Personal experience - Essay Example

His other essay, “Shooting an Elephant,” exposes the evils of imperialism for both local people and white settlers. In The Girl from H.O.P.P.E.R.S., Hernandez emphasizes that despite physical differences, people can find something that will connect them to one another. This writer can connect with the feelings of social inequality in “Such, Such Were the Joys” and social stratification and division in “Shooting an Elephant” and The Girl from H.O.P.P.E.R.S., but the same pessimistic Orwellian tone does not dominate her life because of the existence of strong family ties and friendships that helped her grow as a woman and as a human being.

Personal experiences of social inequality are similar to these essays and the novel, where social class affected how people treated each other. Growing up as a middle class and studying at a private school provide similar experiences as Orwell’s “Such, Such Were the Joys.” He experienced being beaten up because of wetting his bed. He could not understand why something he could not control result to the head mistress, Flip, seeing that “the proper cure was a beating” (Orwell “Such” 1).

The beating inevitably made him more anxious and increased his bed wetting woes. It is possible too that his restlessness comes from the feeling of not being able to fit into a posh school. Sambo wants to attract fame and money to his school: “One was to attract titled boys to the school, and the other was to train up pupils to win scholarships at public schools, above all at Eton” (Orwell “Such” 2). In doing so, he increases the gulf between Orwell and his richer classmates. The differences in treatment between the very rich and just affluent enough is clear.

Orwell thinks about these differentiated treatments: “I doubt whether Sambo ever caned any boy whose father's income was much above ?2,000 a year” (Orwell “Such” 2). This writer feels the same brunt of being poor, although not entirely poor. Having studied in a private school, where many students are extremely rich, she feels left out. The school is not her second home, but a place to be judged and compared to others. Being different to the eyes of others because of physical differences and confidence is compared to The Girl from H.O.P.P.E.R.S.

Rena befriends India, who thinks she is a “little monster” (Hernandez 14). As a midget wrestler, India is both cheered and jeered. In the end, she feels a small and helpless being with no friends and future. The writer shares the same helpless feelings, but not the lack of future. She manages to feel strong despite feeling small in a world that she feels is bigger than her. The writer feels the same negative way of seeing her difference; her strength has become her source of loneliness too.

Social division happens because some people focus on differences in race, religion, political ideologies, and gender. Being a strong and individualistic woman is considered abnormal, as in The Girl from H.O.P.P.E.R.S. Rena has the respect of people because of her size and strength. But like India, society sees her as a freak. This is why she feels empathy for India; they are the same in many ways, only in different packages. This writer understands how it feels to be socially alienated. It cuts into her identity, which could have made her just as miserable as