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Personal identity and Self Identity
An Essay Regarding Self-Identity
Personal identity and Self Identity
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How would somebody be able to function after losing a job and a family member all at once? Sherman Alexie’s short story, “This is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona,” demonstrates the importance of having past relationships to aid in self-identification. Victor, the main character, is responsible to get his father’s remains, however, his father was not part of his childhood. In addition, he lost his job at the Bureau of Indian Affairs. His cousin, Thomas tags along to give him the ability to look back on his past. While Victor lost his job and father, he is able to mature and gain a new understanding of himself. With the loss of a job and his father, this renders him in a weaken state of doubt. While his father did not play a major role in his life, "there still was a genetic pain, which was soon to be pain as real and immediate as a broken bone” (511). This illustrates there is still some sort of connection with family at the core, regardless of how little contact there have been between him and his father. In …show more content…
Victor finally accepts the fact that his father is gone; “He searched his mind for memories of his father, found the good ones, found a few bad ones, added it all up, and smiled” (516). This illustrates to the reader that he gains forgiveness and acceptance of his father’s death. Furthermore, Thomas plays a huge role in the development of Victor. Though Thomas’s stories often annoy Victor, he gives a specific story that makes Victor realize his father’s intentions. Thomas goes on to explain a story that was actually a dream with Victor’s father, Arnold. He was “waiting for a vision,” or a sign from the dream. Victor’s dad explains to Thomas, “Take care of each other” (516). This definitely marks the turning point for Victor because no matter what issues come his way back home, he grows into a different person, in comparison to the beginning of the
father “Your son was a ballplayer, wasn’t he? He didn’t have any missing parts, did he?” Mack sits on the edge of the roof as “The pain sat between them even as the rain beat down.” This demonstrates that Mack doesn’t think that he’ll ever heal and become the person he was before. Mack believes that he had let everyone down by not being the successful person he was before. He feels as if he will never reach people’s expectations of him now because of the tragedy.
As a young kid, Victor looked up to his father but also had problems with his father. While he loved his dad, Arnold could be abusive to both Victor and Victor’s mother. One scene in the movie, Arnold asks Victor to give him a drink from the cooler, Victor drops the drink and it spills all over the floor of the truck. Arnold in some ways yells at Victor and slaps/ hits Victor in the face for dropping the drink. Also throughout young Victors life, you can see his father and mother losing themselves to alcohol, and to take out his anger, young Victor goes outside and starts throwing thing at something his dad loves and the thing that he experiences pain in, the dads pick-up truck. Victor lets his anger go during the night while his parents are passed out from all the drinking they did at the party earlier that night. I think that during that moment, Victor wanted to show how tough he was but also that he was tired of seeing his parents drink and not being themselves. I think that the pick-up truck during that time represents Victor trying to stand up to his dad while showing that he could be tough too.
When he writes, “I went to look for him, but at the same moment this thought came into my mind, “Don’t let me find him! If only I could get rid of this dead weight, so that I could use all my strength to struggle for my own survival, and only worry about myself”” (pg.101) This is one of the first times you see that the way he has changed mentally because in the beginning of the story, the only thing he cared about was keeping up with his father. This shows that he really doesn’t care about anything besides own survival anymore. Later when his father dies he writes “I did not weep, and it pained me that I could not weep … And, in the depths of my being in the recesses of my weakened conscience, could I have searched it, I might find something like – Free at last!” In this you see that he thought of his father like he was a burden and that he was happy he no longer had to look after him. Also he says that he could not weep over his father’s death when his father used to be the only thing that kept him going, and he never wanted to be separated from his
In “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix Arizona”, Victor has become psychologically troubled because he has put his own traditions behind. Throughout the story, the readers find out that Victor has an internal conflict due to the unhealthy relationships in his life. His father abandons him at a very young age, which causes Victor’s loss of guidance and self-identity. The day that Victor’s father abandons his family, Victor gets “really drunk and beat[s] Thomas up for no apparent reason at all”(276).
It is in his desire to be beheld as godlike only logical: “did [he] not, as his maker, owe him all the portion of happiness that is in [his] power to bestow?” (157). He saw this opportunity not only as a way to finally rid himself of the monster, but also extricate himself from his family: “I was delighted at the idea of spending a year or two in a change of scene…” (163). However, he cannot abide by the promise because it is not something he can easily ignore or run away from. Thus, Victor breaks his promise in a most dramatic fashion: “I thought with a sensation of madness on my promise of creating another like to him, and, trembling with passion, tore to pieces the thing on which I was engaged” (175). This act temporarily rids him of the unwanted responsibility, but catapults him into a dependency upon the monster. This dependency is strengthened after Elizabeth’s death, demonstrated by the seemingly endless and nonsensical journey the monster leads Victor on. The monster captivates Victor, and keeps him engaged in the chase; even assuring his health by providing him with sustenance and guiding his path by leaving “marks in writing on the barks of the trees, or cut in stone” as to not let him be led astray or lost
...s not to himself physically but psychologically. Victor has to adjust to the deaths of his best friend, youngest brother, alluring cousin and a well respected father. His obsession isolates him from his surroundings and the result of this isolations is only more isolation and sorrow. At the end of the novel, Victor has no motivation or ability to continue his work and he realizes that his high hopes about his status in the world of tomorrow have failed.
