The Space Between Brrenna Yovanoff Analysis

In her essay, “Context” (1994), Dorothy Allison states that knowing a person well and deeply depends on and requires personal knowledge of their upbringing and social life. The essay was published as a memoir to reflect on people’s perception about others. Dorothy employs flashbacks and comparison in order to express her opinions on understanding, trusting and judging a person. She uses flashback and comparison to show that context provides a varied angle about a person. She further argues that, when not properly understood, it can easily breed rivalry between people from varied social backgrounds. Dorothy writes her essay to a general audience and expresses her opinions about context, upbringing environment, and a social group having a fundamental role in a person’s character.

During her childhood, Myra loved her family and all of the quirks that made them unique. She did not see her family as weird because she did not have any experiences with other people or families to compare her family with. She did not know that some things that were normal and acceptable to her family were not the same to others. However, Myra’s attitude change as she entered middle school and noticed her family’s peculiarities when she compared them to the standards of normality that she encountered. She realized how different her family

Have you ever wondered why do we do things that we do? Why do we act in a certain way? What compels us to follow a path or formulate habits? One perspective among many others is the sociocultural perspective. A sociocultural perspective is an approach to understand why humans behave the way they do. It seeks to understand human behavior and personality development by examining the influence of rules of social groups on individuals who are members of those social groups. Sociocultural approach is an emerging topic that looks at the important contributions that society makes to an individual. The sociocultural approach is based on the assumption that our personalities, beliefs, attitudes and skills are learned from others. It refers to a point of view that is built upon the idea that society and culture are major factors that influence personalities. This approach believes that people are heavily influenced by their social environment. What makes and defines us as individuals is the application of sociocultural approach. For example, if you look outside the window and see a man talking to a tree, what conclusions will you draw? You may think the man is a lunatic and needs some kind of medication. But would your opinion change if you knew that the man was Native American and Native Americans believe in a spiritual philosophy that trees can speak if you listen to them. So you see, the context of culture makes a huge difference in how you ascertain someone’s behavior and that’s

Ruth Benedict’s anthropological book, Patterns of Culture explores the dualism of culture and personality. Benedict studies different cultures such as the Zuni tribe and the Dobu Indians. Each culture she finds is so different and distinctive in relation to the norm of our society. Each difference is what makes it unique. Benedict compares the likenesses of culture and individuality, “A culture, like an individual, is a more or less consistent pattern of thought or action” (46), but note, they are not the same by use of the word, “like.” Benedict is saying that figuratively, cultures are like personalities. Culture and individuality are intertwined and dependent upon each other for survival.

We are all different, we come from different parts of the world, and our culture is different from one another. Be proud of who you are, don’t be ashamed of what you are. There is nothing wrong with adopting other cultures. In this essay, I’m going to compare and contrast Andrea Roman and Amy Tan relationships with their parentsWe are all different, we come from different parts of the world, and our culture is different from one another. Be proud of who you are, don’t be ashamed of what you are. There is nothing wrong with adopting other cultures. In this essay, I’m going to compare and contrast Andrea Roman and Amy Tan relationships with their parents.

Characterization is used to address how ignorant a person can be to his or her heritage in the short story “Everyday Use,” by Alice Walker. The author shows the way of living, of a family to display the reader the way heritage is forgotten and, or ignored. In this short story the author uses a mother, and two daughters, Dee and Maggie, to demonstrate how different the thoughts are between a family and how they honor their heritage.

Imagery in particular accentuates these prejudices. When comparing her former life to the new one she has undertaken, Ehrenreich describes how “the e-mails and phone messages addressed to my former self come from a distant race of people with exotic concerns and far too much time on their hands,” (Ehrenreich 34). Her descriptive imagery and specific diction support the fact that living in this new lifestyle has essentially eradicated her former self. Ehrenreich’s former life is emblematic in the sense that it symbolizes a higher social class of people and implies that they are more prone to fall under stereotypes and discriminate others because they are not as observant to their surroundings.

