James Baldwin Outcast To Society

Outcast to Society According to Webster, to be an outcast means one that is cast out or refused acceptance as by society. There is a negative connotation that comes along with not fitting into societal norms. Growing up, my family moved to different schools frequently. When we finally settled down in a small town in Indiana, I was in high school. I hoped that this was the last time moving locations, as I wanted to settle down and have the opportunity to fit in and make the most out of my high school experience. That wish was quickly knocked down as my new school immediately made me feel like an outcast. My new school was predominantly white and being a new student of a different race, it was really hard for me to fit in. Even though things

Baldwin was arrested for stealing sheets, but the underlying problem was the way he was treated as an outcast due to the fact that he was American. Being an American, he felt afraid because he wasn't sure how to behave with the policemen. They were very aggressive towards him. Baldwin states “For them, I was an American. And here it was they who had the advantage, for that word, Américain, gave them some idea, far from inaccurate, of what to expect from me” (2). The policemen treated him as an outcast because they felt that they had an advantage because he was in their country. They took a long time to get things situated so he could go home. If he was a native to Paris, they probably wouldn't have taken as long. Also, in “Stranger in the Village” , Baldwin was treated like a reject even after everyone in the foreign village was familiar with him simply because he was black. He talks about how the villagers knew his name and even became used to seeing him around but he was still put in a category that portrayed him as outside the society norm. Baldwin came to the realization that he “remained as much as a stranger today as I was the first day” (2). There was also negativity towards him as he was accused of stealing because the villagers thought of him as the only person that can cause havoc on their village. Baldwin makes a point in both of his essays that their is a pessimistic

Mukherjee and her sister moved to the United States to pursue their dreams of attending college and gaining good careers. She explains how she was “always well-employed but never allowed to feel part of the local Quebec or larger Canadian society” (292). She even gains an American citizenship in hopes that it would end her struggle to fit in. However, her sister decided not to get her citizenship, which Mukherjee implies is her sister’s fault as to why she wouldn't fit in. But her citizenship didn't seem to matter because like Baldwin, she was known in the community, but still was not allowed to feel as though she belonged. Society had changed their feelings on immigrants in front of her own eyes through “a Green Paper that invited a national referendum on the unwanted side effects of “nontraditional” immigration” (293). Once negative comments are made about someone or a group of people that already stand out, it quickly becomes a norm for society to reject all people that fit into that category of “different”. Society norms are always changing and things that were once okay, are now frowned upon by the “normal” people. And once that sense of betrayal is aimed towards people, it “drove me, and thousands like me, forms the country” (Mukherjee 293). Immigrants and Blacks aren't the only ones that fit into the outcast category. It is proven by Almodovar in his