Escalante 1

Jesus Escalante
Professor Malvin
English 114A
November 24, 2014
I Want to Be Normal, yet Special
In the novel Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children, Jacob is a young charismatic
teenager who dreams about escaping his ordinary life, a life that revolved around a job he hated
and taking care of his crazy grandfather. Yet Jacob discovers that his ordinary life turns out to
be not as ordinary, as he learns he, too, is peculiar, a person whose characteristics and abilities
differ from those considered to be normal. As Riggs portrays Jacob with such peculiar abilities,
ultimately those abilities become an important aspect in his life and the lives of Miss Peregrine
and the children, making him struggle with drawing a line between normality and peculiarity. In
Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children, Riggs portrays Jacobs dilemma as a way to
illustrate the conundrum many people face of wanting to be normal to fit in, but different enough
to be special.
Normality as stated is, the condition of being normal; the state of being usual, typical or
expected. One question to ponder is, if being considered normal is seen to be the right way and
being typical seems to be wrong, where is the line drawn between what is considered normality?
The idea of being normal is expressed the most through the novel as having no problems and
living in the current time Jacob lived in. Normality consists of being seen to have no problems at
all, and in the novel Riggs portrays two sides, a side considered normal just as every human
being sharing the same qualities, and a side considered peculiar, with subhuman qualities. With

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both normality and peculiarity distinctive, Riggs makes the readers compare between both. In the
case of Jacob and the children in Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children, normality is
only seen through the beholders themselves and the children often face danger for trying to settle
with both. Yours is a world they can never be a part of, Mr. Portman. So whats the use in
filling their heads with grand talk about the exotic wonders of the future? (Riggs 210).
As the novel progresses, the special abilities both Jacob and the children possess become
visible. The use of mystical abilities allow the readers to see Jacob and the childrens life
portray throughout much of the novel adding a dark mysterious feeling and sense of danger. As
Riggs portrays the children with peculiar abilities, the normality of the children along with Jacob
seems to vanish. People come to sideshows to see stunts and tricks and what-all, and as far as
anybody knew thats exactly what we showed them. (Riggs 186). As far as anyone knew, the
children were thought to be normal, but this shows how peculiar the children are and how they
normally live they life. But being peculiar, just as Jacob and the children are, doesnt just revolve
around being normal, danger can also be seen and Riggs allows readers to visualize those
dangers presented through the story as a mean to see just what the children have to face. Only
their shadows, which is why they hunt mainly at night. (Riggs 247). The children must often be
ready to face danger at any moment, a result they must face for their peculiar abilities. Although
it is not their fault for having those peculiar abilities, the eminent danger is there and the children
must face it regardless.
Being peculiar isnt just an ability that everyone has, and most often wanting to fit in
while being special has its difficulties. The idea of being peculiar through much of the novel is
seen by others as crazy or mentally ill, allowing readers to visualize Jacobs life through being
treated differently, although he knows he is not as different as everyone plays him out to be, and

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he senses danger because of it. As the story unfolds Jacobs stories of what happened with his
grandfather has everyone questioning his mental ability, and whether he needs treatment. I told
him everything that happened, even about the creature, as he sat nodding across the kitchen table
writing nothing in his spiral notebook. When I finished all he said was, Great, thanks, and then
turned to my parents and asked if Id, been to see anyone. (Riggs 40). As Jacob tries hard to
explain his story, he wants to not be seen mentally ill and only wants to fit in and be considered
normal like everybody else. Jacobs story only gets him criticized and led people to think he is
crazy for trying to explain his story. Now which lie are we talking about? I can hardly keep
trackdoes Golan know about this. (Riggs 205). Jacobs peculiar ability to be able to see what
others cannot see, lead to his own father having difficulty knowing whether he is telling the truth
or not. His own father doesnt seem to believe his stories and even asks him if his therapist, Dr.
Golan, knows and believes anything he is saying.
In a small article entitled Abnormal, Normal, and Special, by Dyed Al Hues, Hues
states that a person is accurately described through a collection of attributes or abilities. A
normal attribute that is more successful is common while the abnormal one is uncommon. The
abnormal ability that is successful soon becomes the new normal. You might say that the
special are those that have abnormal abilities and have not yet, but are destined to be, the new
normal. In the case of Jacob and the peculiar children the special abilities that they have are not
considered normal, but as Hues states, their attributes are destined to be the new normal.
Normality as portrayed through Riggs is only distinguishable by small attributes only the
withholder may know about. Trying to maintain being considered normal while having special
abilities seems to be particularly easy for Jacob and the children. they hardly seemed to
notice the small parade of peculiar-looking children passing them by. (Riggs 351). Jacob along

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with the children are seen to be just normal as they pass by people who have no clue that the
children themselves possess peculiar abilities.
In Stephen Kings essay, Why We Crave Horror Movies, King states that we watch
horror movies to re-establish our feelings of normality. In connection with Jacob, although he
learns he has special abilities, he still wants to be able to live his normal life, a life that revolved
around his parents and one true friend. Constantly having to choose between living a life with
peculiarity or a normal life. Joining the peculiar children would also mean I wouldnt finish
high school or go to college or do any of the normal growing-up things people do. Then again, I
had to keep reminding myself, I wasnt normal (Riggs 270-271). As Riggs portrays Jacob to
have his peculiar abilities what is normal and what isnt leaves the readers to question the
difference. Jacob was both normal and peculiar, but choosing what lifestyle was more of a
benefit seemed more difficult than it seemed. leaving would be too dangerous. So its not
even a decision really. You stay. Its only later---years later---that you begin to wonder what
mightve happened if you hadnt. (Riggs 213-214).
As many individuals often face a conundrum of wanting to fit in, Jacob and the peculiar
abilities he possessed became important in his life and those around him, making him different
enough to be special. But the positivity of having peculiar abilities soon became negative as
Jacob struggled to fit in and have the belief of those who thought he was mentally ill or crazy.
Although struggling to fit in the lifestyle around him, Jacobs ultimate decision to stay with the
peculiar children rather than to go back and live his normal lifestyle was because he wanted to be
special in his own way. Both normality and peculiarity arent traits that can easily be seen,
normality is hard to distinguish just by sight. I mightve thought the same thing if I didnt

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observe you beforehand. As much as people want to be normal, being able to know who is
normal and who is not is just as hard as fitting in itself.
As normality differs greatly from peculiarity, when thinking about being normal, wanting
to fit in is the only thing many people want to do, but when you have remarkable abilities such as
Jacob, opposed to normal people that dont have such abilities, often people tend to want more
than just normality, they want to be special in their own unique way. Whether it is with special
abilities or simply they just want to feel more than just what people define to be normal, in the
end fitting in despite being normal or peculiar is something that most people aspire, and having
to choose between living a normal life or not, as Jacob did, should not be made simply because
people want you to be and live your life differently. For me, insanity is super sanity. The normal
is psychotic. Normal means lack of imagination, lack of creativity. (Jean Dubuffet).

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Work Cited
Riggs, Ransom, John J. McGurk, and Doogie Horner. Miss Peregrine's Home for
Peculiar Children. Philadelphia, PA: Quirk, 2011. Print.
Al Hues, Dyed. ""Abnormal, Normal, and Special." (2013): n. page. Web. 25
Nov. 2014.
King, Stephen. "Why We Crave Horror Movies." Models for Writers. By Alfred
Rosa. 11th.

Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 524-527. Print.