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 …show more content…
. . social and legal bonds [are formed] out of love and loyalty instead of defining family as a group coalesced under . . . a singular name" (28). Filipovic says this to suggest to her audience that there is no need for one name to define a family because there still can be unity in the family. There can also be family unity when there is an agreement between both the woman and her husband for the family name and where the woman has the choice of choosing. If the idea of changing the last name becomes too difficult for the woman or her husband, they should be able to agree upon a new last name or hyphenate their two last names. There is no family unity if the woman is not able to keep her last name if she wishes to or have a chance to discuss about it. Therefore, the idea of a woman changing her last name is truly up to her. Each women has a personal belief when it comes to last names. Some may change theirs and some may not be so willing. Filipovic may have been rather biased on the issue but she was able to provide reasonable understanding of why a change in a woman's last name can be so significant for some women in this era. There are many reasons to keep or change a last name but in the end it all boils down to a woman's belief on what she considers to be the factors of her
The two that are more of negative ways to resolve identity are foreclosure and diffusion. Foreclosure is when a commitment is made but one has not explored their options. Almost as their life is predestined. An example of foreclosure in Step Brother was after Brennan went through the MAMA period. Things did not work out in the job market so his brother hired him to work for his company. Brennan’s mother suggested this at the beginning of Brennan’s job hunt, but he did not aspire to work for his brother. Now diffusion is where one has made no commitments and has not even tried to explore their options. One in diffusion is simply just drifting through life. A prime example of diffusion was Brennan and Dale. Before the fight happened these two were living off mom and dad, they did not consider entering the workforce so they did not recognize it as an immediate problem. As one can grasp Eric Ericson’s theories are definitely predominant throughout this
According to the Merriam Webster, identity is the “sameness of essential or generic character in different instances” (Merriam Webster). An identity can be the qualities or beliefs that make a person different from another, but it is also the thing that connects them. A man’s identity stays with him “for the rest of his life” and is something that “[can] not change much” (O’Hara 202, 193). Identity is who one is born to, what one thinks, what one says, and what one does; John O’Hara and F. Scott Fitzgerald both utilize the theme of identity in describing the lives and actions of the central characters Julian English and Dick Diver in their novels, Appointment in Samarra and Tender is the Night. Discovering their individual identities is a journey for both men, and on their journey to self-discovery the men believe that by fixing their lives they will discover their identity. Both Julian and Dick struggle to maintain perfect order in their lives by controlling fate, but their ancestral obligations lead to self-destruction and inevitable downfall. While Diver commits social suicide, English commits actual suicide, and the two seal their fates the second they try to change their journey. Sigmund Freud’s Oedipus complex is a feeling of sexual attracting of a child toward their parent; the fixation towards one’s father or mother can lead to choices of sexual partners or spouses that resemble the parent. The wives of Julian English and Dick Diver, Caroline and Nicole, marry their husbands because of their fatherly personas, and Caroline and Nicole’s own incestuous pasts shape and control their relationships with Julian and Dick. The superficiality of English and Diver and their inability to realize who they are lead to a need to contro...
Although the concept of identity is recurrent in our daily lives, it has interpreted in various ways.
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.
In the article “The Name Is Mine” by Anna Quindlen, she explains her story about her name, why she chose to keep it, and why it has such meaning to her. As a result of keeping her maiden name, there were many positive and negative aspects that went along with it.
In different areas across the globe, names exist as a fairly standard means of identification between individuals. However, many different cultures use very unique naming systems to identify themselves and those around them. In Charles MacDonald’s article “Can personal names be translated?”, the author tells a short story about a Bengali boy that struggles with his own name, but eventually goes on to realize its true meaning after speaking to his father about it. In order to gain some initial insight on my own name, I did the same and asked my parents what my given names meant and why they were given to me. After some time pondering my own name(s) and the naming system I belong to, I gained some great insight on the significance of my own name. As MacDonald explains, my name, and everyone else’s, exists as a function of a cultural naming system, and this system has essentially determined that
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.
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:
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.
In today's world, society creates an impact on human life. More of an impact can be seen among family and peers. They can be found at home, work, and school. At home with family, identity can be created on the difference of having one parent, divorced or separated parents, no parents, abusive parents, or even negligent parents. For example, children who grow up without a father or mother figure tend to become more independent at an early stage. Another example is where certain experiences within the family such as constantly witnessing parents argue can cause one's identity to be confined and distant. But, some people shape their identity similar to their parents. Such as a son became a soldier in the army because his father was in the army. Siblings, if any, are also an influence on the social identity of a person. They either become your friend, mentor, or you...
...can go through an entire lifetime and not really know how to define their own identity. In many cases people suffer through a great crisis to discover who they really are. If someone doesn?t know the meaning of their own identity, how can society apply a definition to the word? It leaves people to ponder whether or not there are some feelings and parts of life that simply cannot be explained. When defining the word identity scholars and common men alike must agree to disagree. It is a word so diverse in context that it is seemingly impossible to take it down to a simplified definition. There are some things in life that just aren?t meant to be completely understood, and one?s identity is among these things. Not until a person has a lived out their live could they sit down and tell you how their adventure has shaped them into the person they became in the end.
The tradition of women taking a husband’s last name is fairly new. This tradition arose in the 1970’s. Before the 1970’s, women were referred to as the mistress of the said husband. This was due to the fact that it was assumed that the husband would take care of finance and business. Although, about 50 to 90 years ago, women became upset with being treated as property. Due to this, they began taking their husband’s last name, this didn’t come into play until the 1970’s though. I believe women should take their husband’s last name. When a woman doesn’t take the husband’s last name, her usual argument is because it strips her personal identity. This argument is not true. I believe women should take the husband’s last name because it shows a connection to family, it’s less confusing for children, it shows unity, there are less misunderstandings and business transactions are generally easier.
Debra Rosenberg wrote an article titled, “(Rethinking) Gender” and it was in the Newsweek magazine on May 21st 2007. Her purpose in writing this article was to persuade the reader to re-evaluate the definition and characteristics of gender. Rosenberg persuades the reader by telling stories of people who have questioned the gender that they were born with and changed their gender, thus rethinking their gender. Rosenberg received her received her Master’s degree from Columbia University in journalism. From 2001 to 2004 Rosenberg was an editor for Newsweek and specialized in social issues that involved the supreme court, such as gay marriage and rights of abortion. Rosenberg was the national correspondent and wrote about the second term of former President
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, a family is "a group of two or more people who reside together and who are related by birth, marriage, or adoption.” (Eutk). In the beginning, family was considered to be all of the individuals who contributed to the household as far as bringing in money; including servants and non-parental adults, who are also considered part of the family if they play a large role in the upbringing or care-taking of children other than their own. But in fact, over the last few centuries until present day, the institution of the family has completely changed. In the late-18th Century, marriage was considered just a union based on love, but as time passed, there were other financial, social, and political shifts in the United States and in other countries. Throughout our course readings in Gender Studies, we see the ideas of continuity and change in regards to the American family unit. There were multiple factors that influenced the institution of the family unit, including the argument that marriage was seen as a contract of survival, the privatization of marriage, as well as the idea that traditional families never existed.
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?