In the poem, "Be Nobody's Darling", the author Alice Walker speaks about how being an outcast in society should be seen as a goal rather than something to avoid. In many ways she is trying to say that having the courage to be different makes you unique and is ultimately the only way to truly be free. Walker wrote, "Watch the people succumb to madness with ample cheer; Let them look askance at you and you askance reply." By this she means that when you stand out in a crowd, you likely will be looked upon as different. However, one should be proud to be an outcast because it shows their true bravery. She believes that those who are afraid to stand out and leave their comfort zone are the ones who should be seem as different or weird.
Contrarily, in Mrs. Sen's by Jhumpa Lahiri, we see the idea of being an outcast as more depressing than uplifting. Throughout the story Mrs. Sen's seems unhappy with her new life in America, a life that she isn't accustom to. She is having difficulty adapting and is unwilling to change because of this. Unlike Walker, Lahiri sees being an outcast as restricting the things you are able to do, instead of a reason to be proud.
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