The Odd One Out

The Odd One Out is a definite complex concept that communicates volumes about human relationships. Initially, a variety of the concepts include the odd one out being racially different therefore communicating the stereotype of them being an odd one out. In addition another volume that derives the certain odd one out concept is the fact that there is always someone trying to help the odd one out, identifying the relationships of humans whom overcome fear and highlight sympathy. Finally another factor proving that the odd one out is a complex concept is the idea that the person helping the odd one out has mores and values that influence those around them and slowly society is also changed. These factors are shown in To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee published by William Heinemann in 1960; Strange Fruits sung by Billie Holiday written by Abel Meeropel, and Only Ten written by Allan Ballie.

Initially, the idea of the odd one out is a complex concept particularly in the area of understanding human relations and being racially different communicates the idea that human relations stereotype. Situations where the odd one out is racially different shows how predominant culture is in society and that human relations tend to respect and have pride amongst their culture, disclosing other less domain cultures to a lower level than they are. These situations of society isolating someone of a different race are a complex concept to the odd one out and are witnessed in To Kill A Mockingbird when Tom Robinson, a black man, is convicted for a crime he didn’t commit, and had lost his case even though proven innocent because of his race. Those that accused Tom Robison were of white race and because of their predominant culture, knew they would win therefore targeting a racially different man. “In our courts, when it’s a white mans word against a black man the white man always wins. They’re ugly but those are the facts of life”. Pg 243. This shows that the predominant culture of a race disclosed a less dominant culture downgrading them and enforcing them to be alienated.

“Confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption, the evil assumption, that all Negros lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women. An assumption that one associates with minds of their caliber. which, gentlemen, we know is in itself a lie as black as Tom Robinson’s skin, a lie I do not have to point out to you. You know the truth, and the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some Negro men are not to be trusted around women—black or white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men.

There is not a person in this courtroom who has never told a lie, who has never done an immoral thing, and there is no man living who has never looked upon a woman without desire.” This statement made by Atticus on page 225 – 226 shows how society judged Tom because of his colour. Atticus Finch realises that the jury made up of white people are stereotyping Tom Robinson with all black people. He confronts the jury about their evil thoughts through repeating the word “assumption” however the jury denies being prejudice and Tom Robinson is convicted. Atticus later tells the jury at the end of the statement that they too do immoral things therefore they should not be hypocritical and charge Tom Robinson for something that he was stereotyped to do. A black man is alienated and because of authority is convicted, which is a prime example of the odd one out being racially stereotyped and leading to be excluded from society.

Portraying the evidence of the odd one out being stereotyped because of their race, relating to the complex concept of human relations with the odd one out, is the poem and song Strange Fruits. The poem sung by Billie holiday highlights how only racially different people were hung, and therefore targeted and before they were hung they were also abused vigorously. “Black body swinging in the southern breeze” is the third line of the song, identifying the racial difference and how the Odd One Out that was targeted was “black”. Billie Holiday mentions no other race but black therefore highlighting that only black people were hung.

Her musical endorsement of “body swinging in the Southern Breeze” is a metaphor for black people being lynched and hung in the Southern of America where it was legal for this to happen and was also used as entertainment. “The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth” is a line that Abel Meeropel had used to describe the black people that were hung and how they were abused before they were lynched. The fact that they were abused by a predominant culture shows the pride that the white race had which was sinful even though they were supposedly God righteous men. Their pride, however, was driven by a stereotypical racist idea that all black people were inferior which over generations and generations was mainstream. This racist idea drove the odd one out, African Americans, to the brink where they were victims of alienation.

To illustrate the idea of the Odd One Out being stereotypically targeted lies in the depths of the short story Only Ten. A racially different student joins a school with a predominant white culture and the student is called names and is treated differently and isolated therefore bound to be the Odd One Out because of his race. “We called him The Shah at first, not that we knew where he came from, just that he looked a bit dark, sounded funny and looked at us as if he was about to have us beheaded. “ This quote shows that “we”, the predominant white culture, stereotyped him as an Arabian because of his race therefore ridiculing him by calling him The Shah, even though they didn’t know where he came from. “ “I’m a soldier” The Shah said and walked away. “Boy…” said Bruce. We pretty well left him alone for a while. ” This quote exemplifies that because of his racial morals of being a forced young soldier the white race left him alone, alienating him and refusing to conform to his morals or ethics. These examples exemplify how the odd one out is a complex concept particularly in the area of human relationships when humans stereotype others based on race, isolating, conforming and even destroying them which highlights them to be known as the odd one out.

