“Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams - they all have different names, but they all contained water. Just as religions do - they all contain truths.” (Ali 1). This quote represents the fact that as humans we are all designated on this earth with different names, personalities, and exterior make ups. However, it still does exclude the fact that in the end we are all human beings, just as we are designed to cling on to an idea higher than ourselves. We are also designed to take on perceptions of different truths about society and life itself. In the beginning of our lives we all start out with just a name. This name is what begins the building blocks of our identity and personality. One should consider the questions: "If you did not have a name or title, how would you be able to identify yourself? If you had no name, who would you be?”This is the million-dollar question, did historical figures like Napoleon start out with a great name or did his historical achievements make his name great? Regardless of how we build the identity to our names, our names are still the shoes of our life paths that we were given at birth to either grow into or out of, or wear elegantly and effortlessly like a custom-made pair.
So, how does this idea of identity derived from individual names work with literary characters. This can be compared to the way that parents give names to their newborn baby. The name they choose for this creation of theirs is the way the child be known and identified for the rest of their lives. So they spend weeks and even months looking at the meaning of names in order to the pick the perfect one. The same can be said for the author choosing names for their characters. One particular writer that captures this idea behind the nam...
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... questions: Who are your favorite characters in literature, and what are their surnames? Do they have surname that is rather common or do they have a surname that is quite unique? Why do you think their writers gave them those particular surnames? With regards to the possible answers to these question, is the reason that a writer like J.D Salinger would choose a surname Glass his way of not only conveying a way for his readers to remember this family, but a way to help one remember what arguments about society or other issues that the Salinger used the family to convey in their respected short stories.
Works Cited
Hauser, Thomas. Muhammad Ali: His Life and times. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991. Print.
Huxley, Aldous. Complete Essays, Vol. 3: 1930-1935. Ivan R. Dee, 2001. Print.
Salinger, J.D. Franny and Zooey. New York: Little, Brown And Company, 1961. Print.
Remnick goes into some detail about Ali's private live, including his religious conversion, his connection with Malcolm X, and his brief marriage to and divorce from Sonji Roi. He lets us in behind-the-scenes on some sports-writers, as well as on Norman Mailer, Angelo Dundee (Clay/Ali's trainer), and the bout between world champion Floyd Patterson and contender Sonny Liston. His primary focus, however, is on Clay/Ali's fight with Liston after Liston defeated Patterson.
Emily Omakpokpose McCrary AP Lang – 4 3 December 2017 Create Your Own What influences a person’s identity? Does one get an identity when they are able to differentiate right from wrong, or are they born with it? There is not one thing that gives a person their identity, there are however, many different factors that contribute to one’s identity. From Contemplation in a World of Action written by Thomas Merton, Merton advocates identity by stating that “A person does not simply “receive” his or her identity. Identity is much more than the name or features one is born with.
...ne would find much meaning behind them. In the film, Bound many of the characters names such as Violet, Corky, Caesar and the supporting characters’; Gino and Johnny hold symbolic meanings and its seen throughout the film. Names are what many call “hidden pearls”.
Although the concept of identity is recurrent in our daily lives, it has interpreted in various ways.
In life, people basically know who you are only if they know your identity. But the meaning of identity can be a factor of things that represents who they are based on a person's belief. For some people, their name is their identity. In the article, "Why Should Married Women Change Their Names? Let Men Change Theirs" by Jill Filipovic, the author argues how women, who change their last names to their husband's, consequently lose their "basic marker of their identity" (Filipovic 25). The author makes this argument to question if there is a such thing as family unity if a woman gives up her last name to "[subsume her] own identity into [her] husband's" (Filipovic 26). The author's claims and views on the issue may seem not completely fair since
Identity is very important in a person’s life. It can induce pride or shame, provide a community or provide a way to distinguish one’s self from others. But, where does this identity come from? It is easy to assume we are who we are because of who raised us, but this is not the entire case. Andrew Solomon, author of “Far from the Tree” introduced two different forms of identity, vertical and horizontal. He defines vertical identity as the attributes acquired and shared by the people we are raised by and horizontal identity as the attributes different from those who raised us, but are shared and acquired through a peer community. These two types of identities generally do not intersect and, depending on the circumstance, one can greatly impact
One justifiable meaning of a name is the fact that it changes a person's self esteem.For example, in "Excerpt from Beans Trees" by Barabara Kingsolver, the main character shows emotion on how she wanted to change ,and in the
Even Shakespeare, one of the greatest writers of all time, had trouble answering this age-old question: what’s in a name? Are we defined by our given names, our nicknames, or by our personalities and actions, especially the mistakes we make? Nathaniel Hawthorne explores this idea with the characters in his novel, The Scarlet Letter. In contrast to modern-day Boston, Hawthorne depicts a time period where there were no deadlier sins than the lust for revenge, corruptness(especially in high society), and the overwhelmingly evident act of adultery. Vengefulness is still prominent in today’s society, but there is next to no one who showcases such a need for revenge than Roger Chillingworth. A character that should be virtually sin-free, the sister of Governor Bellingham, Mistress Hibbins, represents corruptness in the form of witchcraft in this Puritan town. There may be no better representation of sin than Hester Prynne, who bears her sin publicly and constantly; Hester embodies sin, physically and mentally. Even from the beginning of the story, it was clear everyone would be affected by Hester’s unforgivable act, especially her betrayed husband; although, he hadn’t been entirely innocent either.
