Identity And Identity

“Who is to say that robbing people of its language is less violent than war?” Ray Gwyn Smith. I’ve always had this struggle with my identity because I am Mexican and American. I grew up speaking Spanish and English, and was always being policed on what language I was allowed to speak. If I was with my parents they only wanted me to speak in Spanish and when I was at school I was actually forced to only speak English. Gloria Anzaldua writes about the struggles Mexican Americans have in America within our own community and within the “American” standards. Langue is a part of our culture it’s how we begin to communicate with those around us. In this article she explains how Chicanos express themselves through language, we speak different English than White Americans and we speak different Spanish than Mexicans. We get criticized by both for speaking incorrectly; I think it’s important to shine light on the oppression of language in today’s life and how it affects our culture. I will discuss how our culture and language shapes our identity but there can be many obstacles oppressing the way you express yourself from within our own Chicano community and within white American community.

As a Mexican-American it was a task for me as a child to learn two languages at once. I remember my first day of school hearing my classmates speaking English and not understanding a single word of it. To me, it mostly sounded like gibberish. I was entered in the ESL (English as a Second Language) program to improve my English. It was a struggle to learn to read in English. My teachers would tell me to read to a parent for homework, so I’d go home and read to my mom. Reading with my mom was difficult for me because she didn’t understand English. I wasn’t sure if I was reading precisely because I never had anyone to correct me and my mistakes. There were moments when I didn’t know how to say a word. I would sound out every little letter, trying to figure it out by myself, because my mom was unable to help me. My parents weren’t able to assist me because of the amount of education they had and didn’t understand English. Even though they had the desire to help me with school work, I knew I had to learn to become independent in order to maintain decent grades. It was my responsibility to achieve my own goals by working hard.

The children in these families try to adapt to the American society, but with the difficulties of learning a new language comes the challenges of having to pick between losing their native language or trying to balance both languages together. The school system often forces the children to forget the language they grew up speaking just so they can fit in with the other kids at school. Transitioning to a new school is hard enough, but when the child does not look or sound like the other children it can make it even harder. Marjorie Agosin understands this treatment a little too well due to her family moving to America to escape the danger in their country In her article she states “A high school in the small town of Athens, Georgia, where my poor English and my accent were the cause of ridicule and insult” (600). Children should not feel ashamed for the way he or she sounds, and then feel like they need to forget about their once beloved language. These children even change their names, so they experience an easier transition at school because the other kids cannot tell they are from another country (Dumas 607). Many languages are abandoned because of the ridicule the children go through at school. The children and teachers need to learn tolerance for these children coming into the American school system. Once others learn tolerance, the children will not feel like they have to change their name and lose their native language to fit in with others at

The human identity is a complex thing and quite confusing. The search for purpose and self discovery is one that all people must face. Identity is who a person is, what activities they enjoy, their favourite foods, favourite movies, sexual orientation, and gender identity. No person is absolutely sure of their identity as people are always changing and evolving, this may result in differing views than they once had and this change results in once again trying to discover one’s self. This journey to discover one’s identity has been documented in many short stories and novels over the past few decades. These stories help demonstrate the complexity and confusion that is associated with identity and the potentially negative effect that the environment has on one’s search for identity.

Who am I? De’Shila Morris and I am a 17 years old, living in Mesquite, Tx. I'm a person with different personalities, characteristics, and identities. The many ways that define who I am. My identity is something I only can fully define. I'm totally outgoing, I am a shy person and at times I feel incredibly awkward around people, especially those that I don’t know. I am the type of person who will hang back and observe strangers before making the decision about whether or not I want to join in with the group.It is because of this that I am often wrongly labeled as being stand offish or antisocial. This could not be further from the truth. I love to be around people once I get to know them, it is just that I am painfully shy at the beginning. Sometimes I wish that I could make people understand this because I am sure that I have missed

Another significant sign within the music video is the characters themselves. In the video of “Ink” by Coldplay, the characters are silhouettes of a man and a woman: the man and woman do not have distinct features such as eyes and a mouth. For this reason, one important mythology that “Ink” is referencing to is identity. In particular, “Ink” is referencing how individuals define their identity. In society, race, gender, and class typically define identity. However, “Ink” defies that mythology with the silhouettes in that by not having any particular facial features, “Ink” implies that an individual’s identity is not a specific set of characteristics or traits, but an individual’s identity is any aspect of his or her life.

