In Crowd versus Outcasts In today’s society many people of all age groups and races-feel an immense desire to fit in to the world around them. This need to be alike kills the sense of individuality that used to be sought after, and creates the feeling of being an outcast. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the definition of an outcast is “A person who has been rejected or ostracized by their society or social group.” This definition paves the way to understanding the true meaning of a social outcast. A social outcast is a person that is mistreated, rejected or judged by their society because they look different, have differing beliefs than others, or refuse to change who they are just to fit the mold the world has come to expect.
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They were not respected and therefore many people rejected the idea of treating them as their equals. In the horrific story titled, Battle Royall, by Ralph Waldo Ellison, the mistreatment of African Americans is brought to light. A young man was asked to give a speech at a very prestigious event, attended only by the very important, rich white men in the city. When he arrives, he finds out he is not there to deliver a speech, but to fight other African-Americans for the entertainment of the white men. While he is fighting he thinks to himself, “I wanted to deliver my speech more than anything else in the world, because I felt that only these men could judge my ability” (Ellison 12). After all the horrible treatment from these men, he still craves nothing more than their acceptance of him. He had already given his speech at an African-American graduation, but they were social outcasts just like him, so their opinions meant nothing. Eventually he is able to give his speech, but he realizes no one there truly cares about him, and states “I am nobody but myself and I am an invisible man!” (Ellison 9). He realizes that, because he has different color skin than these men, he will always be an outcast to them. Race plays a big role in being rejected for looking different, but when everyone looks the same, society
They were not respected and therefore many people rejected the idea of treating them as their equals. In the horrific story titled, Battle Royall, by Ralph Waldo Ellison, the mistreatment of African Americans is brought to light. A young man was asked to give a speech at a very prestigious event, attended only by the very important, rich white men in the city. When he arrives, he finds out he is not there to deliver a speech, but to fight other African-Americans for the entertainment of the white men. While he is fighting he thinks to himself, “I wanted to deliver my speech more than anything else in the world, because I felt that only these men could judge my ability” (Ellison 12). After all the horrible treatment from these men, he still craves nothing more than their acceptance of him. He had already given his speech at an African-American graduation, but they were social outcasts just like him, so their opinions meant nothing. Eventually he is able to give his speech, but he realizes no one there truly cares about him, and states “I am nobody but myself and I am an invisible man!” (Ellison 9). He realizes that, because he has different color skin than these men, he will always be an outcast to them. Race plays a big role in being rejected for looking different, but when everyone looks the same, society