Kaitlyn Dickey, Post 1

         In "Be Nobody's Darling" by Alice Walker, she writes about how being an outcast can be viewed as positive and a form of freedom of expression, yet in "Fleur" by Louise Erdrich the character Fleur is misunderstood and has a negative reputation. Because of this, I think that Erdrich would disagree with Walker's perspective. In "Be Nobody's Darling" Walker makes it sound like being an outcast does not mean you don't fit in, but rather that you are your own person have chosen your own path in life. It has a greater sense of an outcast being freedom instead of someone being looked at as a misfit. In "Fleur", Fleur is always described as "haywire" and "messed with evil" and other words that all have negative connotations. In this sense, being an outcast comes off as someone who is looked down upon and misunderstood.
        Although each of these stories are clearly different and have different perspectives, the one thing they have in common is that each outcast has a strong sense of individuality. In "Be Nobody's Darling" this is portrayed with phrases like "Be pleased to walk alone" and "Qualified to live among your dead". In "Fleur", although she is looked at as different, she gets a lot of people's attention because they are curious about her and her story, she has a sense of mystery. Therefore, even though each story has a different view of being an outcast, each still conveys the meaning of being your own person.