If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be. As an overweight son of divorced parents, the protagonist Angus Bethune hardly meets his classmates definition of “normal”.Yet the theme of Chris Cruther (the author) of the short story “A Brief moment in the Life of Angus Bethune” focuses on the damage the standard of “normality” can inflict and extols self-acceptance as a liberating force. In the short story, “A Brief moment in the Life of Angus Bethune” written by Chris Cruther, one theme that is present is that, it's okay to be different and / or “not normal”. First off, Angus is a very smart and athletic kid, He plays football for his school and is very good at it. He's really no different than anyone else at the school expect Rick Stanford and Melissa Lefevre. Angus Bully from when they were young all the …show more content…
Rick Stanford is “normal” but he lacks Angus’ capacity for empathy.. Stanford taunts Angus over his non-normative traits, including his weight and his parents’ relationship. Rick is physically attractive and athletically gifted, but his hostility negates these positive traits. . For example, Rick stated about Angus, “Big foot comes from a high- risk home.”(65.) Rick was referring to Angus coming from a dirty home and that he might be caring STD’s. Rick Stanford doesn't really know anything about Angus besides what he sees.Also Melissa Lefevre may seem kuje the perfect girl. She’s a cheerleader and super popular, with her long blonde hair and her top football player boyfriend, but deep down she's really is no different than anyone else that not “normal”. Melissa shares a really deep secret with Angus that no one else knows. Lefevre shares with Angus that she has a poor self-image and suffers from
Bullied, pushed around, and called names. The children of today’s generation are constantly pressured to conform in these ways. In the article “The Sociology of Leopard Man” the author of Logan Feys argues that, “To be human, with individual tastes, talents, values, and aspirations that are distinct from those of others. Living in society, we are under constant pressure to surrender our individuality to the will of the majority, the school, the workplace, the family, etc.” (par. 6).
In Ordinary Wolves by Seth Kanter the main theme is; it is acceptable to be different. Ten year old Cutuk talks to a village boy, “You're naluagmiu, huh? Elvis sneered. I dunno. Naluagmiu meant white person; the Eskimo dictionary didn't list it as a dirty word but everyone knew better”(51).
The classic book Flowers for Algernon, which was written by Daniel Keyes in the late 1900’s, explains the story about a middle-aged man named Charlie Gordon and the struggles he faces from having a mental disability. Charlie Gordon worked at Donnegon’s Box Company, but while working there, he was made fun of and called stupid for something he can’t control. Charlie had a wish for all people to love and accept him, but couldn’t understand that there is always going to be someone that wouldn’t like him which made him feel unwanted and unappreciated. Throughout Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes develops a theme of self-acceptance to explain how people shouldn’t change themselves to fit in with others.
Option 3: Argument Life can either be taken way too seriously, or not at all. Some people choose to take life seriously by following all the rules that are enforced on us from birth until we get older, and others choose to take their own path and see where it takes them. The second behavior can be seen as treating life like a game. In Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Dr. Thurmer says that “life is a game that one plays according to the rules,” and Mr. Spencer mentions that idea to Holden while they talk. Although Holden does not think life is a game, his behavior and experiences show otherwise throughout the book.
In today’s society people are treated badly for being different, there is constant competition to find the best in various activities. The story Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is a dystopian short story of a society that has made each individual equal in every which way and how one boy named Harrison Bergeron rises as a dystopian hero and makes it his mission to show people that there is another way where they can be free and live their lives not hiding their talents, thus questioning the government. Vonnegut uses devices such as imagery and simile to better send a message to todays society that being different isn’t a bad thing it’s human nature, it’s what makes society great and allows humankind to evolve. In the story to keep every citizen equal, the government has given more skilled individuals handicaps to prevent them from becoming too advanced for their system of society.
What idea does the author develop regarding the conflict between pursuing a personal desire and choosing to conform? “Street lights glow red, green and yellow too, do you let signs tell you what to do?”... The words from Lady Gaga ponder over the balance between conforming to authority or self fulfillment. Do we let our individuality falter under the presence of authority and social demands, or do we maintain our own identity and achieve self-actualization? In a society where sacrifices have to be made in order to avoid prejudice, we show tenacity towards who we are at core.
The most hated plot in America is the underdog’s demise- the empathetic pain of scrutiny, and the failure we all miss to escape. The scrawny, glasses-wearing outsider is often the underdog, the hero we all cheer for. The one who makes all the refinements in a society that is stagnant to change. And his most successful storytelling, or retelling, is that in the setting of high school. He walks awkwardly down the hall with his shoulders slightly hunched inward and mouth slightly ajar.
In society today, normalcy is average; some are above, and some are below. In this short story, that is removed.
In the short story “A Brief Moment in the Life of Angus Bethune” by Chris Crutcher. My theme for this short story is when one pushes through the bad stuff, the end is much more rewarding. At the beginning of the story Angus was a really negative person thinking that nothing could ever work out for him. For example when Angus was talking too the readers at the beginning of the story saying, “you don't survive a genetic history like that unscathed. ”(Pg.1)
Most people struggle with figuring out who they really are. The short story "Everyday Use,” written by Alice Walker, emphasizes this aspect of individuality. It is about an African- American mother and her two daughters. The story concentrates on the lives of two sisters named Maggie and Dee(Wangero). Maggie is portrayed as a homely and ignorant girl, while Dee is portrayed as a beautiful and educated woman.
Dependence On Individuality: Animal Imagery in Charles Baxter’s “Gryphon” People should be free to express their individuality. A person, whose existence is dependent on the community and the boundaries set by the community, will never have the ability to move above the common existence. In the story “Gryphon” by Charles Baxter, Tommy, an elementary school student in the rural community of Five Oaks believes that his life is boring, but he is convinced by the uniqueness of substitute teacher Miss Ferenczi. Miss Ferenczi came in as a substitute teacher for Mr. Hibler’s fourth grade who is suffering from cold.
What does it mean to be “normal” What happens to those who fall outside of the normative standards? Barbara Perry borrows elements of Audrey Lorde’s conception of “the mythical norm” to receive a thorough understanding on why individuals who fall outside of the norm often feel oppressed. The mythical norm can be viewed as an ideology. It is a characteristic of society that maintains power, and creates oppression for others. Due to the power that the mythical norm contains, it also delivers a series of privileges that many whites may not realize that they have.
When Ackley took longer than expected to get ready for the movies, Holden opened a window and, "started to throw [the snowball]. At a car that was parked across the street. But I changed my mind. The car looked so nice and white" (48).
It seemed as though my life was being dictated by others, more than before. The phrase “beauty lies in perfection” was always stored in my head and in order to “fit in”, I must act in a certain manner. At the age of 14, I was now in middle school. I had always been a shy person, which this transition harder for me to adjust too. I didn't want to hold a full conversation with anyone in my class unless they were the one to approach me.
The purpose of this is to set an example to her audience of how she struggled and how she achieved happiness without having to harm herself. It is evident, individuals develop traumas at a young age due to the ideas being harvested by society, for instance, “By the time I was sixteen, I had already experienced being clinically overweight, underweight and obese,”(17-18) this helps the audience understand that these ideas not only traumatize a child but compels a child to feel the necessity of achieving ideal features at a young age. It is evident that for a child to be considered “... overweight, underweight, and obese...” by the age of sixteen is not healthy. Blaid explains how as a child she wasn’t affected by being called fact, until she understood what it truly meant.