Reading Response on Social Issue

The book "Ms. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" deals with the topic of being accepted for your differences. The characters in the book are stuck in a time warp, reliving the same day over and over. They all live together in a big house with Ms. Peregrine who is kind of like a mother to them. Each kid has a unique quality or difference that sets them apart from everyone else. I think that the both the book "Ms. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs, and the article "Senate Approves Ban On Gay Bias at Work" by Kristina Peterson, deal with the very important social issue of how people with unique qualities are treated differently in society.

I think that this book illustrates how people tend to shy away from other people that are different then them. Kind of like in the book, people are forced into hiding their differences in fear of being judged. The kids are forced into staying in a house away from society due to the fact that they’re different from everyone else. I think that people shouldn’t have to hide their differences, if anything they should be proud of them.

However, they all think of each other as equal, because everyone is different in one way or another. Because each kid has unique traits, they not only accept people that are different, they encourage it. An example of this is when the main character, Jacob, meets the peculiar children for the first time and talks to Emma (one of the kids). “We’re peculiar,” she replied, sounding a bit puzzled. Aren’t you?" “I don’t know. I don’t think so.” said Jacob. “That’s a shame” Emma replied.” This short conversation between Jacob and Emma shows how they think of being different as a good thing rather then a flaw.

The article "Senate Approves Ban On Gay Bias at Work" is about rights for the LGBT community. One of the main topics in the article is how gay people are being treated at work. “The Senate passed legislation Thursday banning workplace discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender workers, nearly two decades after a push for such protection began in Congress.”  I think that this is really a huge step for the United States, and it shows that we're beginning to realize that everyone's equal and should be treated appropriately.

After reading through about half of the book "Ms. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" I have been able to relate the social issue of how some people are treated differently back to our society. While people aren't being judged for being invisible or floating like the characters in the book, they are being treated differently for things like being gay. I think that the fight for rights for the LGBT community is the a good example of something like this, and that we need to start accepting people, whether it's for being gay or something else, because everyone deserves the same rights.