In My Name By Okaikor Aryee-Price, And The Color Of Water

The concept of identities being defined by a name (or vice versa) is not an unfamiliar one -- in fact, one could argue it to be one of the most globally discussed topics in writing. My Name by Sandra Cisneros, What is in a Name? by Okaikor Aryee-Price, and The Color of Water by James McBride all prove that society judges people’s identities unfairly based on their names, devalues those with unfamiliar names, and shows little regard for personal identity. Throughout these three texts, it is apparent that people often find themselves being treated differently if they have uncommon or unfamiliar names. In My Name, for example, Cisneros explores this idea through Esperanza’s struggle with her peers’ treatment of her name: “In English my name means hope,” she begins, in stark contrast to later in the story, where she writes: “At school they say my name funny as if the syllables were made of tin and hurt the roof of your mouth.” (1; par. 1, par. 5) This instance exemplifies the issue of

“I do remember my Jewish name: Ruchel Dwajra Zylska,” wrote McBride in the The Color of Water. “My parents got rid of that name when we came to America and changed it to Rachel Deborah Shilsky.” (1; par. 2) Aryee-Price shares a comparable story in What is in a Name?, where her father was forced to change his name (originally Nii-Ayikuma) in order to attend a Catholic school. After being turned away the first day with his name, her father “return[ed] to school the next day with a new identity, a new name [Thomas Arnold]…” wrote Aryee-Price. (3; par. 17) The diminishing of identity here is clear; a child was forced to take on a name completely unrelated to his heritage or personal identity just to attend a school. These pieces describe perfectly the struggles that come with maintaining identity in the face of societal divides and