Identity in Linda Hogan’s Poems "The Truth Is" and "Tear"

There has always existed an innate human craving for identity. In truth, identity is not solely definable through essential or generic characteristics. Identity is an amalgamation of many contingent components, perhaps the most fundamental being heritage. Achieving self-acquisition entails intertwining both forces of heredity and environment, but this task is made increasing difficult when the individual resides outside mainstream society. Coming from a mixed ancestry furthers this difficulty, especially when those ancestries stem from adversarial historical association. This essential struggle for identity pertains directly to the context of Linda Hogan’s poems “The Truth Is” and “Tear”. Hogan’s poems draw upon the basic human need of self-image, showing the two ends demonstrating human perseverance.

On the most basic level, Hogan’s poems lead themselves to personal interpretations of conception and expression. Opening with lines so broadly relatable, such as “It was a time before / I was born. / I was thin. / I was hungry. I was / only a restlessness inside a woman’s body” (“Tear” 1-5) Hogan succeeds draws the reader into that world of hunger, of desperation, and of uncertainty for nothing is quite as captivating as the human experience. From the very beginning, the reader relates and sees personal experiences within her woven words. Relating to the emotions premating off her memories takes down a barrier as connections are made across individuals. However, it is apparent her words are digging at something else as well. This desperation cannot be assumed results from only extrinsic influence. The depth of Hogan’s words reach deeper, past the external, the hardened barriers warped through imbalanced privilege and hi...

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... acts as the unifying thread among all people. In “The Truth Is” the speaker wrestles with the inner struggle of being torn between two incompatible backgrounds. In her effort to wash out her painful American historical past, she forgets and loss a part of herself. In replacement of amnesty, Hogan approaches the acquisition of self-discovery through the acceptance of truths and separate cultures within “Tear”. Only then is the speaker able to bridge the gap between the conflicting personalities that remain inside her. By ignoring the role heritage plays in molding and shaping beliefs, values, and morals the speaker in “The Truth Is” never appears to come to means of acceptance of herself. Identity is created through various aspects of environment and heredity, in order to find peace within them, both Hogan’s poems stress the concept of acceptance of the past.