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Anahi Lara
Professor Melisa Malvin
English 114A
November 30, 2015
What Make Us Unique
In every person we come across with, we each notice our different aspects. Not only in
our physical appearance do we look different but we all think differently and act differently than
others. Our human traits are made of many thousand unique cells that make up who we are. As
we grow up, we learn how to cope with our environment and our own abilities. In Ransom
Riggs Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children, Jacob, a teenage boy resolves his own
peculiarity by realizing that he is not the only one considered weird or a castaway from his
family and friends. As Jacob felt like he didnt belong, he shared a special connection with his
grandfather who helped him realize his true identity in helping others like them. The bond
between Jacob and his grandfather was unique because although his grandfather told him of their
special abilities without intending them, he believed that Jacob will one day understand and have
the capabilities to make others such as his parents believe who they truly are. Throughout ones
journey in discovering what we are capable of such as Jacob, our special abilities are made to
help others understand that their capabilities would come to good use when there is need for
help.
In Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children, Jacobs grandfather told him many
astonishing stories of when he lived in a small island with a group of peculiar children with
inexplicable abilities. Some of these children had what seemed to be super powers. Jacobs
grandfather had a box full of authentic black and white photographs of the children such as a girl

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who was levitating in mid air, a young boy holding a boulder atop of his head, and a boy where
you could only see his form and clothes but not a single show of skin. The boy was invisible.
When Jacob was a little boy, he was so intrigued by the most wonderful experience his
grandfather had at the home while there was a war going on. Jacob only imagined bliss the
children had experienced among their new home but never realized why they were castaways. As
Jacob grew older, he started to get bullied by other children at school because he still believed in
his grandfathers stories because they were considered fairytales. Jacob didnt know what to
expect from his grandfather anymore that he thought, I really did believe him- for a few years,
at least- though mostly because I wanted to, like other kids my age wanted to believe in Santa
Claus (20). With how much he looked back at the old pictures of the children, he speculated that
they couldnt have performed those extraordinary possibilities. The only way possible would be
by receiving help from unseen wires holding up the levitating girl or the boulder that could have
easily been made out of paper mache.
According to Patrick Hopkins, there were people that could proof their abnormalities. In
The Lure of the Normal: Who Wouldnt Want to be a Mutant? Hopkins describes the roles of
people with special abilities called mutants living among the human society. Mutants have
special abilities that in some, it is unrecognizable but in others, they stand out. Some of these
mutants are able to camouflage by living their normal lives as people working endless hours on
jobs such as construction workers, business workers, and even teachers. They are able to
camouflage because their physical traits dont show any signs of their special abilities unless
they reveal it. Some of these special abilities can come as a gift where people such as the X-Men,
an elite group of superheroes help those in need when there is trouble. The X-Men also try to
find other mutants that are unaware of how to control their special abilities by offering the school

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as a refuge and learning center if they arent accepted at home. It is a great opportunity for the
mutants, especially if they are still young and need help adjusting with society. Some of these
people find their powers as an ability to help others and the environment. For example one of the
experienced mutants was Storm who can help with a weather condition or maybe even someone
who contains a cure for a disease like cancer can help end it for humans diagnosed. Having a
special ability is beneficial only if people use it adequately, if some of these gifted people do not
take into consideration of their powers, they can become a great hazard and can cause tension
with the humans that dont recognize their type of peculiarity and see them as a threat.
Patrick Hopkins not only depicts of the mutant population, but of the normal human
population as well. Hopkins discusses that some people might be unusually talented, that
talented could be specific to thousands of different areas- for example, an ability to play the
many different types of musical instruments or sports or excel in the arts or the vocations (6).
People dont have to be unusual by looking differently or acting different. Anyone is unique in
his or her own way. Whether we are capable of playing an instrument, being physically flexible,
or highly intelligent, people might become restrained from expanding their gifted abilities.
Hopkins states, People who are limited by their abnormalities, people who are ostracized
because of their abnormalities, and even people who dont want the responsibility that comes
with certain abnormalities. There can be great comfort in being normal, even if it is sometimes at
the cost of never standing out (15). People dont grow up knowing that they are special. They
are exposed to finding their own talent whether it is taught or inherited genetically by their
family history. We have to accept who we are no matter what form we came into this world. We
were created how we were expected from our parents genes but as well as our own. Give or
take, mutants or not, we are all unique.