Growing up, Victor and Thomas didn’t get a long so well. Thomas was often annoying and Victor just wanted to be left alone. Thomas often talked of Arnold and Victor never wanted to talk about his deserted father. The last thing that Victor wanted to do was talk about the father that bailed on...
A reckless abandonment cost Victor and others, their lives. The Creation killed everyone Victor loved as vengeance for his treatment and isolation. Nevertheless, Victor chose to keep his knowledge of his own doing a secret and watched in guilt as many people, including his own family, died. Victor’s ignorance becomes the
Victor’s father left his family because according to Thomas, “when they were seven years old, when Victor’s father still lived with the family, Thomas closed his eyes and told Victor this story: your father’s heart is weak. He is afraid of his own family, he is afraid of you. Late at night he sits in the dark. Watches the television until there’s nothing but white noise. Sometimes he feels like he wants to buy a motorcycle and ride away. He wants to run and hide. He doesn’t want to be found” (512). When Victor’s father left, he never truly forgave him. Readers know that because of the details told at the beginning of the story and through the quote that was used in the second paragraph. Although he felt some resentment towards his father, he still felt obligated to bring him back to the reservation. That is where the theme of family comes into the story. Victor’s father died in his hot trailer and was not found for at least a week. Victor knew the trailer his father was staying had to have smelt ripe. But he did not care, as explained in the story, he says,“but there might be something valuable in there and I was talking about pictures and letters and stuff like that” (515). The trip that Victor made to Phoenix was a family journey. That long trip had taught Victor about himself and most importantly about his father. The grief that was bottled up inside was finally being put to rest now
Victor’s father’s death would be tougher on Victor than William’s, Henry’s, and Elizabeth’s death because they communicated more emotionally with each other then other characters. “What then become of me? I know not; I lost sensation, and chains and darkness were the only objects that pressed upon me.” (Shelley, 189) This quote depicts the lack of sensation Victor faces after the death of his father.
Everything starts to change once Victors ambitions become his life. He leaves to study at Ingolstadt, where his destiny begins to unfold. This is when Victor’s isolation begins. The search for the secrets of life consumes him for many years until he thinks he has found it. For months, he assembles what he needs for his creation to come alive.
Sherman Alexie, author of “This is what it means to say Phoenix, Arizona” has shared her fruitful ideas about the true meaning of friendship. Victor, the core person of the story faced many issues. He is a young individual, having an Indian origin. He is aware of his Dad who died in Phoenix. Victor planned for Phoenix, for closing his Dad’s account and picking up his ashes, but due to being jobless, he felt short of finances to travel to Phoenix. Thomas is another important character of the story. Both Victor and Thomas were a good companions in their childhood. Thomas was famous for telling tales, but since he kept on repeating the same tales, people were not
With the different trips that Victor endures individually, it hints a sense of individuality as he seeks isolation from the world. He is also a very emotional man, who loves his family. As death of his family members occurs, he becomes emotionally unstable and seeks revenge against his creation. Ultimately trying to end the life he so vigorously wanted to create. This reflects both the passion and individualism theme from the Romantic
In life, everyone experiences a time of hardship, and for the most part, those affected find methods of overcoming the adversity. The idea of getting through hardship is best reflected in; Sherman J. Alexie’s story “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona” (274). In the story, victor whose father had recently died from a heart attack has to travel to phoenix Arizona to reclaim his father’s ashes and his truck. Victor is joined by his former childhood friend “Thomas Builds-the-fire”, who finances the trip to phoenix since Victor did not have the means. They drove back truck from phoenix to the reservation. Throughout the trip, Thomas is always telling stories mostly reminiscing about their childhood. It is through Thomas stories that we learn much about Victor’s father. Through the use of symbolism, and character development, Alexie conveys the idea that, when someone is experiencing an adversity, reconnecting and embracing the past may lead to a discovery of a brighter future.
Imagine growing up without a father. Imagine a little girl who can’t run to him for protection when things go wrong, no one to comfort her when a boy breaks her heart, or to be there for every monumental occasion in her life. Experiencing the death of a parent will leave a hole in the child’s heart that can never be filled. I lost my father at the young of five, and every moment since then has impacted me deeply. A child has to grasp the few and precious recollections that they have experienced with the parent, and never forget them, because that’s all they will ever have. Families will never be as whole, nor will they forget the anguish that has been inflicted upon them. Therefore, the sudden death of a parent has lasting effects on those