driver's license but as he was getting his license. Jordan, the cop snapped and pulled him and pushed Chime onto the back of his car and held his arm behind his back. He then hit him the head and sprayed him with pepper spray. “It’s you-Its Africans Jordan said. I have nothing but problems from you guys. Always love to argue.” pg 84. When he says it's you Africans Jordan says it in a way that shows a negative connotation towards africans because he says it's only the Africans who do bad
How do you label someone as an outsider? Some might say that an outsider is when a person encounters an external conflict, such as not meeting worldly standards or some who face internal conflicts by feeling like they don’t fit in or belong. The argument on whether the experience of being an outsider in universal is a very controversial topic. Some may state that outsiders are not a universal experience, and others may strongly disagree. In the stories we learned; “Sonnet, With Bird”, a poem by Sherman Alexie, “The Revenge of the Geeks”, an argumentative essay by Alexandra Robbins, and “The Doll House”, a short story by Katherine Mansfield are all stories that portrayed examples of being an outsider. In other words, the experience of being
Do you ever feel trapped when you are in a place that you have never been before? Isolation criticizes society since it does not let everyone be equal or have the same rights. Isolation can completely change a person, and it is usually for the worst. Society “acts” like they try to prevent isolation, but in reality they isolate people for certain reasons, then those people get judged for being “different.” Upon closer inspection it is human nature to deny equal rights because people that do not act, dress, or look the same are labeled as strange, and unfortunately, many times are not accepted by the majority of society. This gives authors a way to shine a light on society’s flaws.