The Misunderstood Outsiders in the Literature
There are numerous types of people in high school. Students who are “popular” tend to be the ones who keep up with social media trends. Meanwhile, the outsiders stray away because they choose to express themselves in different ways rather than the same as others. Many out- siders are misunderstood. Reasons as to why is because majority of students don’t know what an outsider goes through in their everyday life. Outcasts also tend to not follow up with high school’s standards, therefore leading others to believe they have weird personalities.
Everyone is born into a different lifestyle. Not everyone was raised the same nor have the same opinions. People go through different situations everyday, causing them to act a certain way. Students in high school usually don’t associate themselves with outsiders, therefore nobody knows anything about their life. No one knows whether an outsider acts the way they do, due to the events that they go through. Some could be going through domestic abuse, or dealing with mental health issues. For example, in the book The Child Called It, the main boy was an outcast to his class because he wore the same clothes everyday and had a strong stench that no one wanted to be around him. Although, little did his peers know, he was being extremely abused by his own mother. Outsiders are misunderstood when no one has no clue of what is happening in his/her life.
High school focuses on the differences of people rather than similarities, therefore caus- ing outsiders to be isolated. Numerous outsiders are outsiders because they don’t fit the standards that high school students come up with. In the short story, “The Metamorphosis,” the main char- acter Gregor Samsa turns into a beetle. A beetle isn’t necessarily the most like type of animal that society likes to associate themselves with. Therefore, Gregor being a beetle, his family does not accept him, making him an outcast. When an outsider expresses themselves in different ways than a popular person, the outsider looks like the weird one because of the differences in person- alities. In reality, there are probably many similarities between the two stereotyped people, but high school students are too naive to notice it.
On the contrary of belief, some people think outsiders are just weird rather than misun- derstood. People think outsiders are flat out weird because of the way they choose to present themselves. Outsiders could be weird at times since they don’t really socialize, making people assume the worst out of them. Though, this might be some students belief, outsiders are in fact misunderstood people. Just like any other person, outsiders have their own story, own personal- ity, own being. Humans choose the way they want to present themselves. Outsiders just don’t speak out on why they are the way they are.
Outsiders in high school are misunderstood. High school has many stereotypical groups in which people fall under, except for outcasts. Outsiders are the ones who don’t have a place be- cause they act differently. These people aren’t weird, they are just misunderstood since no one understands their story. They also don’t want to follow the standards most people have for them- selves in high school. Never judge a person for how they act or make themselves look until you truly understand that person.
