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How does society influence our identity and the choices we make
Influence of society on identity
Influence of society on identity
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There is no single criterion that provides a necessary basis for identity, and neither is there a threshold, a critical mass of sufficient conditions. It is possible to assume that because “a” happened to a person, and “b” happened to the same person that he or she is a “c”-type person; however, it’s impossible to make up a definition which covers all that there is about identity. In the novel I am a Martinican Woman by Mayotte Capecia, the reader sees the main character, Mayotte, hopelessly striving to find a static definition of her identity. Mayotte has a need to feel anchored in something that she can define herself as, yet at the very same time, she feels torn between who she is and what she needs in life. These contrasting feelings only lead to the exaggeration of Mayotte’s emotions through her thoughts and actions, and her lack of identity becomes magnified to the reader. By analyzing the theme of racial identity and the strong presence of patriarchal structures within the Martinican society, one is able to see the difficulty in Mayotte finding a separate identity for herself.
Throughout the novel, Mayotte denigrates blacks, when, in fact, she is partially black. At the very beginning of the novel she depersonalizes herself from the “groups of young black girls” that carry baskets filled with food on their heads (Capecia, 34). Mayotte observes them and their graceful manner, but in no way associates herself with them, and even ventures to describe the crude details of how the girls stopped “to [meet] a need right there on the path; after which, she would simply wipe herself with her skirt and go on her way”(Capecia, 34). After her mother tells Mayotte the story about her grandmother, she expresses how proud she is that she had a white grandmother, yet she ventures to ask “How could a Canadian woman have loved a Martinican?”(Capecia, 63). She is amazed, it seems, that a white woman would stoop to marry a black man. Mayotte specifically states that a “grandmother was less commonplace than a white grandfather”(Capecia, 62).Here, it is evident, that Mayotte sees blacks as inferior. But at the same time, she is partially black. Many critics see this as an expression of the “lactification complex,”or the mind frame of idolizing whites as well as a desire to be white, that silently existed within not only Martinican society, but also throughout the Caribbean (CLA, 260).
Although the concept of identity is recurrent in our daily lives, it has interpreted in various ways.
In order to better understand the different kinds of identity or how it is modified over time, it is important to analyze some texts. “The Myth of the Latin Woman” by Cofer and the two episodes of In treatment Season One, Week one: “Alex” and “Sophie” are going to provide a base to discuss identity problems or diffusions in this essay. When the characters are deeply analyzed, readers will notice how various social frameworks have influenced them. Culture, education and interaction with different social groups are factors that induce the formation of these people’s personalities. All these characters are seen from different per...
Lintner, Bertil. The resistance of the monks: Buddhism and activism in Burma. New York, NY: .
Voltaire ridicules the monarchy by expressing the aftermath of the senseless wars and killing of innocent people mandated by the kings. The constant war between the Bulgars and the Abares is immediately brought up in Candide which proves its significance to Voltaire’s argument. The war is characterized by the death that had a “total [that] may well have risen to thirty thousand souls” (Voltaire 20). Voltaire introduces the reader into a very detailed setting where there were “girls who had been disemboweled after satisfying the natural needs of several heroes [who] were breathing their last sighs” (Voltaire 21). Voltaire calls the soldiers that are essentially raping women “heroes” to...
Race, gender and sexuality have complex intersections; race decides how gender, sexual orientation and other aspects of identification are experienced, developed and practiced. Identity can be understood as a fragmentary sense of self that undergoes constant change. In Zami: A New Spelling of My Name, Trace Elements of Random Tea Parties and The Rain God, the main characters forge plural identities by becoming aware of their ethnic and cultural heritages while discovering personally relevant sexual orientation labels, then reaching out and connecting to that specific community in some way. Instead of identifying a ‘true’ lesbian, Chicano or African-American identity, this paper will explore a process of self-definition that is multifaceted and challenges a monolithic form of identity, creating a hybrid sense of self with the possibility to access different spheres that provides the characters in these texts with new perspectives. Audre Lorde, Miguel Chico and Leticia Marisol Estrella Torez exist in a space that is in-between two worlds, but by integrating elements of their cultures and adapting them to their individual present circumstances, they are able to disrupt rigid sexual and racial categories and enable the formation of polymorphous identities which are subject to constant change.
