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The Nature Of Identity Is Attributed By The Environment That Influences The Experiences That The Individual Intakes

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The nature of one’s identity is attributed by the environment that influences the experiences that the individual intakes. Self is the fundamental being that separates individuals due to the uniqueness of their minds and the experiences that influence the distinctiveness of identity. Martha Stout’s background in psychology initializes a deeper understanding of self through the analysis of stories told by her patients who suffer from dissociation in her writing called “When I Woke Up Tuesday Morning, It Was Friday”. Her examination of her patient’s stories helped broaden their understanding of their issues of self but not completely find the truth of their identity. Along with the identity of self, Stout’s patients were also challenged with …show more content…

Stout and Bell capitalize the importance of narration in their writings to play part in the identities of characters Jayanthi and Seth. Jayanthi, an Indian woman that manipulates her sexuality to disprove societal and cultural labels which is categorized by Bell as the Sexual Woman, takes narration into account when she recollects her history to her friends and family. The adrenaline and eccentricity of the stories give her purpose that is displayed through the context of her stories. She also uses narration to interpret her desire for relationship but struggles to find one. Bell explains after bad-girl Jayanthi tells her sexual experience and relational denials, “She was aware now that she had been feeling insecure at the time, and that she had been seeking out attention and affection… At the time she had longed for a sexual history, for stories that would make her real and alive”(33). Through her stories, Jayanthi realized her faults in her immense sexual experiences that cut her away from having a tangible relationship that would change her bad-girl identity. Knowing that she craves attention, she prefers the sexual lifestyle in order to have a purpose to relate to in her stories. On the other hand, Stout’s patient, Seth, utilizes narration to directly tell Stout the effect that dissociation causes him. Dissociation disrupts Seth’s identity as well as his

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