Toni Names

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Recommended: How culture affects self identity

“Identity cannot be found or fabricated but emerges from within when one has the courage to let go.” (by Doug Cooper.) Some people assume the identity of a person could be changed by the surrounding conflicts. Others think identities may never change. Whatever the truth is, identities are masks with a person’s thoughts and personalities put into them. Sometimes, identities can be lost or redefined. War of the Wall by Toni Cade Bambara and Names/Nombres by Julia Alvarez shows how identities are portrayed in the real world. Both texts involve the loss or redefinition of one’s identity. War of the Wall, by Toni Cade Bambara, is a touching story that revolves around the identities of a community in the South, its people, and a stranger that comes to visit. There’s a brick wall that supposedly belonged to the kids on Taliaferro Street. It had an emotional attachment to the kids because they carved out the name “Jimmy Lyon” when their friend died in the army, and because of all the fun they had with the wall. When a stranger comes to paint the wall, the kids …show more content…

The minute they stepped into New York City, their identities dissolved immediately. Her mother was called Missus Alburest and Julia was called little girl. The father was Mister Alberase. At Julia’s new school, her classmates called her Judy, Judith, Juliet, and many other mispronounced versions of her name. After a while, Julia began to get used to the new identities that the people around her life gave to her family. She was known as the popular, foreign kid. Her sister was the pale, blond, ‘American beauty’ in the family. Her extended family consisted of a bunch of noisy, fat, and embarrassing aunts. Despite all the new names and the wish to fit in, Julia finally decides to not mind the masks that the people gave her and her family and live up to her real

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