Ansbacher's Identity

Many individuals often aspire to pursue their own aspirations in hopes of achieving greater accomplishments while abandoning their past. However, despite their numerous achievements they may accomplish in the future, individuals are incapable of altering the initial perception others have already formed upon them despite the significant character changes they experience themselves. In the “Prodigal”, Bob Hicok suggests that when individuals aspire to pursue their own personal ambitions and motivations, they will experience an internal feeling of pride and self-satisfaction within themselves but people who thoroughly understand the individual from the past will still perceive him/her the same way as before. It is through the understanding or

Although I can’t specifically relate to Gloria Anzaldúa’s struggle between her languages in “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” I can relate to her “kind of dual identity” in which she identifies with neither Anglo-American cultural values nor Mexican cultural values (1566). Being half white, half Chinese, I struggle identifying as either identity, especially because my mom (who is Chinese) never learned Cantonese and largely became Americanized in her childhood. It’s an uncomfortable position to be in when racial and ethnic identity are so significant in America and when I must interact with the world as part of both the majority and the marginalized. Considering my own struggle and the conflict Anzaldúa describes, it became clearer to me the way race relations in American not only marginalize people of color but train our consciousnesses to damage ourselves. Before I turn back to Anzaldúa, a novel I’ve recently read, William Godwin’s Caleb Williams has also been on my mind, particularly in Godwin’s portrayal of how police surveillance transforms us into agents of our own oppression. Although Caleb is a white man, he also experiences a split consciousness as his values and characteristics are whittled away by the paranoia of constant surveillance.

Some would argue that the difference between an accomplished and unaccomplished person is confidence. Ralph Waldo Emerson certainly upholds this belief throughout his discourse entitled “Self-Reliance,” with the characterization of a man who holds on tight to what he believes in as being the best kind of man. Emerson argues that original and unique thought is necessary for true education and that conformance and perpetuation are the great hindrances to mankind. By putting the very things that he is advocating on display, Emerson’s contention is well-argued to the audience with his use of inclusive language, allusion, and individualized rhetoric. It is this use of confidence by Emerson, that allows his argument to be well-received and seem

Individuals fail in life due to their inability to be true to their emotions. According

Prejudice is a key term that can be related to the main ideas discussed in both essays. The term

Clearly, our psychological well-being is dependent upon how we evaluate our sense of self-worth and he argues that we desire recognition from others to uplift our sense of importance in life. He further provides his own perspective on the psychology of humans and their understanding of the self when he writes, “Rather, such behavior is injurious because it impairs these persons in their positive understanding of self – an understanding acquired by intersubjective means. There can be no meaningful use whatsoever of the concepts of “disrespect” or “insult” were it not for the implicit reference to a subject’s claim to be granted recognition by others…” (111). In this case, he is alluding to the fact that the only way we can uphold a positive understanding of self is through the approval of others and there would not be any significant meaning behind the terms “disrespect” or “insult” if it were not for the sense of rejection we experience when others do not grant us the recognition we desire. In addition, Honneth also describes the three forms of disrespect, (disrespect of physical integrity, denial of rights, and evaluative forms of

Out of these various components, I choose to describe the concept of equipoise. Brooks defines equipoise as the ability have the serenity, to read biases and failures in one’s own mind. He begins by mention the fact that human beings are an overconfident creature, therefore weak when it comes to comprehending our own weaknesses and flaws. To have this ability it’s considered to be a great accomplishment, due to that most people aren’t as capable of seeing clearly inside themselves. In order for someone be aware of their own level of confidence, one must

Emerson describes this idea in “Self-Reliance”. Emerson postulates that “There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide… (line 1).” Emerson explains, “Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist (line 14).” He also directs the reader by adding, “Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world (line 17).” Emerson theorizes that one should not abide by the rules of others and that if one wishes to achieve everlasting greatness, they must rid themself of their feelings of guilt and responsibility. He believes that imitating the actions of others is unhealthy. Edna from Kate Chopin’s The Awakening displays similar patterns of

To Emerson, each individual possesses their own intelligence, however, “the whole character and fortune of the individual can be affected by the least inequalities in the culture of the understanding”, which can cause insecurities within the individual (Nature 505). He claims that “every great man is unique, and each man has their own gift,” which if presented solely by the specific individual, the gift is completely possessed instead of having only half possession because it is a third party idea (“Self Reliance” 533, 547).

Lord of the Flies, an allegorical novel by William Golding, holds truths about mankind’s true nature of existence. The novel explores the savagery in all men that lies dormant, yet when society’s rules cease to exist, the boy’s innocence perishes along with it. The boys attempt to band together and mock the society that they came from, but not understanding the complexity of the situation, results in their society falling into ruins. On the island the boys are returned to man’s primitive nature, without rules or discipline, and they slowly drift into anarchy. Without proper guidance, the boys resort to cloaking their innocence with body paint to survive. With the body paint coating their skin, the boys bury their old personas within and allow themselves to commit acts that society would frown upon. When Jack’s tribe uses the facade of body paint to dissociate themselves from civilization’s morals, they denote that hiding one’s true identity liberates them from the constraints of society.

James McBride has always struggled with his race and identity. Growing up with twelve brothers and sisters, both father figures in his life have passed away, and a white mother in a predominantly black community. In a time where being black is not so good. McBride never had it easy in his life. A lot of tragedy and self-discovery and acceptance had to happen in his life. Growing up in a time where all your heroes are white, in a school where you are just a joke and someone to pick on, and then trying to discover a part of your mother and yourself at the same time.

This book is divided into three parts. The first, 'Emotional Strategies: An Existentialist Perspective ' observes in some detail the ways in which we engage the world through sixteen different emotions, with several of their permutations. Following Heidegger; who believes that emotions tunes us to the world and Sartre; who reasons that emotions have a purpose, Solomon claims that we are responsible for our emotions. This coincides with the fundamental Stoic insight that we “are” our emotions. Aristotle discussed certain emotions at length, notably anger, which he described in remarkably modern terms. Commonly classified as a basic negative and destructive emotion, emotional reactions can usefully be read as, and ultimately even identified with, strategies we adopt as a way of dealing with the challenges of our lives- for example, prompting us to fight for justice and protecting our rights. Thus even

In fact, people who are prejudiced believe they are more superior than their targets. The superior often think of themselves as liberating the inferior. Initially, the superior think they are turning ‘barbaric’ people into ‘cultured’ people.

Orwell’s writings are most identifiable by the idea that a sense of pride in one’s actions and thoughts

In fact, this theory proposes that, “to live is to feel inferior” (Mosak 1995). However, when the individual begins to act inferior rather than feel inferior, the individual is engaging in “discouragement” or the inferiority complex (Mosak 1995). “To oversimplify, the inferiority feeling is universal and ‘normal’; the inferiority complex reflects the discouragement of a limited segment of our society and is usually ‘abnormal’” (Mosak 1995). This theory views the healthy and “ideal” individual as one who engages in life experiences with confidence and optimism. “There is a sense of belonging and contributing, the ‘courage to be imperfect,’ and the serene knowledge that one can be acceptable to others, although imperfect” (Mosak 1995).