WHAT/WHO IS A PERSON

I remember reading a poem during me primary school days- Solomon Grundy. It goes like-

Solomon Grundy, born on Monday,

Named on Tuesday, Married on Wednesday,

Took ill on Thursday, worse on Friday,

Died on Saturday, and was buried on Sunday.

So this was how poor Solomon Grundy lived his life. So does this tell us about Solomon as a person? Do we come to know who Solomon was from these four lines? Perhaps we come to know that he lived and died, did what a normal man does. What I am trying to say is that what or who a person is, can be very well understood by the kind of life a person lives, how he is in a society and how he participates in a society.

According to Oxford dictionary, a person is an individual with particular character or tastes, an individual human being. So what decides this individuality? It is the differences between that individual and others around him or her that makes the individual distinct and decides who or what that individual is. The character and tastes decide how that person reacts in various situations and that tells us what role and position that individual has in that society, which largely helps us understand the personality of the person. Well, personality and person are two very distinct and wide terms and though they overlap at some point, they cover a lot of other areas. For example, if a person is very verbose and makes sure that his/her points are put across very clearly and that others agree with him/her, then we can say that he/she is a very assertive person. Similarly, if a person is not very talkative and keeps to himself/herself, then the person is said to be “not very social”.

The interpersonal relations between people tell us how they are. A great thinker once said that if you want to know how a person is, see how he treats his juniors (or inferiors). Also we have heard of the saying that goes- a person is seen by the friends he keeps. So what or who a person is, is decided not only by his character or tastes, but also by the company he keeps and also how he treats others around him, preferably younger people or economically/professionally inferiors. In the movie Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets, the character Professor Dumbledore tells Harry Potter that it is our choices that determine who we are, and not our abilities. Taking from that, I would say that who/what a person is depends on what we want to be as a person, what we choose to see ourselves as, and not merely as what we are capable of doing on the basis of our abilities.

Besides, the society is also an important deciding factor about the development of an individual into a person. The society helps form a distinct identity about him or her. Taking a very simple example, actor Saif Ali Khan would be known as just Saif in Bollywood, and all over the film-crazy India. But at his ancestral house, he will be known as Nawab Pataudi, or, Nawab Saif Ali Khan Pataudi, the heir of Nawab of Pataudi. So, as he goes in different societies, his identity changes, and who he is as a person also changes in these contexts. So, who or what a person is, depends on his company, his behavior towards others, his self-perception, his interpersonal associations and the society.