Sophomore Zaida Josephine-White discovered this essay topic online and thought it was an interesting point of view that she found herself relating to. Zaida enjoys reading, crocheting, and hanging out with family and friends. In the future, Zaida would like to be a book editor or do something involving writing.
Not many people pronounce my name right. Even when I correct someone on how to pronounce my name, it takes a few attempts for it to stick. When I correct a substitute teacher, they mispronounce it anyway, so I stopped correcting them. Though the idea of this sounds disrespectful, it is completely expected, because why would someone who doesn’t know me and doesn’t care to know me want to actually learn my name? I’m just another student in another class that they are substituting for that day. This I believe: we are all just background characters in other people’s movies.
The beginning of my freshman year was a blur, but one thing I remember distinctly. I was in my last class of the day on the first day of school and I noticed a person I’d gone to elementary school with for four years. We had gone to different middle schools and hadn’t seen each other in years, but we had been acquaintances, maybe even friends a while ago. I walked up to her, and we chatted for a bit; then the conversation changed to her saying something like, “It’s so crazy seeing you, like when I saw you in the class I thought, ‘is that Zaida!?’” This seems like probably the most normal thing she could have said to me, except for one small thing, she mispronounced my name. When I corrected her, her face showed visible shock. She then proceeded to explain she had thought that was how my name was pronounced for the entire time we had known each other. As you might have guessed, I was very surprised. Surprising because we had known each other for so long, but I also remembered her calling me my proper name years ago. I realized that she may have been my friend, but to her I was just a background character.
Not many people know who I am. I’m a silent person in class, anti-social and anxious. Those who know me, know me well. Those who don’t know me, know nearly nothing about me. For most people, I am just someone who occupies a desk in a class we share, or someone who they see at lunch sometimes. I am just a background in their lives. Without others around me, my movie would not exist, or it would be inherently boring.
If a background character in my movie never came back, I most likely wouldn’t notice, simply but not offensively because they are not an important character in my movie. To others though, that person is their side character.
Background characters are important. A movie without background characters is boring and plotless. The evolution of background character to side-character to secondary character is massive but would not exist if background characters did not exist. It is a humbling thought to remember that sometimes I may feel like I am the center of the world, when in reality I am just another background character in someone else’s movie.
