Advanced Essay #2: Relations through Struggles

Reader’s Note: The purpose of this project is to help people realize what really makes strong relations between people, how do humans create a community and if it’s fully determines on free will. There are three key examples I used, two of them being from books I read in English class. One of the things that people should keep in mind is that the purpose of this essay is to break down the major factor that contributes to creating communities, acknowledging there are other things that play a role. I hope readers finish reading this paper learning something they didn’t realize before.

Between two rows of temporary tents, about a couple hundred feet apart, are a group of children, they are all spread out, some of them are talking and playing with their friends, others are staring into space. The ground is light gray with gray pebbles and rocks spread throughout it. Every two tents have a satellite next to it. Towards the left side of tents, near the middle tents, stand 3 women monitoring the kids. 5 tents down are men that seem to be fixing a tent. These refugees are living though conditions due to how expensive it would be to move and live in Europe. They had to flee their country and leave most of their belongings. They don’t have a strong, sturdy shelter as a permanent home. There is no certainty of an actual home, and it starts to look like the camp is becoming their new home. They worked together to migrate, supporting each other by creating a system in which other refugees can also cross the water. Securing people with life vests, having people safely arrive onto the land. With these refugees going through a similar struggle, a sense of community and unity starts to emerge due to their common struggles.

This pattern could be found in many different communities, people unite because of a common struggle. One example is the black community, specifically in America. Society creates a stereotype of black people. According to “[An African American is] born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world —- a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world.” - W E B DuBois. DuBois points out that black people have to view everything in two lenses, their point of view and how the rest of the world would view the same thing. Due to these two points of view, they have to watch what they do because the rest of the world already have a negative perception towards them. The only people who understand this struggle are other black people because they also go through the same thing. They find some level of comfort within each other, which creates a unique bond within each other.

In the book “The Namesake”, narrates the life of a 1st generation Bengali-American named Gogol. While he was growing up in America, he started to hate his name more and more because it was an unusual name and it made him stand out and not in a good way. The name was given to him by his dad because when his dad was in Bangladesh he almost died in a train accident. And the book he was reading on the train was written by and author whose name was Gogol. It was a major event that happened in Gogol’s father, Ashoke. It was special to him. When Gogol turned 18 he told his parents that he was changing his name to Nikhil, still preserving his Bengali heritage but a more common name. Further in the book, Ashoke dies in an accident which gathers everyone to their house (Gogol was living on his own in New York). Years later, Ashima moves out of the house and she has a party. Gogol goes in his room and finds the book with the author which he was named after, he starts reading the book that majorly impacted his life and he realizes no one will call him Gogol anymore.“The givers and keepers of Gogol’s name are far from him now. One dead. Another, a widow, on the verge of a different sort of departure, in order to dwell, as his father does in a separate world” pg 289”. At this moment, Gogol is having a moment of realization. Nobody will call him Gogol anymore, since he’s not going to see his mom as much and his father is dead. It wasn’t just a name, it was something that connected him to his parents. The difficulties and struggles that they faced adjusting to a new country, but still found ways to stay in touch with their roots. And the way they passed it on to their children was giving them special names that not only connect to their culture and traditions but to their personal lives too.

Gogol wasn’t close to many Bengali-Americans in the book, I think that’s one of the reasons he had trouble finding himself. He didn’t have people in his life that were balancing both American and Bengali culture. One of the only things he had that connected to his family roots was his name Gogol, which nobody was going to call him anymore.

The point that is being made is that even though we value the role communities in our society and specifically in our daily lives but fail to realize and appreciate two huge factors in forming bonds with others, the same struggles they face and connections to the same roots. Whether it’s having familiar yet unique names that originate from the same place, or extreme cases like going through the same humanitarian crisis. People find comfort with people they could relate to.