Shaping Identity in William Gibson's Neuromancer Essay

The poem finishes with the rhetorical questions, just as it started with them. This gives an element of doubt as who is to blame:

“No,” she said. “I’m determined to overdo it. Listen,” she exclaimed, as two birds sang together. “Not grieving, nor amorous, nor lost. Nothing to read into it. Simply music, Like Mozart. Complete. Finished. Oh, it is rain to listening ears.” She glanced at Edwin to see how he took this rhetoric. He took it calmly. She let go his hand and capered amidst the fallen eucalyptus leaves.

No one thinks that they have an impact on the world. But everyone does; everyone is a number in some algorithm. Each one of us is turned into numbers and those stats become data and are used by scientists to either do good or in some cases, bad. The book “Weapons of Math Destruction”, Cathy O’Neil talks about the dangers of turning people into numbers and how people don 't even know that it is happening. A lot can go wrong when people are no longer people and they are turned into the just number. People could be placed in the wrong group because they went through a rough time for a short period, and that could ruin their lives, but computers only see numbers, not the person the number represents. Job interviews that should have happened, didn 't because the computer passed over them because of a certain number, not the actual person. A person could also be called in for a job because they may have seemed perfect, but they were the opposite of what they needed. And being in a certain area could then mean that a person is now associated with that group even though they never were. The scientist turns people into numbers so that they are easier to cataracts and target, even if those categories are unknown to the public and is causing harm.

In David Armstrong’s thought-provoking work titled, The Nature of Mind, he explains that the most convincing way to make sense of the mind-body problem is to approach it in a materialistic way. Specifically, Armstrong shows that the science of physico-chemical processes of the brain is the best way to explain the nature of our mind. He goes on to explain traditional and dispositional behaviorism, and states his own materialistic take on behaviorism. His arguments throughout his paper are very logical, and though there have been arguments against his explanations, he effectively justifies the materialistic view of the mind.

Within the case study “Carl’s Struggle for Identity” the focal client system is Carl for purpose of this paper. Cultural, social, gender, self, and sexual identity are reoccurring themes throughout the period of adolescence. This client system internalizes and attempts to modify those themes, adapting positively or negatively to social transactions. Carl’s incorporates labels like “fatso, underachiever, and head” into his social identity, because his doctor and the generalized other or “everyone” else deemed them to be true. The search for individualization throughout the social and family environments is greatly emphasized, with focus on peer, romantic, and sexual interactions (Hutchinson 2008). Defining “who I am” an aspect of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development, Carl searches for individualization within his family environment, but cannot connect similarities or differences he has with his absent father (Hutchinson 2008, pg.). Carl’s desire to have meaningful peer relationships shape his behaviors around drug use and delinquent activity. The lack of structure and emphasis on academics in Carl’s home life and relationships, the client has little or no expectations on school success. Improper food choices, work, heredity, and lack of exercise are contributing factors to Carl’s obesity. Following proper intervention, it would optimal to see Carl interacting positively with peers, allotting more time to his studies and extracurricular, making more cognizant health

Consider ways in which Diane Samuels explores ideas of identity in this play in Act 1 Scene 2, and elsewhere in the act.

The Identity theory maintains a monistic belief by considering states of mind as being indistinguishable to brain states. Mental experiences including feeling pain, and possessing mental images are not correlated with, but in fact are brain processes (Smart, 2007). When dealing with the question of whether the mind and brain are identical, identity theorists differentiate between two forms, Type Identity and Token Identity (Schneider). Token Identity theory considers that mental

In the first stanza(,) rhyme is used to point out the emotional state of the speakers outlook,

Nomi Nickel’s Identity Crisis Many people go through issues and they may change a person. These issues or things can form one’s identity. When faced with challenges, an individual’s identity is revealed. In the novel, A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews, involves a young girl named Nomi and her search for identity.

Identity is a state of mind in which someone recognizes/identifies their character traits that leads to finding out who they are and what they do and not that of someone else. In other words it's basically who you are and what you define yourself as being. The theme of identity is often expressed in books/novels or basically any other piece of literature so that the reader can intrigue themselves and relate to the characters and their emotions. It's useful in helping readers understand that a person's state of mind is full of arduous thoughts about who they are and what they want to be. People can try to modify their identity as much as they want but that can never change. The theme of identity is a very strenuous topic to understand

Many arguments in the philosophy of the mind have been made for and against, whether or not the mind and the brain are the same entity. The mind-brain identity theory is the view that the mind is the brain and that mental states are brain states (Mandik 77). Therefore, we can identify sensations and other mental processes with physical brain processes (Blutner 4). I argue, that the mind is not identical to the brain, and the conceivable idea of zombies, as well as the multiple realizability argument, can disprove this theory.

An individual’s identity is reflected in many aspects of their character. On of the aspects which affect a person’s identity is culture; culture plays a major role in the formation of an individual's character. It imposes customs which ultimately manifest through a person’s identity. The clear link between culture and identity suggests that conflict with one’s culture may affect a person’s sense of self. Jhumpa Lahiri explores this type of conflict in the novel The Namesake, in which Gogol Ganguli is stuck between two cultures the Bengali traditions of his parents and the American culture he grows up with. The novel explores Gogol’s conflict with both cultures and how it ultimately impacts the development of his identity.

An identity is the state of being oneself. Your character is comprised of your past, present, and future. Some individuals are ashamed of who they really are and try to change themselves, or mask their identities. One of the dominant themes that is conveyed throughout The Namesake is the theme of identity. In the novels, everybody is a little lost, or a lot lost, frankly. Practically every individual struggles with his or her identity, because every person feels the tug and pull of different cultures, different traditions, and different dreams. The Namesake is about this perpetual dilemma faced by immigrants as they fight to maintain their identities while trying to shake them off at the same time while The Great Gatsby is about people

“You’re a blank, a cipher… a zero.” (Albee, 1962, p.18). With these words, Martha the main character in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” showed her husband, George, that he was nothing. Edward Albee, the writer of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” talked mainly about Martha and George who pretend to have different identities just in order not to face reality. Moreover, Arthur Miller, the author of “A View from the Bridge” presented the idea of identity in a different way. Miller used the character Eddie to show how people’s identities are constantly changing due to some changes in their lives. Modern playwrights question the idea of a definite identity.

The first identity one can ever have is nothing except the foundation you are born with. A blank slate in the form of a baby, predestined with certain genetic characteristics. As life continues, the circumstances around oneself begin to inform one’s identity. Humans learn how to think and act, and their identity becomes a result of the response to their surroundings. Sometimes humans have more choices in life than others; these people have more freedom to choose their own identity as well. Art Spiegelman’s Maus is a story about identity, how it changes over time and how circumstances affect it. Each character is drawn with the head of an animal, a marker of the group they belong to. Spiegelman instills in every character on the pages a sense of “identity” that allows the reader to infer their place in the story. However, Spiegelman is constantly subverting this metaphor, contrasting the similar animal heads and the emotions they invoke with the actions in the panel. Spiegelman also makes the artistic decision to frame his graphic novel through a series of interviews between Art and Vladek, giving a story to both a victim of the Holocaust and someone who never experienced it but is nevertheless tied to it. Growing up as the son of two Holocaust survivors, Artie is raised under the shadow of a tragedy that wiped out his extended family and relocated his parents to the United States. The family’s history shows one of not just the religion, but of the societal and cultural bonds