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Ransom Riggs characterizes Jacob as a unique young man. Jacob had lived a vague
teenage life where he went to school and worked but was unhappy. He thought he wasnt worth
doing anything. It wasnt for his grandfather that had him wonder why he told him the many
stories of when he was younger. Jacob questioned why his grandfather had become so paranoid
and had always kept a room full of weapons. They even had to be locked away because what if
he had a breakdown one day and caused an accident. The speculations grew more in depth when
Jacob found his grandfather attacked and murdered by a horrible monster that penetrated him
with the same repeating nightmares every night. Jacob described, I couldnt close my eyes
without seeing it-that tentacle-mouth horror in the woods. I was convinced it had killed my
grandfather and that if would soon return for me (39). No one wanted to believe Jacob. His own
parents, his only friend that was there that night, all thought that his grandfathers death had
created a horrible trauma on Jacob and had to seek help before hed grow insane as his
grandfather believed to be.
Jacob knew he wasnt insane and all the stories his grandfather once told him were told
for a reason. Jacob started to investigate more about his grandfathers past and where he lived
and found a way to travel to the island in hope that some of the children or even the headmistress
still lived so they could answer his questions about his grandfather and what murdered him. In
finding the children and finally seeing with his very own eyes, Jacob believed that his childhood
stories were all true and not just made up fairytales with fake photographs. The children of the
peculiar home all stayed in their child life forms implanted in a time loop where the same day
repeated and they lived their lives freely showing their special abnormalities as a circus act for
the people from the village that were in the time loop as well. Riggs says that was the only time
the children could show their true selves to the public and the people were so amazed, that they

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couldnt believe their acts because they thought it was some type of trickery. As Jacob started to
unveil more of what the special place contained, he found that his grandfather was peculiar as
well by having the gift of seeing the monsters they were all hiding from. Jacob unleashed the
truth as he stated, I wasnt crazy or seeing things or having a stress reaction; the panicky twist in
my gut whenever they were close that and the awful sight of them-that was my gift (247). Jacob
now knew why back home his parents, family, and detectives could not believe his encounter
with one of the monsters the night of his grandfathers death. Jacob found the peculiarity in
himself where he made the decision to stay with the group because they needed him in order to
protect them from the monsters. He was willing to leave his old life for a new one where he felt
more associated with. Even though he thought he was a complete stranger at first and
defenseless, he was willing to risk what he was capable of by identifying who were the real
monsters.
The monsters, called Wights and Hollowgasts who had been searching for the peculiar
children were once part of their group. They were considered peculiar once themselves but an
implication had occurred and caused them to have a massive mutation, becoming a threat. The
separation of the two groups became a hazard because the peculiars remained humble and
uninterrupted but to the Wights, they were victims of a mass destruction that caused them to
become deformities among humans and peculiars. The difference from the Wights and the
peculiars can be referenced with David Pikes article "Urban Nightmares and Future Visions:
Life Beneath New York." He states that New York is home to the two most culturally resonant
underground populations of the postwar era: the sewer alligator and the "mole people." Both
were long believed to be more legendary than real, and both have galvanized the resources of
underground mythology as their existence has become progressively more certain (1). The

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separation of groups has caused for the people who lived in the sewers to cope with the
environment they were exposed to because they were forced to live in poverty while the others
expanded their lives taking over what used to be theirs. The group might have been seen as a
minority where they were not considered important. They were the castaways such as the
peculiar children because they were set aside and could share their potentiality.
Whether people are of different groups, have different interests or simply look different
does not mean one should be seen as a threat or weird. Jacob believed that he was a complete
nobody because no one understood what he was going through. If he had found the children with
special abilities when he was younger or had his grandfather explain their peculiarity, he would
had been able to be understood more by his parents and even be allowed to join the group. Jacob
realized that in joining the peculiar children, he would come with great help. Although he was
not strong enough and unaware of what else he could do besides identify the Wights, he was
capable of fighting for himself and his friends. Jacobs peculiarity helped him take a risk that he
was willing to take just so that others would be saved. As Jacob took a leap into identifying who
he truly was, we as individuals have the ability to do so as well. With the help of others or
finding out for ourselves, we are capable of doing many abilities and can help others become
aware by teaching or having them be exposed to each and every ones talents.

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Work Cited:
Hopkins, Patrick. The Lure of the Normal: Who Wouldnt Want to be a Mutant? X-Men and
Philosophy: Astonishing Insight and Uncanny Argument in the Mutant X-Verse. Eds. Housel,
Rebecca, and Wisnewski, J. Jeremy. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. 5-16. Print.
Pike, David L. (David Lawrence). "Urban Nightmares and Future Visions: Life Beneath New York."
Wide Angle, 20.4 (1998): 9-50.
Riggs, Ransom. Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children. Philadelphia, PA: Quirk, 2011. Print.