Through out Lawrence Hill's novel names are often linked to identity and have importance for his characters. For example, Aminata's character attaches huge importance to her name. For Aminata it is an inextricable part of her identity. It links her to her homeland and her family. When Chekura says her full African name she is overwhelmed that someone knows her name and describes how this makes her want to live. Having her true name be known is a way of having her identity affirmed and helps her feel connected to her family, home and to Chekura. In fact, Aminata's character defiantly makes reference to her full name, including the name of the town she was born in. Holding onto her name helps her remain connected to the land and people she has left behind and to her own life story and origins. Further underscoring the importance of names in one...
One’s identity is influenced by many things. It’s something that one has a choice of what he wants to become. One has a personal choice as to what identity he possesses; for instance, he can choose what he likes, who he wishes to be friends with, and what he wears. After all, “Fashion is an expression of personal identity” (Latterell 11). Queen Latifah states, “All things start inside your soul and work outward” meaning that it is one’s choice as to what he lets work its way out (Latifah 34). People have even made personal choices that affect their identity by changing their name. Just as Firoozeh Dumas describes in The “F Word”, “Thus I started sixth grade with my new, easy name and life became infinitely simpler” (Dumas 86). People made fun of Dumas’ name, Firoozeh, and thus made her want to change her name to fit in; she changed her identity. An identity is mainly comprised of personal choice.
The literary technique of characterization is often used to create and delineate a human character in a work of literature. When forming a character, writers can use many different methods of characterization. However, there is one method of characterization that speaks volumes about the character and requires no more than a single word - the character's personal name. In many cases, a personal name describes the character by associating him with a certain type of people or with a well known historical figure. Therefore, since the reader learns the character's name first, a personal name is a primary method of characterization; it creates an image in the reader's mind that corresponds with the name of the character. Once this image has been created, all subsequent actions and beliefs of the character are somehow in accordance with this image; otherwise, the character does not seem logical and the reader is not be able to relate to the work. In the novels The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea, by Yukio Mishima, and Wonderful Fool, by Shusako Endo, each author gives one of his characters a personal name that guides the character's actions and beliefs.
An identity is more than just a name. Sometimes an identity is the first thing and possible the only thing a person notices about one or the other. A person's identity can represent their culture, their race and sometimes, even possible their family background. My identity is what represents me. For those who does not know me personally but knows my name, knows my identity. This identity is what people will recognize me as for now and possible for ever.
In his 1971 paper “Personal Identity”, Derek Parfit posits that it is possible and indeed desirable to free important questions from presuppositions about personal identity without losing all that matter. In working out how to do so, Parfit comes to the conclusion that “the question of identity has no importance” (Parfit, 1971, p. 4.2:3). In this essay, I will attempt to show that Parfit’s thesis is a valid one, with positive implications for human behaviour. The first section of the essay will examine the thesis in further detail, and the second will assess how Parfit’s claims fare in the face of criticism. Problems of personal identity generally involve questions about what makes one the person one is and what it takes for the same person to exist at separate times (Olson, 2010).
What is personal identity? This question has been asked and debated by philosophers for centuries. The problem of personal identity is determining what conditions and qualities are necessary and sufficient for a person to exist as the same being at one time as another. Some think personal identity is physical, taking a materialistic perspective believing that bodily continuity or physicality is what makes a person a person with the view that even mental things are caused by some kind of physical occurrence. Others take a more idealist approach with the belief that mental continuity is the sole factor in establishing personal identity holding that physical things are just reflections of the mind. One more perspective on personal identity and the one I will attempt to explain and defend in this paper is that personal identity requires both physical and psychological continuity; my argument is as follows:
Is your name your identity? And if not, is it possible to maintain a stable and truthful inside identity when deprived of all signs of uniqueness such as your own name?