We have different identities based on our cultural, ethnic, racial and religious differences. These identities will affect how we see ourselves since we might have different responsibilities, job duties and backgrounds. In the two literature stories “Shooting an Elephant” and “Everyday Use”, Alice Walker and George Orwell both show how identity is connected to how we see ourselves in the present.

“When it comes to interpreting other people’s behavior, human beings invariable make the mistake of overestimating the importance of fundamental character traits and underestimating the importance of the situation and context. We will always reach for a “dispositional” explanation for events, as opposed to a contextual explanation”. (160) As mentioned before, just because someone comes from the slums, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are more likely to be troubled or commit a crime than someone who comes from a well-kept upper class community. How these two people act, see, think, and feel come from all environments - ranging from home, to school, to after school activities, to where they hang out, to what they watch or listen to. These daily sights, sounds and interactions shape the person that they become. “Character isn’t what we think it is or, rather, what we want it to be. It isn’t a stable, easily identifiable set of closely related traits, and it only seems that way because of a glitch in the way our brains are organized. Character is more like a bundle of habits and tendencies and interests, loosely bound together and dependent, at certain times, on circumstance and context”. (163) So how much and to what extent does their environment dictate their behavior? “The features of our immediate social and physical world play a huge role in shaping who we are and how we act” (168) Whether consciously or subconsciously, willingly or unwillingly, the every day choices we make or don’t make help to shape our character and define our patterns of

Throughout an individual’s childhood, it is evident that they model what they see and hear. Children are taught lessons at a young age that pertain to their family’s values, heritage, and what is important to them. Although one is taught at a young age it is not guaranteed that those lessons will stick with them throughout life. Individuals often encounter a period of change within themselves. They begin to develop their own identity from what they experience and encounter in life. Within this development, it is common for one to stray away from what has been taught to them because they want to grow and see life for themselves. This period of change permits an individual to either gain an understanding or experience confusion. In Alice Walker’s short story, “Everyday Use,” readers are shown two characters who have different views on heritage. The plot of the story displays how the characters either accept or deny where they come from which leads to a searching of one’s identity. With the use of characterization, and Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality, this paper will showcase the character’s ideas on heritage which lead to the central event and realizations that are made within the story.

Often people question who they really are, this identity crisis can be confusing because no one is ever born perfect, instead we strive to live up to the standards believed to be ideal. However, the inflence others put upon ourselves can persuade us to forget the genuine intents we may have potentially leading living a lie. Many fall victim to regret from being mislead by people who mindlessly obey those who are deemed superior in the eyes of society. By analyzing the similarities and differences, Brother Dear and On Boy Trouble characterize the importance of having the courage to express ourselves in order to challenge the narrow views isolating each person into a basic set of traits and attributes. The works of Bernice Friesen and Margaret

What do our actions reveal about us? Our actions define who we are and what we truly believe in. people define us by our appearance but our actions are what what really define us. In Etgar Keret's “What of this goldfish would you wish,” Shirley Jackson’s “The lottery,” and Diane Glancy's “Without title,” we learn how our relationships can affect us and how they define who we are. Based on this stories and my personal experiences our relationships define who we are by showing our actions, which shows who we really are.

This article is another piece of written truth as to how one’s social upbringing reflects their views and opinions.

A person’s identity is shaped by many different aspects. Family, culture, friends, personal interests and surrounding environments are all factors that tend to help shape a person’s identity. Some factors may have more of an influence than others and some may not have any influence at all. As a person grows up in a family, they are influenced by many aspects of their life. Family and culture may influence a person’s sense of responsibilities, ethics and morals, tastes in music, humor and sports, and many other aspects of life. Friends and surrounding environments may influence a person’s taste in clothing, music, speech, and social activities. Personal interests are what truly set individuals apart. An individual is not a puppet

Just like most stories, the intellectual and experiential knowledge in Something Wicked This Way Comes can be categorized into two separate groups. The first group would be the knowledge of all things good, and the second being the knowledge of everything evil. This is much like the creation story in Christianity where both Adam and Eve, the only two human beings at the time, gain this knowledge from eating the fruit of a tree. