Different Points of View of Actions and Problems, Uses Sociological Imagination

Throughout this piece we are taken on a journey of what some may argue is innate human nature, and how its repercussions affected a diverse group of individuals. As an audience, we are shown how differences in socioeconomic factors affected individuals and what they would become in their lives. Having the ability to place ones’ Self-outside common routines, to further understand different perspectives of actions, and issues use sociological imagination. This book takes us on a journey in the lives of two individuals and what factors and situations molded them into who they were to become.

As readers with a greater sociological understanding, we are taken throughout time in the eyes of an American immigrant and an American native. From their differences, we can understand the dynamic of what brings cultures together. Gauging what makes them human, Anand Giridharadas exploits their human characteristics by taking time to visit family and friends to get the honest tale of the events the unfolded.

One can believe that individuals do not behave at random in situations, yet react in a manner from their learned structural ‘norms’. Taking a further look into the different sectors that shape individuals’ outlook on society, that being the systematic institutions, can be a better framework for the decision throughout their lives. On one end you have Mark Stroman, a man that believes he is a “True American”, who depicts one of the most prevalent issues and beliefs still alive in today’s society. Mark Anthony Stroman was a child who can be said to have been brought up in the system, where it is recounted races were segregated.

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I believe that in some way his behavior can be defended due to institutional racism, where minority groups were concentrated in the system, and poorly reflected their larger groups.

In the text it states, “The way he [Stroman] saw it, to be white in Texas prison was, in an inversion of the usual rules, to be a victim from the start”. From my perspective, this caused a sense of status paranoia and a fear of power imbalance. As a white male in public, Stroman is racially transparent, yet in prison, his race is labeled and segregated leading him. At a young age this could have caused him to react in a manner he deemed fit, however sane it may have been, and carry those actions into adulthood. Distinctively, Rais Bhuiyan, an ambitious man who sought after the ‘American Dream’, and faced a lot of hardship and obstacles during the beginning stent of his life in America. Like Stroman, Bhuiyan was also shaped by an institution, yet he was provided the academic support, and structure for a successful future. He had become an officer in the Bangladesh Air Force after attending Sylhet Cadet College, where strict rules and training were in place to reform his adolescents.

Later he sought after a higher education in New York City for computer technology, which leads him to his fateful meeting with Mark Stroman. With the combination of his religious and structured upbringing, Bhuiyan was able to create a movement named World Without Hate, to prevent hate crimes, like his, from happening. Due to the prestige upbringing compared to that of Mark Stroman, further directly correlation between institutions and development. Although these institutions called for reform on their characters, each induvial was affected differently in their lives. Now many may argue that Mark Stroman’s environment could have led to his decisions and actions. Furthermore, the concept that our personal ideas are influenced by the people around us builds our social classes and structures. Now more than ever, we have the ability to surround ourselves with those tens of thousands of miles away. By better understanding historical events of individuals lives, we are able to gauge the severity of one’s actions and the rational or irrational behavior in relation to it.

This non-fictional piece depicted that Stroman was raised in a house without love and devotion, which later influenced how he would ‘raise’ his own children. His family dynamic consisted of a mother who stated that she would have rather had a dog instead of children and recounts the fifty dollars she was short to abort Stroman and an absentee father whom he met a much later age. During the trial of Mark Stroman, the defense depicted that his institutionalization and upbringing were the main culprits of his actions. I believe that we are not our issues, and although they shape who we become, we are not at the mercy of history and have the ability to rewrite our own stories. From a different perspective, having an unstable adolescence can re-emerge itself in adulthood, derailing ones’ future. Despite this being a personal issue, in some eyes, that a vast majority can somehow relate to, he, in fact, had a horrific childhood that in turn could have been the main reasons behind all of his actions.

In contrast, Bhuiyan was raised in a loving, devoted family, with support distant relatives and neighbors, and a strong religious connection. This is portrayed by his constant positivity in the determinate obstacles he faced. I believe that his strong upbringing leads him to forgive Stroman and become the advocate to save his life. Rais was inspired by Islam’s characteristic of mercy, to save a life of a man who would have so easily taken his. Although Rais had a strong family connection, I believe that his religious connection was the greater power influencing his decisions. After getting shot and pleading for his life in return for helping others, I believe a greater connection in his faith was restored. Without his religious teaching that saving one life is like saving mankind, the greatest influence he had on Mark Stroman would not have changed both of their lives for the better. From my personal perspective, it can be hard to truly understand where this cold and hateful nature steamed from, where account from Stroman sisters was opposite on their upbringing.

Yet if we ignore the history of Stroman and Bhuiyan, one is unable to fully answer the reasoning behind actions, which may be found in their pasts. Additionally, in society, there is a way to categorize individuals based on gender, race, class, sexual orientation, and so on.  One of the ideals most prevalent in this novel is racism, and racial profiling of Muslims, and those who resembled them after the events of September 11, 2001. Because of basic nature, as humans, we are set up to pity ourselves instead of going outside of our personal perspective. The difficulty of middle-eastern individuals, like Rais Bhuiyan, living in America have encouraged prejudices and stereotypes, making life more difficult for those groups. Discriminations on individuals based on characteristics are enforced by those of a certain authority, having a power such as race. One may believe that from the perspective of Mark Stroman, racism was inbuilt in his nature, that he was power hungry, and society manipulated his mind to act in the manner that it did.

For others they have realized that racism is prevalent in our society it is unjust to jump conclusions and overgeneralize a population-based on physical characteristics. Stroman had stated he felt like he was supposed to be a soldier fighting for the American people, he was traumatized by the event, leading him to act on his emotions. In reaction to the events following the attack on Bhuiyan, he grouped tattooed white men with big arms in the association with Mark Stroman. He was guilty of the overgeneralization, and each man’s discrimination was instilled by trauma. Mark Stroman and Rais Bhuiyan depict the diversity among the identity of an ‘American’ and the history of where America has been and where it is going. One, a Texas native, defined by his narrow-minded beliefs, exposes the faults in a nation who degrades the less capable and thrives on power. A man that has the beliefs in civic engagements yet does not fully understand its values.

The other, an immigrant, who embodies the strengths of the nation’s values and beliefs, though his abilities, and personal nature. Each individual had a time of reform within themselves, in which forgiveness and acceptance are key. This novel depicts how ideas that intuitions used in a stable and secure environment are beneficial and effective. How important are the relationship between individuals and society? This can compose of roles in the family, or workplace, or statuses based on class, gender, and even race. Judgment based on one’s superficial aspects, and how overgeneralizing their labels can affect a nation.  This murder and mercy of Texas reconstruct a captivating perspective of vastly different experiences in America, yet still brings to question to whom is the ‘True American’ of the title, which can be derived from something so simple as perspective.