Minik The Lost Eskimo Analysis

In today’s society, the norm has become to contradict the norm. American culture focuses on the acceptance of the individual and acts of rebellion against the hierarchy. Yet when analyzing literature that takes place in another era, the audience cannot deny that there is a sense of conformity. People are never distinguished from being an outsider or insider, but instead they grow into a certain role. In the PBS documentary, “Minik: The Lost Eskimo”, explorer Robert Peary introduced the protagonist, Minik, to western culture which led to the American citizens to exclude him. In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Europeans arrive to Africa and colonize several tribes including the one that belongs to Okonkwo, the protagonist. The tribe ends up excluding Okonkwo, although he was trying to enforce similar ideals. Additionally, there is Meursault, from
The only difference is, Meursault’s attempt to integrate himself into European culture is also the action that defined him as an outsider. During an encounter with an ‘Arab’, Meursault “fired four times at the motionless body... and it was like knocking four quick times on the door of unhappiness” (Camus, 59). At that time in Algeria, racial tensions are high among the French and the ‘Arabs’. To try to fit in, Meursault tries to enforce the racial superiority of the French when he shoots the ‘Arab’. In his world, killing the ‘Arab’ would help him fit in, but instead he knew it did not work. He states he ‘knocked’ at the ‘door of unhappiness’ implying that he was now on the outside and his actions would disappoint whoever was inside. The house symbolizes the European divide, with Meursault being on the outside of the house looking in. Although his intentions were to assimilate, Algerian citizens saw his actions as too extreme, casting him as the