The public demand for alcohol led to a soaring business for bootleggers. When prohibition began, people immediately wanted a way to drink. Therefore, the profitable bootlegging business was born. Before Prohibition gangs existed, but had little influence. Now, they had gained tremendous power almost overnight. Bootlegging was easy; some gangs even paid hundreds of poor immigrants to maintain stills in their apartments. Common citizens, once law abiding, now became criminals by making their own alcohol. However, this forced risks for those who made their own. The less fortunate Americans consumed homemade alcoholic beverages that were sometimes made with wood alcohol. In return, many died due to alcohol poisoning.
This personal narrative is attained only because of the important role History plays in tying these factors together. In order for one to relate identity to difference using the dialogical method, he/she must “position [themselves] somewhere in order to say anything at all.” This position is attained through an understanding of history; a history which...
Genocide is the “deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.” (Dictionary.com, 2010) In 1924, after World War I, Belgian colonists entered Rwanda and allowed the Tutsi dynasty to remain in power. However, after World War II concepts of right and wrong changed. Since the Belgians had been favouring the Tutsis, this change in ethics caused the Belgians to have compassion on the Hutus and promote the Hutu cause, creating tension. (Thompson, 2007) It was the Belgians who cre...
Butcher, M. (August 2003). “Who is Maori? Who is Pakeha?” In North &South Magazine. New Zealand.
Various schools of thought exist as to why genocide continues at this deplorable rate and what must be done in order to uphold our promise. There are those who believe it is inaction by the international community which allows for massacres and tragedies to occur - equating apathy or neutrality with complicity to evil. Although other nations may play a part in the solution to genocide, the absolute reliance on others is part of the problem. No one nation or group of nations can be given such a respo...
These attacks are cited to have their roots in religious, ethnic and economic disparities between the majority Buddhist population, and the minority Rohingya . Arendt argues that the constitutional inability of the nation state to guarantee human rights to minorities, makes it possible for the persecuting governments to impose their standard of values even upon their opponents . By denying the Rohingya official citizenship and refusing to recognize them as one of the country’s 135 official ethnic groups, the government of Myanmar has come to view them as illegal immigrants. Denying the ethnic group, the right to vote or travel without government permission, is framed as a national security decision – why would the government allow illegal immigrants to access the same privileges as their legal citizens? The protection of national sovereignty is favored over the protection of human rights; and unfortunately, human life in certain extreme
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 identity? Identity is an unbound formation which is created by racial construction and gender construction within an individual’s society even though it is often seen as a controlled piece of oneself. In Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum’s piece, “The Complexity of Identity: ‘Who Am I?’, Tatum asserts that identity is formed by “individual characteristics, family dynamics, historical factors, and social and political contexts” (Tatum 105). Tatum’s piece, “The Complexity of Identity: ‘Who Am I?’” creates a better understanding of how major obstacles such as racism and sexism shape our self identity.
Identity is a state of mind in which someone recognizes/identifies their character traits that leads to finding out who they are and what they do and not that of someone else. In other words it's basically who you are and what you define yourself as being. The theme of identity is often expressed in books/novels or basically any other piece of literature so that the reader can intrigue themselves and relate to the characters and their emotions. It's useful in helping readers understand that a person's state of mind is full of arduous thoughts about who they are and what they want to be. People can try to modify their identity as much as they want but that can never change. The theme of identity is a very strenuous topic to understand but yet very interesting if understood. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez and Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki are two remarkable books that depict the identity theme. They both have to deal with people that have an identity that they've tried to alter in order to become more at ease in the society they belong to. The families in these books are from a certain country from which they're forced to immigrate into the United States due to certain circumstances. This causes young people in the family trauma and they must try to sometimes change in order to maintain a comfortable life. Both authors: Alvarez and Houston have written their novels Is such an exemplifying matter that identity can be clearly depicted within characters as a way in adjusting to their new lives.
Despite the fact that the Rohingya have been settled in Myanmar since 15th century, According to the council on Foreign Relations, the government takes the position that they are not native to Myanmar. They see the Rohingya as foreigners who traveled to the region during British occupation for work, and while many did come during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, a vast majority had already been settled for centuries. Recently, it has come to the attention of the global community that the government of Myanmar has enacted violence against these people and their communities, leaving many to flee into neighboring Bangladesh. There has been much debate over whether or not the actions of the government of Myanmar towards these people could be classified as a genocide. With the help of increasing media coverage, more countries are acknowledging the issues that the Rohingya face, although the term genocide has not yet been placed officially on the events. This is all despite the fact that the goals of these actions is very clearly to rid Myanmar of these people, either by killing them or