Confronting and Shaping Identity
Identification and confrontation of identities is very important as it gives one the opportunity to understand the society, their different perspectives and the interpretation of behaviors and characters (Woodward and Open University 9). During the summer of 2008, I was invited for a party by my friend, Dempsey who lived in North Carolina. The birthday party was to be attended by many friends, most of whom I knew, although I came to find others that I didn’t recognize. Upon arrival at the party’s location, I found the party had already begun and my first move was to look for the host.
For many years, my friend had known me as a shaggy person since my hair was always unkempt and so were my clothes. This day was no different and just as usual, I had left the house in a hurry for the party. The clothes that I wore were not ironed and although my jeans didn’t require much attention, they were not in their best condition. After cleaning them, I had roughly kept them and this had made the trousers creased. The shirt was also creased despite being forced daily by my mother to always tuck it in, I normally felt comfortable leaving it out.
My hair was in its worst state, after washing I always roughed it up using a towel and left it to dry without focusing on it again. This made my hair to look rough and gave other people the wrong impression about me. The appearance gave the persons present a different idea of who I was. While it was not the first time that people had generated a wrong impression about me, the issue became worse at the party. When we met with my friend who was the host, he was in a company of three girls and one guy who looked like he was already drunk. The party was supposed to be al...
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...lothing with some behaviors like indulging in drugs and crime is a common assumption made by people (Mills and Sen 45). My case was such an example where individuals associated my appearance with indulgence in alcohol and love of punk music. Therefore, identities are shaped by either appearance or character, which are interpreted in different ways by people. Confronting the different identities and reshaping them to be correctly understood is a task that many people fail to achieve.
Works Cited
Appiah, Kwame. Anthony. The State and the Shaping of Identity. n.p., 2001. Web. 30 July 2011.
Mills, James H and Satadru Sen. Confronting The Body: The Politics Of Physicality In Colonial And Post-Colonial India. London, UK: Anthem Press, 2004. Print.
Woodward, Kath and Open University. Questioning Identity: Gender, Class, Ethnicity. London, UK: Routledge, 2004. Print.
Taylor, S. (2009) ‘Who We Think We Are? Identities in Everyday life’, in Taylor, S., Hinchliffe, S., Clarke, J. and Bromley, S. (eds), Making Social Lives, Milton Keynes, The Open University.
Identity is one of the main questions throughout all of our readings, because it is hard for people to accept who they are in society. Accepting their identity as a minority with little if any freedoms sparks many of the social problems which I will show happening in all communities and cultures. The main issue we will discuss is how social environments effect the search for identity. The Mexicans in the U.S. module gives us examples how Mexicans try to keep their customs while living in a discriminated environment by the Whites. This module also gives us examples how people are searching for personal identity while struggling with cultural traditions. Finally, the African-American module gives us more examples to compare with the Mexicans in the U.S. module, because these readings deal with Blacks finding personal identity also through discrimination from the Whites. To properly understand the theme of identity, we must first look the factors influencing it.
Print. The. national identity, n. OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2014. Web. The Web.
Identity is primarily described primarily as what makes a person who they are. While it is seen as an individual asset, one’s identity can be shaped and persuaded not only by life experiences, but by society as well. Bryan Stevenson speaks on several controversial issues and proclaims certain societal problems and the typical behaviors noticed in response to them. How one approaches the issues that are spoken about may expose their true identity. Stevenson argues that how one reacts to racial inequality within the criminal justice system may regulate their identity. In addition to that, how dealing with the nation’s history may force a growth on one’s identity, eventually bringing peace and acceptance to the nation. Lastly, how one views the
Pederson, Katie. “Identity.” Intersections: An Introduction to the Liberal Arts. Ed. Peggy Fitch. Littleton, MA: Tapestry, 2011. 67-68. Print.
