Identity In The Girl Who Fell From The Sky

Characters, in Heidi Durrow’s The Girl Who Fell from the Sky, force the protagonist, Rachel, to choose between her white and black side. They only acknowledge her black side while only celebrating her white qualities. Consequently, Rachel feels the obligation to accept the roles that have been thrust upon her and ignores part of her race because of the commentary from her family and peers. Rachel adapting to the portrayal of her racial identity to appeal to the normalized opinions of her appearance, demonstrates her tendency to comply with the categorization people of color face throughout society. Ultimately, leading Rachel to pick and choose the parts of her racial identity that most please the people she is with.

Individual’s race shapes their identity because race is there problem in society today. Black african americans are still not treated equal to whites in american. Race is There is still discrimination in the shadows of our society, within job or even first appearance. With a Black african race your identity is hard to make without someone doubting your intelligence or capability. Furthermore, racial profiling and stereotypes portrays how race shapes an individual’s identity.

James McBride can tell you firsthand about man verse racial identity. Journalizing his experience in his New York Times Bestseller novel the Color of Water simply outlined his struggles of finding who he was. His upbringing included a black father and a Jewish white mother. His background made it hard for him to understand why his home was different than others on the street. Although McBride experience shows an older outtake of racial identity, some may say this still is a problem today. Offspring feels the need to pick a race in society to succeed in the generation and it may be the step to understands them more. Notice in the subtitle of the book "A black Men tribute to his white mother" he label himself as just black as if there was a barrier between his mother and himself because the so different. Today we need to not let racial identity become a big part of our lives.

This project group, we decided to focus on Erikson’s Eight Life -Span stages which at stage 2, autonomy versus shame and doubt. As we focus on this stage, Erik Erikson usually more focus at “psychological view” of development. Autonomy versus shame and doubt is at stage 2 and it is in early childhood, infancy 1 year until 3 years. This stage is about the development of the greater sense of personal control on the children self. Besides, this stage also the conflict of toddlerhood and it been resolves positively if parent provide suitable guidance and appropriate.

Psychoanalyst Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory is also part of the psychodynamic perspective. According to Erikson (Berk, 2007) society and culture have an influence on human development. In contrast to Freud whose theory that proposed development was complete by adolescence (Berk, 2007), Erikson’s theory argues that development is continuous throughout the lifespan and occurs in eight stages. The first stage of development, trust versus mistrust, occurs during infancy (birth to 1-year-old). During this stage if an infant’s basic needs are met by a responsive and attentive caregiver, the infant will begin to trust the caregiver, thus establishing the foundation for future trust relationships. In contrast if an infant does not receive enough or irregular care, or if caregivers are unresponsive, the infant can develop mistrust. The autonomy versus shame and doubt is the next stage, which occurs between the first and third years

Erikson’s first stage of development is that of infancy which focuses on the child’s first 18 months of life. During this time a child is supposed to develop optimism, trust, confidence, and security. These key elements are developed through the love and care of a parent or primary care giver. If these elements are not nurtured then a child is more likely to develop mistrust, insecurities, and the feeling of worthlessness (Erikson 1968). During this stage of my own life, I can say that I received a great deal of love and nurturing from both of my parents. Of course I do not remember this stage in my life, but I have often heard stories about my early years. I was told that

Social Development is learning how to effectively relate to one another and how to contribute to society in a positive way. Erik Erikson believed that social development occurs in identifiable stages. Erikson said that each stage was marked by a crisis or conflict that was related to a specific developmental task. These stages are infancy, toddlerhood, preschool, elementary school, adolescence, young adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood. Trust or mistrust is developed during the first year of life, based on if a child’s needs are being met. During the second stage, the crisis is autonomy vs shame and doubt. If a toddler can control their actions and act independently, a sense of autonomy is formed. If or when they fail at this they will experience shame and doubt. In the preschool stage, initiative and guilt are the crisis. If a preschooler receives what they want while acting responsibly, they develop a sense of initiative. If they do not have a sense of guilt, they become undisciplined.

The main protagonists in the novels A Complicated Kindness and The Kite Runner convey that identities are socially constructed. The following factors shape identity: parenting, conflict, culture, gender, and genetics. These factors all intertwine and are the primary influencers for developing the protagonist's identity. Furthermore, this is formed by the people that surround a person from their cultural stereotypes, how they teach others, and how a person learns. This essay will discuss how these factors affect the protagonist’s identity and why they are important.

