Sarai Garcia

English | 4th Period

November 11, 2019

The Essence of Being a Human

Humanity means mistakes. It’s a learning process on how to be who you want to
be. No one is only one type of way for the rest of their life. We are everleaning, which is
why we evolve, we change, and we don’t have to be the same person we were 2 years
ago if we don’t want to. With all of our flaws, our faults, and our errors, that makes
humans unique. Every quirk reveals that we are imperfect and it is adequate.
Being human means making ideas of the world around them. Naturally, by
instinct, humans are curious. They want to know things and how they operate. They
want to know the purpose of everything and they want to learn.
Humanity has developed a society on their own. Humanity has built communities
and innovations all through great big ideas. That is why history recalls the stories of
important people in the past that have decided to change their world all in the name of a
creative thought. For example, sailors, explorers, and voyagers have expanded their
homeland through traveling by ship. They had a thought of there being more land to
discover. Even if they landed in unintentional places like Christopher Columbus, they
were curious about what’s beyond what they can see and what they know. Again,
emotions played a part in this. How? Whether it be a valuable reward, a significant
recognition, or a love for adventure, emotion prompted for effort.
Humans are as complex as their bodies are. Being human means feeling and
sharing emotions. As much as we want to suppress feelings, we can’t help it because
only a monster doesn’t feel. A monster would do atrocities just because and not feel any
type of remorse. Only a monster would act heartless.
People feel empathy and sympathy when they see someone going through a
situation that leads to an emotion that tugs on their heartstrings. Emotions are a strong
indicator to influencing others. Emotions penetrate the heart and reach the brain for
further action. Now these emotions can be both positive and negative. As humans,
controlling our emotions has been proven difficult, yet it is manageable and quite
necessary.
Your feelings impact your experience. Whether you recall a memory fondly or
not. For example, watching a scary movie. Some love the thrill, the horror, and the
suspense. But some dislike the fear, the strange images, and the unease. As a human
myself, I am very expressive of my emotions. However, some people have no one to go
to. Take Jack for instance.
Suppressing feelings can only get you so far. There comes a breaking point
where you release everything that was bottled up or at least try to. Jack is seen
attempting this on the last day he spends with his mother. “His mother’s eyes slid from
one side of Jack to the other, never quite resting on him. He tried to raise his eyebrows
and grin at her, just to get a little eye contact… She hadn’t hugged him or told him that
she’d call him every day… She looked up, though not ​at ​him… ​Look at me! ​Jack wanted
to yell. ​Say my name.​ But instead, he said, ‘Good-bye, Mom’ (Barnhill 25). Jack so
badly wanted to be known by his mom. He wished to express his feelings but couldn’t in
the end for fear and agitation. This book in particular shows that humanity means to
share emotions and interact with other people. Jack thought that maybe if his mother
noticed him, he could exist in her world. However, he never belonged in her world.
(spoiler!)
Being human is connecting with other people. Only in isolation, is it that people
lose their minds and don’t know what is happening. They have no sense of time or day,
when no one is around to check up on them. Only in isolation, is it that people are
fogged by their purpose in life unless someone comes and illuminates them. In the
book, The Mostly True Story of Jack, Jack has always been invisible until he’s forced to
move to Iowa.
Interacting with other people shapes one's world. Every person you meet is an
individual. They have their own ideas, thoughts, likes and dislikes. But what happens
when you don’t have the opportunity or chance to do that?
 No one that was Jack’s age never took an interest in him. What Jack did instead
was that “He had spent his whole life imagining the kinds of conversations that he’d like
to have with kids his own age. No one ever talked to him… Still, this conversation was
nothing like the conversations in his head” (Barnhill 40). When Anderson goes up tp talk
to Jack, Jack is amazed by the fact that someone his age is talking to him. He stutters
his words and struggles to answer Anderson. Jack’s first encounter with a friend in the
book, proves overall, that interactions with other people is what it means to be human.
This is due to the fact that Jack has always fantasized for the day when talking to
someone would come true. Before, everything was made up in his head. Jack couldn’t
relate to anyone, which leads to sharing emotions and having experiences with a
human. Interacting and connecting with others is the first of many steps to beginning
personal and important relationships. Something that Jack couldn’t get back home, he’s
experiencing now in Iowa.
Humanity means morality. All humans have a time limit and they can’t escape the
grasps of death. Yes, all humans are born. But upon birth, one baby’s destiny is
different from another. Morality, consequently, makes people come to the realization of
their lives and how all humans die, including themselves.
An example of morality is when Jack tries to escape during the middle of the
night and Mr. Avery decides to go after Jack and chase him down. Anderson, being a
stealthy witness, warns Jack. “‘Get out of the way!’ a voice screamed at him from the
side of the road. But he couldn’t. Jack felt his legs turning to lead. The car was closer...it
was about to...Jack… gasped and closed his eyes. Anders pounced, grabbed Jack, and
pulled him… ​That car nearly killed me… And someone pulled me out of the way, he
thought​” (Barnhill 51). Experiences one goes through in life, in this case, Jack’s near
death experience, explains humanity quite well. Having this type of exposure, made
Jack reflect on his life. He realizes that experiences are what makes you feel alive. For
people, experiences don’t have to be life changing. They can be as broad and extensive
as holidays. But the point is that humans live through experiences and personal
encounters to share with others.
 And this is where literature comes into play. Books have shown humanity by
introducing characters and situations. Humans experience and books blossom off of
that life changing experience. Those experiences shape people. Stories can teach
morals and they can entertain. A writer is simply another human being that’s sharing
ideas or retelling an encounter through life. It is a perspective of the human race and
how an event unravels before them. There are a few popular sayings such as “People
have stories” and “Don’t judge a book by its cover”. Why those phrases? Because
humans can be recorded within words, within a book. Books are the telling of people
whether real or imaginary. They explore an event through the mind of a person. The
reader themselves can experience what it means to be human when they open a book.
Yes, even with school books, which shows the intelligence that a human is capable of
learning. That is why I believe that literature tells us that to be human means to interact
with other people, share emotions and have experiences.