The Power Of Context : Bernie Goetz And The Rise And Fall Of New York City Crime

If you could revisit any moment in your life and change the decision you made, would your identity be any different? Could your identity, the values and beliefs you hold, be altered or erased by one drastic event? One novel, which explores the development one’s identity is Steven Galloway’s The Cellist of Sarajevo. Galloway clearly explores identity through the three main characters of the novel; Alisa, Kenan, and Dragan, conveying a clear lesson about hope through the experiences of the three characters. Though the conflicts from the siege cause them all to deviate from their personalities before the siege, they eventually all revert to their original personalities, regaining their identities.

Each and every person on this Earth today has an identity. Over the years, each individual creates their identity through past experiences, family, race, and many other factors. Race, which continues to cause problems in today’s world, places individuals into certain categories. Based on their race, people are designated to be part of a larger, or group identity instead of being viewed as a person with a unique identity. Throughout Richard Wright’s Black Boy, Richard is on a search for his true identity. Throughout Black Boy, one can see that Richard’s racial background assigns him with a certain identity or a certain way in which some

Identity can be affected by stereotypes. In these days’ people are automatically judged by their appearance. People are judged by height, race, and clothing. In the text “Black Men and Public Space” shows how a young man by the name of Brent Staples was quickly judged just by his looks. He decided to change his identity to please other and make them comfortable. In the text staple says “…I whistle melodies from Beethoven and Vivaldi and the more popular

New York City is one of the world's most known cities, it is known as the melting pot. New York City has a blend of cultures all in one city. From the statue of liberty, malls and sky scrapers to the parks and restaurants, there’s always something to do or see. But like any other city, crime does exist. With that being said people are starting to feel unsafe. Citizens are moving from the place they once called home. Most believe that there's life in a civil society where kids can grow safely, nourish and thrive off the environment.

Peoples identity can develop over time due to the people who surround us, the events that we experience and circumstance. This can be demonstrated through Peter Goldsworthy’s 1989 novel ‘Maestro’. Maestro follows the life of a young, childish and self - centred boy by the name of Paul Crabbe. It is evident through this boy’s experiences that the statement 'Identity can develop over time’ is true.

Human beings have full control over their identities after they have received knowledge and have become shaped from external stimuli. These stimuli include the teaching process of humans which comes through tradition, schooling, and the actions of other humans and the influence of the organisms around them. Andrew Solomon, through “Son,” was able to use his experience of growing up and labeling himself as a gay dyslexic to show how his environment and knowledge had shaped his identity and how it was viewed by others with different identities. In “An Elephant Crackup,” Charles Siebert was able to explain how the other organisms or humans are able to form new identities for elephants over time by shaping them a new environment and having the elephants process it. In “Mind’s Eye,” Oliver Sacks had different case studies of blindness from different people and was able to show how each one experienced their blindness help shape and express their individual identities. The stimuli that becomes processed by a person in the situations, accounts, and studies of these works assist in the role of explaining the formulation of an identity.

Our identities are key to our understanding of the world. Mental models through which information is processed are built off of life experience, taught ethics and morals, and upbringing. Identity is discussed in the following texts - The Politics of Exile by Elizabeth Dauphinee, “Unlearning the Myth of American Innocence” by Suzy Hansen, and “Letter to America” by Aida Hozic - through various themes of American culture. Dauphinee, in particular, examines the depth of personal identity and its ability to change. All three works consider the many components of personal identity and its formation as well as its undoing.

“In Defense of Masks”, by Kenneth Gergen regards that it is not possible for humans to adequately find a coherent self identity without an aftermath. Gergen states, “to the extent that they do, they many experience severe emotional distress” when trying to do so (172). He refers to Erik Erickson, a psychologist who speaks about how self-alienation can result due to the pressures of society to individuals with various masks of identity.