According to Erik Erikson’s theory of psycho-social stages, development is an ongoing process that happens across the lifespan. This theory believes that growth can be described and divided into age groups including: infancy, toddler, preschooler, elementary schooler, adolescence, young adulthood, middle adulthood and late adulthood. In addition, Erikson outlines healthy or socially acceptable behaviors at each of the stages of development. More importantly, Erikson believed that each stage involved a crisis which is, “…marked by a conflict between two opposing personality traits or basic attitudes, one of which is ego ‘synotonic’ and the other, ego ‘dystonic.’” (Robbins, Chatterjee & Carter, p. 209). The theory also states that a balance between

The eight stages of Erikson’s theory are as follows: Stage 1 is from birth to 18 months with a conflict resolution of trust vs mistrust. Babies gain a sense of confidence when properly cared for or become insecure when neglected or abused. Stage 2 is from 18 months to 3 years with a conflict resolution of autonomy vs shame and doubt. Children gain a sense of independence when allowed to choose for themselves within reasonable limits or doubt themselves and the choices they make when parents are over-controlling and shame them for making a wrong choice. Stage 3 is from 3 to 6 years with a conflict resolution of initiative vs guilt. Here a child learns how to properly socialize and cooperate with others through playing; however, when guilt

Erikson suggested that an individual must resolve a conflict in a previous stage to move forward; the resolution of that stage is influenced by how well the individual is prepared to successfully resolve the next stage. (Feldman. 2015) Based on evidence in the study, Hector has exceeded Erikson’s first four stages of development and is working on progressing into the fifth stage. Hector has surpassed the first stage of basic trust vs basic mistrust, and has overcame the issue of trust. The study reflects on Hector’s home life as tough having witnessed physical abuse towards his mother. His parents are were not very active participants in his life, but he has learned that he can trust that his needs will be met. Erikson described that after a child develops a sense of trust or mistrust, that resolution is carried into the second stage of development, autonomy vs. shame and doubt. The second stage is a time in a child’s life where they choose to explore the world but need continued support and encouragement from an adult and/or caretaker to aid in the development of their autonomy. If a child’s environment is not supportive to this, a child may be reluctant to be involved in new activities or to try new

Erikson believes that development functions by the epigenetic principle (Boeree, 1997). In this theory, there are eight stages through which we develop our personalities. Each stage has certain developmental tasks, which are referred to by two terms. The first stage is as an infant called the oral-sensory stage. Its psychosocial crisis is trust versus mistrust. The goal of this stage is to develop trust without eliminating completely room for mistrust. A significant relation in this stage is between the mother and the infant. With proper balance from the parent’s responses to the child, the child will develop hope and faith. With improper balance the child may develop sensory distortion and withdrawal problems. The second stage is called the anal-muscular stage, and starts at the age of a toddler. Its psychosocial crisis is autonomy versus shame and doubt. The goal of this stage is to achieve autonomy while reducing shame and doubt. A significant relationship in the stage is between the child and the parents. With proper balance from the parents’ responses the child will develop willpower and determination. With improper balance the child may develop impulsivity or compulsion. The third stage of Erik Erikson’s developmental theory is the genital-locomotor stage, which begins at the age of a preschooler. The psychosocial crisis is initiative versus guilt. The goal of this stage is to learn initiative without a lot of guiltiness.The significant relationship in this stage is between the child and the family. Proper balance will lead the child to courage and purpose. Loss of proper balance may lead the child to ruthlessness or inhibition. The fourth stage is

The script presents as a dramatic character driven story of self-discovery, as the protagonist struggles with her own racial identity. There are solid themes about self-respect, facing one’s opposition, and not giving up.

A person’s family, race, culture, and life style within a society or a community are just a few factors that give him or her an identity. Coming to terms with understanding one’s identity is not simple because of the many factors defining it and might take one’s whole life to finally understand who he or she is. “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid and “My Two-Lives” by Jhumpa Lahiri are both writing pieces that have characters who share these conflicting factors of identification yet still have very different views on which of these factors are more valuable to allow them to be accepted in their societies or communities.

As humans develop throughout their lifespan identity crises were thought to be one of the main concepts of human development. This notion brought about eight psychosocial stages that individuals were thought to go through during their lifetime, with each stage containing two possible outcomes. The successful completion of each stage resulted in positive personality traits and positive interactions with others. However, failure at any stage reduced the ability to complete further stages, which ultimately lead to a maladaptive personality and sense of self. Initiative Vs. Guilt, or Purpose was the third stage of psychosocial development developed by Erik Erikson. This stage usually occurs during what Erikson called the play age, and or around the preschool years. During it, the child’s imagination and social skills are utilized heavily, and the exploration beyond themselves of feelings, risk, and autonomy are put to the test to determine whether a child is learning and developing healthily.