What is normal - An Article/Essay

I am a student of litreature and as I write this I am wondering just how to begin putting my thoughts so that they may not be politically incorrect. This is the greatest challenge faced by any student of litreature today. For sometime now whenever I have used the word “normal” in my speech I have confronted a certain criticism from a friend who has repeatedly asked me to define what do I mean by the word “normal”. I write this essay in reply.

The word “normal” is definitely a construct. It is, at times, individual, and at times, social. When social, “normal” signifies an average social impression depicting the understanding of something. For individuals the word “normal” signifies something that is the most abundant, the most understandable, the most relate-able, the most easily definable and something that is closest to what is known. The idea of the “normal” finds its origin in personal awareness. At the same time the idea is also rooted in the social structure and is heavily dependent on the prevalent social concerns. These concerns are the common agreed understanding of what is ‘normal’ rather than what is normal.

Think of a ‘normal’ man; then think of an ‘abnormal man’. And you will find that while there is nothing intrinsically normal or abnormal about that person but it is simply a value judgement. The society creates a selection of similarities and generalises it. In doing so it deems “normal” what it wants to be normal – something that the society believes will not endanger its integrity and existence. In fact when somebody mentions a thing to be “normal” that person is hoping to extend an idea, a value judgement, to the listener and hoping that the listener will also conform to his or her views of what is normal.

However the word “normal’ is most often used for convenience alone. In India the ‘normal’ colour of hair is black … or is it? In fact on even a slight inspection one can see that black is not the only colour. Some have brown hair, some have dark brown hair, some have even dark brown hair and some even darker. Here our idea of black being normal emerges from the fact that a dark brown colour appears closest to black. There are more than 16 million colours at present and brown may not really be brown, and light or dark brown may not be light or dark brown. In fact grey might not be grey. So it is far easier to group all dark brown hairs as black.

Since we live in a society and cannot do without it we are forced to accept certain generalisations simply because we are more fond of convenience than arguments. Take the case of “a normal bus”. When I mention this I am talking about the certain kind of buses that I find are abundant on Delhi roads – A long cuboid structure with a row of windows on either side and seating arrangements inside, a windscreen in front and a similar thing at the back, two large front wheels and four equally large hind wheels. It is not difficult to understand what I am talking about. The problem arises when I use the word “normal” to describe that bus. As an answer to that let me state that my indicating to someone that something is normal is governed by my knowledge that that person is a part of the society that I am a part of as well. Therefore while both of us might differ on our imaginations on the colour or other knick-knacks, the Platonic Idea of the bus remains. For an American say, the idea of a “normal” bus would be different, though not entirely and there the “normal bus” that I would be talking about would be the ones I know runs in America. You see therefore that the word “normal” is often used for individual conveniences.

At the same time social constrains do remain, thus forcing us to accept and mention something “normal” even though we might have a different idea of what is really “normal” for us. A ‘normal’ child therefore is someone who is without any handicaps. The ‘normal’ behaviour one must adhere to in a theatre as an audience is to keep silent. The ‘normal’ mother loves her child. ‘Normally’ a book is written on a typewriter with single spacing. The idea of “normal” therefore assures comfort and convenience be it for an individual or for a society, and we use it to simplify matters, to look for similarities, because in most conversations minute details are not the most important. It is the broader facts that are.