Fact in The Rough

         Sometimes fictional stories become a reality. In Disney’s movie Bedtime Stories, stories come to life; however, in the real world only parts of stories are seen in one’s everyday life. In 1846, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a short story titled “The Birthmark.” At the beginning of the story, a man named Aylmer meets a beautiful young lady named Georgiana. It was immediately true love. The two are perfect; yet, Aylmer has a problem with Georgiana: he hates the birthmark she has on her face. Throughout the story, the idea of Georgiana's imperfection is prevalent; even in the current day and age, people with imperfections are looked down on. Although Hawthorne’s story is  fictional, the story can be connected with many of today’s current events.

        Because the idea of being perfect is impossible, many people understand that imperfections are normal; yet, there are people who believe that humans with more imperfections should be viewed as a lower class. Emilee Bench of Deseret News wrote an article about the importance of embracing human flaws. Bench covered the gathering of Utah University Students who spoke out about misconceptions of perfection. This gathering is an indicator that there are still negative connotations towards imperfections. “Danger? There is but one danger--that this horrible stigma shall be left upon my cheek!” (Hawthorne). At this point, Georgiana also believes that her birthmark is a curse. If an imperfection such as this birthmark was not seen as a flaw, Georgiana would be able to embrace her difference. People would not have to speak out towards this issue if society embraced flaws. If Aylmer had embraced Georgiana’s birthmark, the ending of Hawthorne’s story would have possibly not have ended with a death.

         Imperfections do not only exist with people but also with objects. Sally Lee of the Daily Mail wrote a piece that explored food imperfections. Today, people stay away from food that looks abnormal. Lee explains how food that looks strange will be less likely bought. This happens because people associate different as “lower” in class. Hawthorne’s perception of these imperfections is shown halfway through his story. “… And she placed her hand over her cheek to hide the terrible mark from her husband’s eyes.” (Hawthorne). Georgiana tries as hard as she can to hide her imperfection to please her husband. If people were to hide food imperfections, much of the world’s agricultural products wouldn't be sold. People have to one day overcome these childish assumptions that everything has to be as close to perfect as possible.

         Hawthorne’s story, “The Birthmark,” main character has an intolerance for Georgiana’s birthmark. Today, one of the world’s problem is intolerance. People do not treat each other as equals. Saba Imtiaz’s article takes a stance on intolerance against the Pakistani people. Until people, such as Aylmer, can learn to accept people for who they are, the world can never be a safe place. A safe world requires each and every person to accept each other. Imtiaz highlights an important problem that many races face. Even though a race is different from personal imperfections, both race and people with imperfection face a similar problem, tolerance. Hawthorne’s story explains problems that are still around today.

         If a story is fictional, it normally means that the story is made up. This, however, is not the case with Hawthorne’s short story. Even though the story has made up concepts, there are similarities the story shares with today’s world. Imperfections are everywhere. As perfect as someone or something may seem, that thing could never be perfect. Perfection as well is a social construct. Who can justify that the something has no flaws? Fiction or not, Hawthorne’s story brings to light a problem with society.