Written Task

Differentness is a matter of perspective

By Imre Kertész

Many times people feel excluded, different and do not really know what they are doing in a certain situation. Sometimes people just feel left apart and do not really know why. So, why do people feel like this? Does everyone else feel the same? No, feeling different is a matter of perspective, it only depends on your own interpretation of the facts.

This is a very important aspect of our lives worth analyzing. Everyone is different. Everything is different. There are not two people or two things that are completely the same; they differentiate in at least one aspect. However, if everyone is different, why do people sometimes feel different and feel bad about it? What is the real essence of being different?

First, I would like to explain what “different” means to me. As I said before, everyone is different but not completely different, we are all humans, live in the same world and most of the time we speak the same language as the people near us. We are still different if we see it from this perspective. On the other hand, we are all the same(or very similar, it depends on how you look at it), think fairly similar due to the way we are educated, we do almost the same things people in the past did, and live pretty much       with the same needs.

Because of the example above, we can say that it depends on the perspective you look at things how you interpret them. In addition, by being different we can say it is good or bad. It is good if we want to highlight from the rest. People through history that have thought being different is good, have made the changes that have marked our society. Nonetheless, when we are kids, and sometimes as adults, we think that being different is bad and we try to follow the crowd just so that we do not get excluded.

If we look at our past and search for different points of view about people being different, we can find many examples about people that have invented things or have changed things, and one of the most important examples is the Second World War. During this period in history, Jewish people felt different. Up to then, Jewish people had been living in the world like any other person from any other religion. When the Second World War began, these Jewish people started being persecuted and oppressed by others. They started to feel different because they were different for the Nazi people, but remained the same for almost everyone else.

Let’s take an example from my book “Fatelessness”. Annemarie’s sister starts feeling different because “people’s attitudes toward her have altered, and she can see from their looks that they hate her.” (p.35). At this point in the story, the yellow star is affecting her in a special way, but every Jew is wearing the star and do not really feel excluded as Annemarie’s sister feels. She feels psychologically oppressed and started feeling that being Jewish had started singling her out from that group of people. She thinks she belongs to another category. In the same context, we find Georg Coves who tries to convince Annemarie’s sister that it is not her fault to wear the yellow star and she is only being stereotyped because of the star. With this example, we find two points of view towards “being different” or “differentness”. Georg tries to explain the meaning and the essence of “differentness” so that Annemarie’s sister does not feel different in a bad way. He tries to make her think that in this case, and in many others, being different is something good. Sometimes you feel pride but other times you feel more a shame because of being “different”. 

Georg uses an example of a beggar and a prince, taken from a book he had recently read. In this story, there is a beggar and a prince who look exactly the same, and at the end of the story, the beggar turned into a prince and the prince became a beggar. With this example, we understand that “differentness” is a matter of perspective because, as Georg explains, the beggar had perceived the differentness whereas the prince had not until they swap places. Both look exactly the same and when they change places they see differentness from another perspective. The difference is the same as before but it depends on their point of view how they interpret it.

That is why I wanted to share this opinion about differentness to you. It all depends on your perspective, no matter what everyone else thinks, if you think it is good, it is good for you and no one can take that opinion from you and make you think different. Some people think being different is good, others thinks it is bad. Always remember all that matters is your perspective and if you want to follow the crowd or not is your decision. Everyone is different and if you want to make that differentiation more obvious and think it is good, then do it because that is what our society needs. Remember, “differentness is a matter of perspective”.

Rationale

I decided to write a column for the book “Fatelessness” because with these kinds of texts I can write my own opinion and be creative at the same time. The column was supposedly written by Imre Kertész, the author of Fatelessness, to explain, in my opinion, a very important part of the book: “differentness is a matter of perspective”.

The word choice is crucial in my text. As it is a column, I must only use simple words so that everyone can understand the message. I intentionally repeated some points and counter argued some other points so that the reader gets totally convinced with my message.

In the column, I first explain from a personal perspective what differentness is and how it affects people. I then write some examples for the reader to understand my point in a better way. One of these examples is the exact same part of the discussion between Georg Coves and Annemarie’s sister about differentness. In the context of the book, and the setting of the story, people in general are greatly affected by differentness and in this case, Annemarie’s sister feels discriminated for being Jewish. The problem no only affects characters in the story but also people who actually lived during this period of the Holocaust in Europe. People felt discriminated, just like Annemarie’s sister felt, but it only depends on the perspective you look at things: Georg coves did not feel discriminated or left apart although he lived in almost the same situation as Annemarie’s sister and both belong to the Jewish community.