Communities Filled with Unique Individuals

Communities Filled With Unique Individuals

There are many people in the world who go out of their way to make themselves more unique and more of an individual, as well as people who will do anything to just be a part of a crowd or a community. Is it possible for an individual to be strictly an individual and not a member of a community, or visa versa? Although everyone is their own person, and has their own unique personality, thoughts, and beliefs, we are all a part of a community, whether that means the town we live in, the common interests we share with others, or the family we were born into.

A community is defined as a body of people that live believing the same interests and beliefs as others while sharing the same common interests. Communities are more than just a bunch of people who live in the same area; they share common interests with each other, allowing them to have similarities. In Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" you come across a village were the people meet together for a yearly ritual. "The people of the village began to gather in the square, between the post office and the bank, around ten o'clock; in some towns there were so many people that the lottery took two days and had to be started on June 26th, but in this village, where there were only about three hundred people, the whole lottery took less than two hours, so it could begin at ten o'clock in the morning and still be through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner." In this particular village, all the people come together to stone one of their villagers. Although it is a rather cruel and unusual ritual, the whole village comes together to perform this cruel and mean less act. This village defines what it means to be a community by doing so. Another example of a person being involved in a community is in Flannery O'Connor's, character the Misfit in, "A Good Man Is Hard To Find." The Misfit was not only a part of a family, but was once a part of a gospel choir, the armed services, the railroad, and had been married twice. All of these groups and organizations have one thing in common. To be in all of them, you have to work together and believe in the same goal. Communities come in all different forms, but they all involve the person, or persons to come together as one and work together to make their goals come true.

All communities are made up of individuals. Individuals are what make communities so unique. No other community is going to be like the other. As much as people try to be an individual, they will always be part of some sort of a community. We may choose to dress differently than others or have different beliefs, but we will always be a part of our families. Being in a family is probably the most common community people are a part of. No matter what your beliefs or the way you choose to act; you will always be a part of your family. You have no choice, because you were born into it. In Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard To Find," The Misfit states, "My daddy said I was different breed of dog from my brothers and sisters. 'You Know' daddy said, 'it's some that can live their whole life out without asking about it and it's others has to know why it is, and this boy is one of the latters." Although the Misfit was a little different from his brothers and sisters, he still was a part of his family and his dad still had the same feelings for the Misfit as he had for his other children. So it doesn't matter if you are a little different from your family, because when it comes down to it in the end, you are still a family, which makes you a part of a unique community.

Are communities made up of many individuals who posses similar interests, concerns, or location; or are individuals merely the sum of the communities in which they are involved? It is impossible for a person to strictly be an individual. Everyone is very unique and their own person, but they are all a part of a community. For example in James Baldwin's "The Discovery Of What It Means To Be An American," Baldwin writes, "I left America because I doubted my ability to survive the fury of the color problem here. I wanted