No person puts themselves in the same category as others, each person has different values and perceives themselves completely different than everyone else. An identity is the set of characteristics and the state of being that defines a person and makes them unique. No one decides for themselves what they value; from birth everyone has choices made for them. Parents choose how they want to raise their children and where; all of which are factors that decide who each person is and who they become. The factors that cause for differences in individuals vary, each person is introduced to distinctive experiences that are unique to that person and allow for that individual to develop into a unique identity. Ernest Hemingway’s “Indian Camp” is about

Immigrants into the United States often perceive education as the principal method for their children to attain a better life than they have been able to provide for them. The immigrants have dreams and hopes of their children becoming successful and working in better conditions that they had to endure in order to survive. However for the children, accomplishing the immense dreams their parents hold for them can be challenging. While striving to obtain an education, the children face many cultural clashes because the ideas they learn while in school or the process of attaining the education goes against many of the cultural or family values they have been raised with. This is an issue that is iterated in many texts by Latina writers

what do you think when your here the word identity . I think of what makes you, you and how you act. Here is a idea if I never tried soccer I think i would not be the same at all i probably wouldn't know things that i know and react the way I react, so just thinking that playing a sport you love can change your life. I also think the people you hang around will hugely impact what you are you can change in so many different ways by the people you met and they can effect your life for ever. The last thing I think identity is your family they teach you very valuable things in life and you want to grow up and be like them or you want to be completely different you don't think you grow up the right way.

Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow emphasizes the difference between identity and status in and outside of society by using the characters’ pursuit of self within the novel. Coalhouse Walker is the main representation of how a character’s identity is indefinitely shaped by his choices and can lead to various consequences. As Coalhouse’s personality subtly changes into a new persona, the reader slowly realizes the drastic importance of choices and perception. Through his portrayal of Coalhouse, Doctorow conveys that while identity is partly based upon an individual’s choices, society’s perception of an individual dictates his perceived identity and status despite the differing views of the individual himself.

We live in a world where we are constantly dealing with the question of identity. Here is one of many definitions of the word “Identity” from the Merriam-Webster dictionary,

On both ends of the spectrum Espada and Rodriguez use their work to explain their views on bilingualism and how it affected their lives and other peoples. Rodriguez loses his cultural connection with his family because of English and Espada is empowered by his connection with his Latino heritage. Both men chose to take different paths of bilingualism and each one gained and lost cultural identity. Espada’s argument explains how not fighting for one's language creates a downfall with their cultural identity and Rodriguez’s elaborates the endless possibilities people have when knowing how to speak English. Espada and Rodriguez, although on two different sides, both contribute logical arguments which go full circle and connect with one another on how losing interest in the native language can cause the connection to cultural identity to weaken. In my own personal experience when I was younger I was embarrassed that I was one of the oldest people in my class. Since I was older I felt incompetent to the other kids, and I started

In everyday talk to reach personal aspects of who they are, as well as group-level identifications, people implement many different practices in speech to help support these identities. Identities are important because it influence how a communication interact, and “shape how they communicate” Category approaches treat identities as stable aspects of persons that shape how they communicate (Tracy & Robles, 2013, p 20).

What makes you different from anyone else in this world? What defines you and your personality and what makes you an individual among society? Ancient philosophers of Greece, Rome, and China to modern scholars have contemplated what contributes to one’s identity. Everyone is a product of both their environment, and experiences, and modern text as well as podcasts demonstrate this concept. Memories and experiences influence how people behave and act; however, individuals have limited control of their family, environment and actions of others.

How one perceives the world around them is based on identity and images. Merriam Webster Online (2015) defines identity as “who someone is.” Image can be defined in two ways: “a mental picture, the thought of how something looks or might look” and “the idea that people have about someone or something” (Merriam Webster Online, 2015). Identity and image are so strongly intertwined that they both have influence over one another. Images can change how an individual perceives the identity of another person by allowing the individual to interpret and judge the image from their own selfish perspective. The identity of a person shapes how an image is created for them (Rezaei-Adaryani et al. 2012). These two concepts apply to any person and anything in this world. The nursing profession is just one possible option that has both a strong image and identity created for it.