In life adversity plays a role in shaping an individual's identity. Overcoming adversity in life can give you new found strength and courage. Helping you become a better person later in life. In the photo Through The Door the child opening the door symbolizes trying to overcome something. The child can be trying to overcome adversity. The adversity seen in the photo is from the depressed theme. This theme of depression comes from how sad the child looks, and how disastrous his surroundings are. The fence around the child is poorly put together, and made of sticks.While the door the child is using is barely holding together, and the door is scraped together with spare pieces of wood. Giving the door a dangerous feel. With the poorly made stick fence, and the door put together with the sad child it gives off get a depressed theme.
Identity is defined as being oneself and not acting or being something else. The identity that one forms throughout their life time is a slow and tedious process, each and every event in one’s life whether it’s larger or small scale has an effect on developing ones overall identity. In the play Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth by Drew Hayden Taylor, Janice it caught between two identities and struggles to find a happy medium. Being adopted into a white family at a young age, Janice has become accustom to many of the white traditions and ways. Janice’s native family has recently gotten in touch with her and has put a great deal of pressure on her to regain some of the native culture she was born into. With pressure building Janice begins to question her identity and begins to show signs that she wants nothing to do with her native roots. Drew Hayden Taylor does an excellent job in this play showing how stereotypes and pre-conceived notions affect ones identity and their relationships within society. Each character within the play shows how their identity has been shaped through the relationships they have acquired throughout their lives; Tonto’s identity is heavily influenced by his father and best friend Rodney, Barb is influenced by the customs and traditional ways of her mother, and Janice after being adopted at a young age has formed an identity revolving around that of her adopted parents but she faces a great deal of pressure from her native birth family.
In her work, “Identity,” Carla Kaplan frames the difficulty of defining the term “identity.” She argues that identity is a tension because personal identity conventionally arbitrates taste and lifestyle, while social identity is regarded as a constellation of different and often competing identifications or “cultural negotiations” (Kaplan, 2007). In addition, she argues that identity politics has caused “suspicion and criticism” by limiting new democratic possibilities by encouraging narrow solidarities rather than broader identification resulting in the struggle for recognition becoming a questioning of recognition (Kaplan, 2007). Lastly, she argues that “A realistic identity politics” is needed to recognize that identities are multiple/dynamic
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Identity is a substantial component of a person, it’s something that determines who they are and help establish themselves with people who you find enjoyable and shares similar interests. It could bring people together, and provide a sense of belonging and unity. However, there are times where these people who are within certain cliques are perceived more negatively or believe that all people within that group perpetually have a certain set of traits. In most cases, these negative perceptions lead to discrimination and conflict, and obscures the positive and more genuine traits of an individual. In S.E. Hinton’s book, The Outsiders, there is a group of poor and lower-middle class teens who are labeled as greasers. This group of wild teenagers
Social identification is when we adapt to an identity from a group we feel we belong to. This may mean we adopt some of the values and behaviors of that group. Individual identities come from group membership. Usually this social identity improves self-esteem.
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Identity. What is identity? One will say that it is the distinct personality of an individual. Others will say that identity is the behavior of a person in response to their surrounding environment. At certain points of time, some people search for their identity in order to understand their existence in life. In regards, identity is shaped into an individual through the social trials of life that involve family and peers, the religious beliefs by the practice of certain faiths, and cultural awareness through family history and traditions. These are what shape the identity of an individual.
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Zora Neal Hurston’s book, Their Eyes Were Watching God, reveals one of life’s most relevant purposes that stretches across cultures and relates to every aspect of enlightenment. The novel examines the life of the strong-willed Janie Crawford, as she goes down the path of self-discovery by way of her past relationships. Ideas regarding the path of liberation date all the way back to the teachings of Siddhartha. Yet, its concept is still recycled in the twenty-first century, as it inspires all humanity to look beyond the “horizon,” as Janie explains. Self-identification, or self-fulfillment, is a theme that persists throughout the book, remaining a quest for Janie Crawford to discover, from the time she begins to tell the story to her best friend, Pheoby Watson. Hurston makes a point at the beginning of the novel to separate the male and female identities from one another. This is important for the reader to note. The theme for identity, as it relates to Janie, carefully unfolds as the story goes on to expand the depths of the female interior.