Community By Zora Nealon Essay

At first glance, the story’s group of five comes across as selfish and noninclusive. However, this short story not only gives an explanation for how communities are formed, but also provides explanations for how a community operates and why communities perform certain actions. In the middle of the story, the narrator talks about a time where the five members of a group did not know each other, but they eventually came together and got along. According to the narrator the reason for this is that “…what is possible and can be tolerated by the five of us is not possible and cannot be tolerated with this sixth one” (Nealon and Giroux 57). So, according to the story, the five friends were able to be friends due to their same tolerances, likes, dislikes,

Because the members of a community are like-minded people, their perception of the community’s foundational beliefs and actions is rarely, if ever, challenged. A challenge is more likely to come from someone outside of the community. When that challenge comes, the outsider’s viewpoint is handled with disdain, and the outsider is treated with contempt. Even so, this is not to say that all communities and its members conduct themselves in this manner. There are many communities that are open to change and welcoming new concepts. However, there are many communities where their members are less open to change, and there are other communities that are not open to change at all, especially when their core values are threatened. The reason that Nealon and Giroux provides is that “the cultural norms by which something becomes meaningful…make certain identities and meanings possible and probable, while making other meanings or identities impossible or improbable” (Nealon and Giroux 56). Therefore, based on the cultural norms of a community, some actions and behaviors will not be readily accepted by members of a community, especially when the action or behavior is considered to be too