Who Gets to Decide What Normal Is?

Twenty-five years ago, like many teenagers, all I wanted was to fit in. I wanted to be “normal”. I remember someone - probably my dad - asking who got to decide what normal was. I thought it a rhetorical question of sorts, or certainly a question without a definitive answer. '“They” were a faceless, homogenous group of people I couldn’t quantify.

I was today years old when I realised I’d been considering the question from the wrong point of view. The answer was given to me by Richard Matheson in his book I Am Legend.

“Normalcy was a majority concept, the standard of the many and not the standard of just one man.”

And it’s true. What is “normal”, what is “acceptable”, is decided by the majority. Normative conformity plays a large part in many people’s views of what they consider “normal”. Peer pressure by an other definition.

This one line started me thinking about bigots, racists, homophobes and the like. Are they scared that they may no longer be considered “normal”? Are they scared of being treated in the same ways they have treated black and brown people, immigrants, queer people, trans people?

If we accept that people are different, that there is no such thing as “normal”, that being in a minority is not something to be scared of, then perhaps we could all be living in a more harmonious world. Wishful thinking on my part perhaps.

But, that would also mean the loss of power for some people and certain groups. So perhaps it’s not about being “normal” after all? And actually it’s about control?

I Am Legend serves as a warning against insular thought. A reminder that thinking only of ourselves, or “our kind” can have irrevocable ramifications. I started reading I Am Legend as research for a book I’m planning to start writing soon. It gave me everything I was looking for, but also so much more. It made me think in a way a book hasn’t for such a long time. It is so much more than a vampire book.

Robert Neville – our protagonist – also reminded me of what it’s like to be a writer. When presented with a problem, a little space, a wee drink and room for your brain to relax and your thoughts to float about, often presents you with the answer. Something I don’t think we do enough of in general these days.

All this is to say, I can’t recommend I Am Legend highly enough and I think I’ve just read my favourite book of all time,