diagnostic essay workshop

Everyone has a name for a purpose; it is meant to identify everyone as an individual.  Names are more than just letters put together, they can have deep meanings to them, and they can also be used to represent things or be a legacy. When Mr. Wilson calls the father  “George” it belittles him and shows that he is not even worthy of having his real name known. He doesn’t respect colored people for who they are as an individual, but instead sees them all as one. I can relate to that because I am Mexican American and at times I hear people say something about me because I am Mexican. I would find it very offensive if every person I met were to call me “Juan” and not take the time to know my real name or who I am. I would not go around calling every person of a certain ethnicity one name. I do however still have a sense of humor and could laugh if someone were to call me a typical Mexican name but only if they have taken the time to get to know me and I am comfortable with them. There are a lot of different stereo types for every race and even though people know that they are “stereo types” some intend to still judge people based on them. This deeply affected the son in the story after that happened he never looked Mr. Wilson in the eye again; I believe this is because he had no respect for him. At a young age it is hard to understand why some people can be so closed minded. When this happened it gave the son a glimpse of what his mom called “one of those things.” He witnessed what was then a socially acceptable norm that colored people had to put up with. It is sad that the son had to know that instances like these would be acceptable when they really should not. He may grow up thinking other racially motivated actions will be acceptable. People suffer from other peoples actions and can be the victims like the son in the story. He was hurt to hear his father be called George knowing that that was not his name he didn’t understand why Mr. Wilson couldn’t just call him by his real name. The father might have not done anything wrong to Mr. Wilson either but because he was colored Mr. Wilson automatically categorized him as “George.” It’s sad to know that there are actually ignorant people like Mr. Wilson out there to this day. They don’t wait to meet a person before they make an assumption about them; people know it as “judging a book by its cover.” I just can’t understand why even though the father was the only colored person in town that could actually eat in the corner store his real name is not known. It seems weird to me that his character is special and treated differently but yet at the same time he is not treated differently.