Othering: A Short Story

Reality is a cruel mistress. People are seen as a certain way and categorized by their daily lives. Some never bother to look underneath the many layers that people consist

What it means to be an “other” Society commonly has a particular group known as “others”. Others are different from what is considered normal; they seem estranged. Authors like Ta-Nehisi Coates and Christine Leong explore what being an "other" means in society. While authors like them explain being an "other" in different ways, their final message is usually similar. Being an “other” in society means being in a group considered lacking and divergent, while also subject to discrimination.

While comparing the two classics, High Noon and “The Most Dangerous Game”, I found many similarities. High Noon takes place in a lawless, western town. The main character, Will Kane is faced with the difficult decision of whether to leave town or stay and risk death by Frank Miller, who was pardoned for murder. In “ The Most Dangerous Game”, the main character, Rainsford, a hunter who sympathizes with the hunted animals, is stuck on the stranded island called Ship-Trap. He is stuck there with General Zaroff, who owns the island and is trying to kill him as a part of the most dangerous game. Even though what is written above is different in each story, and High Noon and “The Most Dangerous Game” are very different stories, upon further

While not it is not as common now as it was in the past, today we still judge people before we get to know their personality. We judge them based on things such as their appearance and accent. Somebody who is dressed neater may be judged as potentially smarter than someone who wasn’t. Another example is something shown in the Outsiders which is how the Socs and Greasers each judge each other based on their social class. Socs are stereotypically rich and smart and have everything given to them. Greasers, on the other hand, are classified as poorly educated and tough. This is not true with all the characters though. Bob, is a soc who didn't have the right discipline growing up, resulting in bad decisions regarding drugs. Johnny, is a greaser

How there's others that I can hang out with and thay don't care what I sound like, look like, or talk like.

Although in normative circumstances where I am familiar with people, I don’t mind close proximity of others to my person. This acceptance of my “in-group” in many ways is reflected in several studies; one of which is

All throughout time people have been “the other.” Pratt refers to the other as being “Someone who is perceived by the dominant culture as not belonging, as they have been

In our society everyone expects to be the same, however, no one is ever going to be the exact same. Everyone has different beliefs and different interests. Today people judge the nice stuff people can afford and the way people dress. In the story, “The Doll’s House”, there were two girls known as the Kelvey sisters and they were really poor. “They were dressed in “bits” given to her by the people for whom she worked” (Mansfield 203). Nowadays people judge you on appearance and if you are dressed sloppy you are more likely to be made fun of. If you cannot afford the up to date things people have a reason that they don’t want to talk to you. If you are wealthy you are more likely to be judgmental. Not all people are like this but it is known

Othering, as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary is, “the perception or representation of a person or a group of people as fundamentally alien from another, frequently more powerful, group.” (“Home: Oxford English Dictionary,” 2017). Therefore, in my opinion, the practice of Othering in this article is the exclusion of persons who do not fit the norm of the social group [African descent].

Othering is the process of forming a person, an object or a group into the role of the ‘other’ and creating individual’s identity through opposition. But as someone is “other” to me, I carry the same label for someone else who identifies with a different group. How do we bring meaning into a term that refers to absolutely everyone? In the films that we have watched, the term is usually defined in terms of the distinction from dominant group. In various films, we see several different kinds of others – ethnic, racial or sexual. While some films deal with others and the process of othering in full exposure, other films and diegetic nationalities treat this sensitive subjects under the covers, therefore society is silent about things that alter from the normative.

Have you ever walked into a class and it seems like everyone has already formed their friend groups and you are excluded? Do ever feel like you’re not a part of the crowd just because you don’t have the newest trendy shoes? Most would describe this as feeling like an outsider, and it is a very common thing. The experience of feeling like an outsider is universal because everyone is different in terms of appearance and life circumstances, new experiences are unavoidable, and society tends to alienate people if they stray from the social norm.

Nohemi Perea Task2/LCT1 8/01/2012 An individual labeled as the Other is different and does not fit in. The Other is “perceived as lacking essential characteristics possessed by the group, the Other is almost always seen as lesser or inferior being and is treated accordingly” (The Other, 2009). A group sets guidelines and if a person does not meet them they will not be accepted as “normal”. Otherness to a group represents awkwardness. Although each person does have its own unique characteristics to prevent from being labeled as the Other you must possess common characteristics within a group. I read “This Is What It Means To Say Phoenix, Arizona” written by Sherman Alexie. It is about a boy named Victor who lives on an Indian Reservation

people who ate “bushmeat” which some believed had to do with the Ebola outbreak. But

Our nature as humans is to judge others. We are programmed to judge everything for the benefit of ourselves. Think about it for a second. What do you do when you meet new people? You judge them from the way

If they are different from your society that you have been raised by, maybe it’s time to change your view on people because no one should be left out of anything for the wrong reasons. Being different from everyone else is a quality that we should embrace in ourselves and in others.