BELONGING
There are many similarities between the novel “The Absolutely True Diary of Part Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie and the essay “Recognizing Strangers” by Sara Ahmed. Both authors talk about the major theme of belonging to a certain culture, or community.
In the novel the main character named Junior is a complete outcast in his neighborhood. He is from a poor Indian community called “Reservation” where everyone who is part of the community is in the same financial situation. The community had the sameness kind of people, the citizens, were uneducated, poor, mostly drunk and angry and very hungry. However, the main character junior was in the same situation as the others because his family was very poor but his appearance was very different. When he was born he suffered a brain damage, which in turn made him look different from everyone else in the community. He partially blind, his hands and feet are way to big for his skinny little body and he had an enormous scull. Junior’s unusual appearance made him a bullying target in school. His appearance made it so easy for people to pick on him.
From the essay “Recognizing Strangers”, the author Sara Ahmed redefines the meaning of strangers. When we hear the word “stranger” we associate it with someone that we do not know at all and we are threaten by the concept of unknown. She defines the word “stranger” as someone that we do know because we have seen them around before however we do not know them well personally. In closed small communities that people live in tend to have similar values, beliefs, cultures, and similar physical appearances. Those aspects and similarities between them connect people and there is a sense of belonging. However, in the context that Sara Ahmed defines the strangers are the people that do not belong particularly to others within those aspects aforementioned above. When someone is different he is automatically seen as “stranger” or a threat. People tend to be threaten with something or
In the novel the main character named Junior is a complete outcast in his neighborhood. He is from a poor Indian community called “Reservation” where everyone who is part of the community is in the same financial situation. The community had the sameness kind of people, the citizens, were uneducated, poor, mostly drunk and angry and very hungry. However, the main character junior was in the same situation as the others because his family was very poor but his appearance was very different. When he was born he suffered a brain damage, which in turn made him look different from everyone else in the community. He partially blind, his hands and feet are way to big for his skinny little body and he had an enormous scull. Junior’s unusual appearance made him a bullying target in school. His appearance made it so easy for people to pick on him.
From the essay “Recognizing Strangers”, the author Sara Ahmed redefines the meaning of strangers. When we hear the word “stranger” we associate it with someone that we do not know at all and we are threaten by the concept of unknown. She defines the word “stranger” as someone that we do know because we have seen them around before however we do not know them well personally. In closed small communities that people live in tend to have similar values, beliefs, cultures, and similar physical appearances. Those aspects and similarities between them connect people and there is a sense of belonging. However, in the context that Sara Ahmed defines the strangers are the people that do not belong particularly to others within those aspects aforementioned above. When someone is different he is automatically seen as “stranger” or a threat. People tend to be threaten with something or