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Identity And Identity

Good Essays

Throughout history, one important question has stood out to us as a species: what defines us? What makes a person who they are? Is it the way we look or act, or even what we eat? Andy Hinds, author of his own blog Beta Dad and contributor to the New York Times blog Motherlode categorizes his identity not by what he eats or wears, but by his differences from societal norms, namely his disinterest in sports. Likewise, Larry Lehna, University of Michigan-Dearborn graduate and accomplished author of an autobiography, uses his experiences after getting out of prison to portray how the change his environment and the views of others affected who he was. In a similar way, Dana Canedy, author of A Journal for Jordan; A Story of Love and Honor and editor at the New York Times, attempts to explain to her son the importance of embracing his culture and the dangers of rejecting it. These authors display the universal truth that identity is shaped by societal views, environment, and family history.
To begin, the views of society are often monumental in the moulding of one’s identity. Hinds has felt the societal pressures first hand in the form of sports-shaming. Hinds, raised far from the influences of any sports team, never really got into sports. As an adult, this has caused him many awkward encounters of trying to go along with it or having to inform people of his disinterest in sports. He recalls one such encounter of talking to his “...neighbor, a sports obsessed gay guy, [who] had

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