Uncommon Names & Individuality

my name looks so fancy in runes

Oumoul Kirami comes from a verse in the Quran that my grandmother has at her home in Guinea, Africa. I was also named after my aunt who was a very successful business woman in Guinea, so with her importance in Guinea, there is this expectation that I must be as successful as she was since we shared the same exact name (no pressure). I think that my name strongly defines me as a person. (sidenote: one of the things that I love most about having a name that is uncommon is the red line that appears under it in Word).

Fun fact: Girls that have Oumoul as their first name are never called Oumoul; they always go by their middle name, or the name that is attached to Oumoul.

My name is a clear indication of my ethnicity, religion, and identity. Hardly anyone that I know has that same exact name as mine, and I feel that this almost sets me apart from the majority of people. However, I am not sure whether this is good or bad. In some cases, being different from the majority can be a good thing. That difference, whatever it may be, makes you this unique individual that no one else can try to be. But this difference can also be the reason why people look at you in a way that makes you feel inferior and insignificant because you are not a part of the majority. This difference can also lead to exclusion because some may believe that you are not the same as them.

An Individual That is Also a Part of a Larger Whole?

The individual me that is seen at school is very different from the Kirami that is at home among her family. The reason for this is because of how comfortable I am around certain people. Since I have been around my family for seventeen years, I am extremely comfortable with being myself and saying what is on my mind when I am with them. There is not much judgement, and I am free to be who I am. However, when I am at school, I am mostly comfortable with my peers, and I tend to overthink and stay quiet during class discussions. The two "me's" do not really clash; depending on the situation, it is a normal transition from the real me to the individual me.

"Othering" in The Handmaid's Tale & The University Avenue Project

Wing Young Huie, 2007-2010, http://photos.wingyounghuie.com/p929219206/h653276ad#h6b00ac63

When I first saw this image, the first thing that I noticed was the black chalkboard with the statement, "Race is an unfair tool by which to measure a person's character" (Young Huie). Next, I noticed that the man holding the chalkboard is black, and that the image is black and white. The store in the background is locked, maybe it's not open for business, and it looks like the store might be a thrift shop. As I thought about this image, the statement on the chalkboard stood out to me. Depending on someone's race, when people first meet or see someone, they are usually stereotyped, and most of the time these stereotypes are negative and do not reflect a person's true personality. It is very possible that the man in the image has been unfairly treated due to his race, and people have misjudged his character because of their faulty stereotypes.

Margaret Atwood and Wing Young Huie both present the concept of "othering" through the use of language. In The Handmaid's Tale, the group of people that are presented as different from the Handmaid's are the Unwomen. The Unwomen in the novel are infertile women that have been banished to the Colonies, while the Handmaid's are fertile women that live in Gilead and are used for reproduction purposes (Atwood 61). To create a separation from the Handmaid's and the Unwomen, Atwood uses "infertile" in order to describe the Unwomen. Wing Young Huie, however, uses language in order to present the concept of stereotyping. The statement on the chalkboard states that "race is an unfair tool by which to measure a person's character" (Young Huie). The words "race" and "tool" represent symbols that differentiate one person from the other; because of someone's race, they are seen differently than others, thus creating stereotypes. Both author's incorporate language in order to represent "othering," however Atwood uses language to describe a group of people while Young Huie uses language to present a concept of stereotyping.

Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. Boston: Houghton, 1986. Print.