In addition, another volume that portrays the concept of the Odd One Out and how it communicates volumes about human relationships is the fact that there is always someone trying to help the Odd One Out. This identifies the relationship of distinct humans whom overcome fear and pride and highlight sympathy. The idea of someone in a predominant culture helping the Odd One Out and taking a stand against their own culture is a sense of rebellion however it derives the point no culture should be stereotyped. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus Finch a white lawyer, looked up at by most of his town, Maycomb County, suddenly is criticized because of his ethics to represent a black man whom was the racially Odd One Out of his society. Atticus laid down his pride in order to represent Tom and he proved all of the white culture that he didn’t care about racial difference. “ “Scout, “ said Atticus “nigger lover is just one of those terms that don’t mean anything like snot nose. It’s hard to explain—ignorant, trashy people use it when they think somebody’s favoring Negroes over and above themselves. It’s slipped into usage with some people like ourselves, when they want a common, ugly term to label somebody.”

You aren’t really a nigger-lover, then, are you?” “I certainly am. I do my best to love everybody… I’m hard put, sometimes—baby, it’s never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn’t hurt you.” This quote on page 120 shows that society didn’t like Atticus so much; they resorted in an immature affair, refusing to face their conscience and instead did the opposite by ridiculing Atticus. “This case, Tom Robinsons case is something that goes to the essence of a man’s conscience-Scout, I couldn’t go to church and worship God if I didn’t try to help that man.” This quote also on page 120 is evidence for the concept that the Odd One out always has that one person able to help them. This communicates the idea that all humans aren’t self-righteous and some face their conscience such as Atticus, which derives from volumes of human relationships, caused by the odd one out.

Deriving the essence that the Odd One Out is always accompanied is the poem and song Strange Fruit. The song was a major impact on striking emotions and consciences. In a white club Holiday would sing this poem. However it took just one person to support Holiday’s decision to perform the song. “The first time I sang it I thought it was a mistake. There wasn’t even a platter of applause when I finished. Then a lone person began to clap nervously then suddenly everyone was clapping and cheering.” Holiday’s song had striked one person to stand and join her in her anti lynching movement. When Holiday states that one person began to clap nervously she portrays the highlights of this lone human and how he aimed to help the Odd One Out, in this case Billie Holiday herself, a black woman protesting against lynching which was very deviant and portrays that ideas of human relationships illustrated from the odd one out, in this case positively.

The case that the poem about black people being lynched was written by a Jewish schoolteacher highlights that other races that have nothing to do with movement care and tend to help the Odd One Outs of the society. Abel Meeropel wrote the poem because of his conscience and wanted to strictly help the out casted society because he had the chance to. His race being Jewish derives the point that he has experienced the flaws of the holocaust, therefore experiencing something similar in the poem. The evidence of Abel Meeropel writing the poem portrays the idea that there is always someone acting against stereotyped human relations by helping the Odd One Out, in this case a blackened society.

The process in which human interactions affect the Odd One Out is a complex concept in which Only Ten portrays particular evidence that the Odd One Out always has someone willing to conform to help them. Mr. Henney, a school teacher, conforms to Hussein, the Odd One Out, and realizes Hussein’s vulnerability of not liking the sound of the starter gun.” Then Mr. Henney raised the starting pistol and the Shah made a funny little sound, like a strangled cat, and shriveled in his chair. And we were crouching on the block all of us except the Shah who was still watching the starting pistol. “Ah… “ Said Henney. This gun doesn’t seem to be working.” Henney started us off by clapping his hands. Henney knew Hussein didn’t like the gun or the sound of it so Henney conformed to Hussein’s values and chose not to use the gun because Henney’s ethics were positive. This act is evidence for the point that the Odd One Out has someone always around to help them and someone who is willing to conform to their ways to help them fit in. All these sources successfully highlight the positive human relationships that the odd one out derives through people that decide to help the odd one out.

Finally, another factor that derives the idea that the Odd One Out is a complex concept that communicates the volumes of human relationships is the point that the person helping the Odd One Out has mores and values that influence those around them and slowly society is changed. In To Kill A Mockingbird Atticus Finch helps Tom Robinson and his actions start to influence those around him. This made good change throughout Maycomb County as people started following Atticus’s morals because of the good it wrought upon them. He shared his mores first with Scout, however the whole of Maycomb came to listen when he represented Tom in court. They started supporting the ideas of inequality, therefore starting a movement against the Jim Crow law. “Who in this town did one thing to help Tom Robinson, just who? “His colored friends for one thing, and people like us. People like Judge Taylor. People like Mr. Heck Tate. Stop eating and start thinking, Jem. Did it ever strike you that Judge Taylor naming Atticus to defend that boy was no accident? That Judge Taylor might have had his reasons for naming him?” This was a thought. Court-appointed defenses were usually given to Maxwell Green, Maycomb’s latest addition to the bar, who needed the experience. Maxwell Green should have had Tom Robinson’s case.” You think about that,” Miss Maudie was saying. “It was no accident. I was sittin’ there on the porch last night, waiting.

