Normality (Essay)

This isn't really a poem, but rather an essay i had to write for Literature. I really believe it applies to our lives as people, and i would like to share it with you.


Normality

Too often young men and women will stray from their original dreams to follow a life that society has intended for them. Doc tries to steer Peekay away from this by using analogies from the complexity, beauty, and struggle of nature. Doc explains the idea of following who you are by this, “‘that is a stinkwood sapling which can grow thirty meters, but the vine will win and the tree will be choked to death long before it will ever see the sky.’” These vines that hold back the small sapling represent the people that will try to recruit Peekay to become what they want him to be, not what he wants to be. The sapling itself not only represents Peekay, but every young child who has ever been pressured by society (vines) into doing something they normally would never do.
In the type of world we live in today, we see heroes on Television, we respect people that seem or sound smarter than us. These people are experts. Doc wants Peekay to understand that just because these experts may seem happy or successful, doesn’t mean that he must conform to what they specialize in. “‘You can’t always go by expert opinion’” is what Doc has taught Peekay. Going by an expert opinion is comparable to trying to be just like your childhood hero or person you look up to. In order for those type of heroes to exist, there had to be many different types of people molding and shaping that person into the icon that he/she is, meaning in order for you to become more like your hero, you should always follow what you aspire to be and never give up hope just because the general public, or even these experts, say what you want to be is not respectable, or even worth your time.
The passage is not only a story of coming to senses with who you are, but also a plea to never lose sight of your own ambitions and dreams. The author obviously fears a society in which everyone becomes the same and life loses all interest. In order for the life we enjoy as normal to stay normal, we must accept the fact that nobody is normal. Everyone on this planet has a different personality, a different style, and a different mark they will leave on the world when they leave this world for the great beyond, whatever that may be. When all of these people of different principles and heritages come together, they create this world that we call normal. Without any one of these pieces, the world wouldn’t be normal as we enjoy it. In order to maintain the balance of this world, we must all be different in our own way.