Sure You Can Ask Me A Personal Question By Diane Burns

Everyone faces all types of identity crisis, but barely anyone knows where their identity comes from. We’d like to assume it doesn't matter when it comes to identity, but it actually makes up identity itself. While it may seem that a person's identity is defined by his/her actions, it is actually true that a person's identity is defined by his/her culture and traditions made up of their childhood, celebrations, and morals.

In Sure You Can Ask Me a Personal Question by Diane Burns, the majority of people may think that a person’s identity is defined by her/her actions, and it is understood that their actions can play a part of their identity, but it doesn't actually define his/her identity. Diane

Burns depicts her experience through poetry in

“ How do you do? / No, I am not Chinese. / No, not Spanish. /

No, I am American Indi—uh, Native American. / No, not from India. / No, not Apache / No, not

Navajo. / No, not Sioux. / No, we are not extinct. / Yes, Indian “ (Burns). Diane Burns poetry portrays a situation in which she’s been through. As a Native American, she’s prudent with whom she is talking to. Her experience she depicts creates a lesson showing that her race is what people confer about. Her identity as a Native American defines her as a person hence her morals explaining her encounter.

In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, many may argue

Wortman 2 that a person’s childhood can not define a person’s identity, but Sherman Alexie proves otherwise by sharing a part of his childhood, and how he came to accept it as part of his identity.

“I was born with water on the brain. Okay, so that's not exactly true. I was actually born with too much cerebral spinal fluid inside my skull. But cerebral spinal fluid is just the doctors' fancy way of saying brain grease…. But that makes the whole thing sound weirdo and funny, like my brain was a giant French fry, so it seems more serious and poetic and accurate to say, "I was born

Since William Sherman was born with water on the brain, he didn’t progress like a normal child. Aside from having water on the brain, he also had a lot of seizures, in which he took on a stutter and a lisp. As he was growing up he drew, learned to write, and then he wrote a book. His childhood was very hard but he used his condition to flourish in the art of literature.

Celebrations are not considered as part of a person’s identity, but it is their actions that define a person’s identity, is what most people like to think. People think that celebrating is just celebrating and it’s what people do in life, but it’s also a tradition that people do so continuously that it becomes part of their identity. It’s part of their everyday life, and at a point it helps to contribute and build up their identity. An example of a situation is my life when I was growing up. As a child, I grew up in a house of poorness. We never really celebrated any holiday, nor did we celebrate our birthdays. Instead of celebrating, we had a tradition of helping other people out, and so I grew up learning that I should help people out no matter my circumstances. Practicing this throughout life became a part of my identity, and sometimes I think about how my