Caroline's Identity

1300 Words3 Pages

Caroline is an interesting character because of an illness that she has had since birth. Her identity has been influenced by her kidney disease as she hasn’t known anything else. It has made her a strong, fearless, yet vulnerable person that has stopped caring about life. Carolines societal impact has also been influenced due to her inability to go to school after her illness worsened. This essay will discuss how Caroline’s societal impact and identity are affected by her disease, social media, as well as, how they were changed by her relationship with Anthony. The possibility of death is something that Caroline has faced everyday. This has shaped her identity in a way that has made her stronger, and more lively. With death being an issue …show more content…

The first thing that is introduced to Caroline the moment she meets Anthony was Walt Whitman's poem, Leaves of Grass (p.11). This poem takes Caroline and begins to change the way that she sees things. Which ultimate begins to shape her identity in another way. In the beginning she rejects the idea of the poem, as well as, Anthony. She only sees the poem as another thing to remind her of the death that she is facing. She almost immediately begins to reject Anthony, especially when he tries to explain the reason for them being paired together (p.18-19). This explains another instance in which she guards herself against people. As Caroline and Anthony begin to develop and strengthen the relationship between each other, Caroline begins to allow a little more of her vulnerability out. Allowing for Anthony to actually see who she is. By doing so they begin to form a bond that allows some of Caroline's walls to be taken down. This starts the change in her identity, as it allows for her to see that it is okay to allow others in. A way in which Anthony begins to change Caroline’s societal impact is when he states, “What’s the point if everyone’s alone!... It ends with nobody knowing anyone and nobody finding anyone, and no one means anything because they’re all alone with some grass.” This changes her thoughts about her disease and death, and how she really needs to be socially involved with others. Which is why she calls him back, and goes into her rant about being able to accept death and that “it’s just a thing.” This in turn also changes Anthony by allowing him to accept death. An identity issue that is faced within the play is that Caroline has stopped caring. She doesn’t care about life, because she feels as though she can never actually live it. Anthony towards the end of the

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