Identity In Renee Watson's Piecing Me Together

Identity is a group of characteristics, data or information that belongs exactly to one person or a group of people and that make it possible to establish differences between them. The consciousness that people have about themselves is part of their identity as well as what makes them unique. According to psychologists, identity is a consistent definition of one’s self as a unique individual, in terms of role, attitudes, beliefs and aspirations. Identity tries to define who people are, what they are, where they go or what they want to be or to do. Identity could depend on self-knowledge, self-esteem, or the ability of individuals to achieve their goals. Through self-analysis people can define who they are and who the people around them

In this world we live in, people are easily influenced by others. What or whoever influences you, that becomes a part of your identity. Having an identity is what makes you who you are. A person’s choice in music, clothes, cars, their environment, social life all influence your personality.

makes your identity, shapes our identity It is what defines a person and how people see that

She often found herself the only Black face in her classroom, and sometimes felt she did not fit in with the larger culture that surrounded her.

The fourth chapter of "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?”is about the identity development in adolescence. It is said that when black children are growing up, they engage in many of the white culture’s beliefs and values as it is all around them. It is not until a little later where they begin to recognize the impact of racism. This can happen around the early stages of adulthood. It might even happen around the junior high age. Gender also comes into play around this time as well. A black girl wouldn't be acknowledged for her beauty in a white setting as she is not in the society's standard for beautiful. Since the black girls aren’t considered beautiful, they begin to feel devalued. The black youth are beginning

I believe Tatum answers the question “Why are all the Black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?” not only through her description of William Cross’s Black racial identity model, but through James Marcia’s four identity statuses and Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s A Tale of O. Tatum follows up the question through Marcia’s four stages that an individual undergoes to discover their identity: diffuse, foreclosed, moratorium, and achieved (Tatum 53). Marcia’s identity statuses can be seen in more detail through Cross’s Model. Cross’s Model begins with a person developing self-awareness of the world’s perception about themselves. Consequently, the individual comes in contact with the preencounter stage. Hence, their instinct is to assimilate by rejecting who they are and accepting what the majority sees as acceptable. At least one event may cause the person to enter the encounter stage, in which they become aware of racism and how it impacts their life.

Imagine, it is the first day of school, and you are the new student, in a new environment, and no one knows who you are or where you come from. You notice how everyone is in his or her separate cliques, the jocks are in one corner but you do not play any sports, the chess club is in the coroner while everyone else is in their own worlds. You wonder where to go, where you would fit in, with whom you will get along with. You want to fit in but you seem to have nothing in common with anyone so you begin to act out to gain attention. You want attention not only in the social circles, but you want attention in your classrooms as well. How can you achieve your goal of being noticed? After reading the article, “The Burden of Acting White”. The concept of acting white comes from the struggle of blacks being qualified as inferior their white counter parts. From trying to keep up in school but at the same time, letting your true colors be shown was almost contradictory to what was going on in the classroom (Thomas). In the African American community, many issues are causing the epidemic of Acting White. Not saying that acting white is an issue; but who is to say how we are acting is wrong? We all have our own identities and it is up to us to help students mold themselves into who they want to become in the world.

Imagine inside your brain, if your identity was a big painting of yourself. Each color, each shape, the texture, and the style, everything that made up that painting was a detail that made up your identity. You can change colors, add new things, or even erase everything and start over. It was all your choice. Identity is an unavoidable part of everyone of our lives.

While my dad is African American with black, thick, hair and strong bold features. Growing up as a biracial girl I’ve always loved my thick curly hair, light brown skin, and full facial features, and I have been unquestionably comfortable in my skin as a young girl. However, when I went to middle school I started questioning my identity. When I started to make friends they would constantly ask me. “ Do you act black or white?” At first I was too confused to answer, the question would replay in my head for the rest of the day. Do I act black or white? What does that mean? What qualifies as black or white? How do you act a skin color? Those were some of the few questions I would ask myself as their question haunted me. As school continued, I learned what acting “black” or “white” meant. To act black meant you knew all the hip-hop songs and dances, to want the newest pair of Jordan’s dropping, and to live in a one parent home. To act white meant you talked “proper”, listened to Top 40 music, and cared about the way you behaved in school, or being a “goodie two shoes”. After understanding what acting like a race meant, I was excited to know I fit some things in both descriptions. having characteristics in both, I thought I would have a better chance of making friends. Unfortunately, I was wrong. People thought that I was acting fake, or that I was “trying too hard”. My peers constantly told me that I was

In chapter one Adrienne Clarkson talks about belonging and identity, using a man named Martin to explain how someone’s idea of belonging and identity can change in a second. While Walter Johnson talks about the impact of leaving all you know to come to a whole new world where it can have a large impact on who you thought you were. Clarkson and Johnson are almost a contradiction on belonging and identity. In the sense that they both define and explain belonging and identity differently.

There are various kinds of identity (individualized or shared) that people are expected to possess. (Hollinger, 2004) namely; personal identity which is known as a

Humans are social animals, as a specious a person wants companionship, wants to have relationships with others around them, companionship is key to survival and adapting or assimilated is second nature. An example that highlights this in Una Marson poem is “I like me black face/And me kinky hair. I like me black face/And me kinky hair. But nobody loves dem, I jes don't tink it's fair.” Marson puts a picture in your mind of what assimilation is and how it makes people strip away a part of their identity by changing the outside appearance. Marson highlights over and over again that she likes who she is, she loves her appearance but others around her don’t share her opinion. They want her to assimilate into society, by getting rid of her dark

Identity is also an important part of being human. Identity; n. the condition of being oneself or itself, and

Rankine chooses more concrete examples of identity simplification to illustrate this problem. She shows the simplification of identities as an almost subconscious effect of being human that is said without thinking. For example, in one passage Rankine describes “a close friend who early in your friendship, when distracted, would call you by the name of her black housekeeper? You assumed you two were the only black people in her life” (7). This situation perfectly illustrates the subconscious effects of difference on humans as a cause of simplification. The way that humans can come to identify others by a single trait such as their race is not uncommon, is happening all the time in fact. But, the suggestion by both Baldwin and Rankine that the way people simplify others by their difference is a part of their humanity does not mean that it can’t be changed. Neither author indicates that because it is a common aspect of humanity that humans should just accept it as fact. They identify it as such rather so that they can show how humans need to actively extract this from their definition of humanity.

Our identities works in a recursive relation that keep our identities constantly evolving. Our biological traits determine our physical development: from the color of our eyes to the height we’ll eventually reach. Our physical appearances conjure a first-impression with everyone we meet, and we become labeled and categorized without any notion or consent, yet whichever labels