In the book City of Glass, by Paul Auster, identity is used to develop and establish existence in society. The author shows the challenges of identity by showing Daniel Quinn struggling to develop his own identity. The struggle of identity is carried through the text as Quinn bounces from one persona to the next. Nicola Caleffi’s article called Paul Auster’s Urban Nothingness supports the idea that Daniel Quinn’s character struggles finding his identity, as he takes on many different identities as his surroundings change. Identity is constantly changing as a result of its surroundings making it hard to remain stable and avoid deteriation.

False identity can become so inherent to a person’s character, they can begin to forget where it stops and their true self begins. In Tobias Wolff’s novel Old School, the narrator and the literary review the Troubadour both are hiding behind a persona that is placed onto them by themselves or others. An aspirational vision of the characters is the basis of their personas. Wanting to be more then they already are, the characters end up believing in the lies told to persuade others of their importance. Placing the personas on themselves is a way to divert people from the true nature of their identity, which might not live up to their expectations. The identities taken on by the narrator and the Troubadour convey that what they are and what they want to be are not yet the same.

Despite being a very diverse literature genre in terms of influence and inspiration, North American literature encompasses many works that share some very common thematic elements. Though there are several themes shared, one in particular can be found in most any work – the importance of identity. Particularly in some selected pieces yet to be named, identity is a very important element, not only because it is a necessity for a main character in any work of literature, but because these works express ideas about identity as being very individualistic – as opposed to being a mere result of cultural surroundings. Zora Neal Hurtson’s Their

When a person's social situation is changed, it may also change his or her self-image. His or her self-image is so affected by labeling that it becomes precisely the same as the identity imputed to him or her (Knutsson, 1977). A great example of this theory in effect can be seen in the movie the Stanford Prison Experiment. Zimbardo, the psychologist in charge of the experiment, hypothesized that inherent traits are what cause so much violence in prison settings. This goes back to the dispositional or situational argument, inherent traits being the general disposition or characteristics that a person was born with. To his surprise, the experiment did not give him the results he was expecting. Instead, he found that each group adapted to the stereotypical behaviors that go along with the identity that they have each been given. The “prison guards” did not take long to conform to the expected characteristics associated with being a prison guard which include enforcing strict rules, and punishing the prisoners with disciplines such as push ups, jumping jacks, or menial tasks such as cleaning the toilets with their bare hands, when they do not obey these rules. The labeling theory may have also resulted in deindividuation, especially with the guards. This is the state when one becomes so immersed in the norms of the group that one are put in, one loses their sense of identity. The guards may have been so sadistic because they did not feel what they did was down to them personally, but it was a group norm (McLeod, 2017). The prisoners, however, were also quick to conform to the deviant and criminal-like behaviors associated with being a prisoner. On the second day of the experiment a rebellion arose within the prisoners. As the prison guards came to wake up the prisoners for the 10 o’clock count, they were met with the

Identity is one’s perception that shapes one’s mind. It reflects the outer aspect of personality and the life choices we make as an individual. In Anthem by Ayn Rand, a dystopian futuristic novelfuture, Equality talks about how society is integrated to try to control his mind, body, and spirit. In “Don’t. The secret of self control” by Jonah Lehrer, a nonfiction article, Lehrer explains an experiment where children are determined to be a high or low delayers. Furthermore, In “Who Holds The Clicker” by Lauren Slater, a nonfiction article, Slater explains analyzes the fear of how brain implants can treat intractable mental illness. The formation of identity is created when a person is tied to the choices he makes,

Within dystopian literature, identity is something that can be seen as an individual’s most core and precious element. Exposed against a scarcity of freedom in self-expression, we can begin to fully appreciate and understand the importance in the role of identity as well as its robustness. The role of identity and its manipulation is often explored within dystopian literature to exemplify weaknesses in human psychology as well as to destroy false images of strength and superiority that we apply to ourselves. In both The Road and

No one appears exempt from the harsh realities offered by the ambiguity of human identity; people seem to search incessantly for meaning and purpose in their lives. Reflecting upon the vast array of material explored this semester; I realized how frequently literature, films, and