I waited and waited to see you all come down the sidewalk, and as I waited I thought, Atticus Finch won’t win, he can’t win, but he’s the only man in these parts who can keep a jury out so long in a case like that. And I thought to myself, well, we’re making a step-it’s just a baby-step, but it’s a step.” This quotes on page 238 proves that because of Atticus Finch representing a black man in a deviant action he influenced Judge Taylor and Heck Tate to follow his mores in treating people equally. Miss Maudie also agreed with his actions even though they were deviant. She also mentions at the end that they were making a step, a baby step. Harper Lee, through dialog of a character with positive thoughts on the black society, communicated to us that Atticus may have been the start of the civil rights movement as he chose to make that step. Harper Lee, confidently communicated a variety of concept complexes of the Odd One Out that related to human relationships, in this case it was of how a white man broke society’s ethics by taking a step for the odd one out’s.

“That was the one thing that made me think, well, this may be the shadow of a beginning. That jury took a few hours. An inevitable verdict, maybe, but usually it takes ’em just a few minutes. This time-” he broke off and looked at us. “You might like to know that there was one fellow who took considerable wearing down- in the beginning he was rarin’ for an outright acquittal.” “Who?” Jem was astonished. Atticus’s eyes twinkled. “It’s not for me to say, but I’ll tell you this much. He was one of your Old Sarum friends…” “One of the Cunninghams?” Jem yelped. Pg 245 The Cunninghams whom were out to lynch Tom Robinson were slowly being influenced because of Atticus’s deviant behavior to represent a black man. This is a major change for the good that Atticus had wrought upon society by representing Tom Robinson at court and had communicated positively about human relationships in relation to the odd one out.

Evident in Billie Holidays, Strange Fruits is also another testimony of change throughout a society because of one person standing up. Holiday quotes “There wasn’t even a platter of applause when I finished. Then a lone person began to clap nervously. Then suddenly everyone was clapping.” Because of that one person whom began to clap, the whole of the audience, with differences put aside began to support the movement. This lead to the song becoming the anthem of the anti lynching movement and planted the seeds of what would later become the Civil Right’s movement of the 50’s and 60’s. Holiday’s testimony allowed positive human relationship figures come to light when the odd one out had been accompanied.

The significance of the concept of the Odd One Out, is the factor that in Only Ten, Pearl whom helped Hussein open up to her group by showing him they were people too, influenced her whole group to open up to Hussein as well and even not calling him The Shah anymore. “That was the last time we called Hussein The Shah. Pearl says it’s all right, before we were calling him for what he was; now it’s who he is. Hussein seems to like it too. But I guess Hussein changed a bit from that day. Before he must have thought we were a pack of apes, had to be watched and treated carefully, but Pearl showed that we were people too.” Pearl had influenced her friends to open up to different races and started change within her society by helping Hussein. Even though it wasn’t much, through Allen Ballies techniques to convince the audience Hussein was odd, Allen provided the readers with much realization at the end of the text when the audience came to know Hussein more in depth and the reason as to why he was avoiding people. The evidence within these texts through the odd one out being accompanied and their accompanier leading them to change portrays the idea that the odd one has a variety of complex concepts, which communicates volumes about human relationships.

In conclusion, these examples disclose evidently that the Odd One Out is a complex concept that communicates volumes about human relationships. Initially concepts of which include the Odd One Out being racially different as society had generalized and stereotyped based on appearances and mores. This is seen when society stereotypes Tom Robinson a black man because of his race in the book To Kill A Mocking bird. It is also highlighted in Strange Fruit’s when Holiday sings of African Americans being lynched because of the skin of their colour and in Only Ten, in which a foreign boy is isolated because of the stereotype of his race. These are negative productions of human relationships. In addition another concept that relates to the Odd One Out being a complex idea relating to human relations is the fact that there is always one person in society willing to take a stand to help the Odd One Out and overcome the fears they have by conforming to the Odd One Outs needs in order to help them become less of an isolated human.

This is portrayed as Atticus a white man defends Tom Robinson throughout Lee’s novel. It is also exemplified in the background history of the song Strange Fruits where a Jewish man came to write the poem that birthed the song, which ultimately helped the African American nation. Evidently it is also seen in Ballie’s short story where a teacher helps Hussein, and the teacher is the only one in his environment that was willing to help him. These, and the following, are positive productions of human relationships. Finally, the last volume that derives the certain Odd One Out concept to be relative to human relationships is the point that the person helping the Odd One Out has mores and values that influence those around them and because of their bald movement to help the Odd One Out and conform to their needs they start to change society and even the legal system around them.

This is primarily evident in To Kill A Mockingbird when Atticus changes the way his society reacts to the odd one out and in Strange Fruits when the audience of Holiday reacts in a way least expected, and the efforts of one man applauding leads to a whole nation applauding to the sound of her voice and the justice of her lyrics. It is also seen in Only Ten, as Pearl’s action to help Hussein leads her friends to change their views on him as the odd one out.