Struggles with Self-Concept in Zero by Paul Logan, Living in two worlds” by Marcus Mabry, and “The Jacket” by Gary Soto

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In unit one of Interactions, the authors Ann Moseley and Jeanette Harris showed a number of readings about the idea of the self. The self-concept is an important matter because people change with age constantly and their thoughts change as well. There are many factors that can affect any individual’s thought of self-concept such as growing up, life experiences, friends and family, and meeting new people. Moreover, a number of readings in unit one by different authors showing their experiences and struggles with self-concept such as ethnicities, economy status, and self-esteem issue. I have had similar experiences with several authors, which are, “Zero” by Paul Logan, “Living in two worlds” by Marcus Mabry, and “The Jacket” by Gary Soto. In the reading, “Zero” Paul Logan was a student who faced failure and got a 0.0 GPA. Zero talks about how failure is not the end and it can lead to success. He had F’s and I’s on his classes he got disappointed but he managed to succeed at the end. Moreover, Logan had so many issues during his academic life and those resulted to bad thoughts such as surviving high school instead of focusing on success. As he said, “grades were not my priority; survival was.” He said that because he was bullied by student and that hurt him and according to him he received insults and sometimes they hit him. He did not trust him self during that phase of his life. However, after seeing his GPA written in front of him 0.0 he was surprised and shocked he said that “A zero grade point average is what I deserved, no question about it” he thought that he must change and succeed. My first semester in Syracuse University I failed two classes and they were my major’s courses. I felt that I am a failure and I had those feeli... ... middle of paper ... ...se is wrong and no body would like me. Furthermore, I used to skip school just because I did not want people to see me. It was a huge struggle to me but I managed to lose weight just to feel good about myself. In my opinion, people should not be judged by their looks and everybody should be happy about themselves. Clothing should not be a reason to fail or the physical look. All in all, I learned a lot of information about the self from the first chapter and linking it with my life experiences. Although some people might be still struggling with being successful, confusions, and self-esteem they should all trust and be proud about themselves. People might think that there is no time to fix something but they should deeply think about the consequences and they will fix what ever they want. Failing, struggling, and appearance should not affect self-esteem after all.

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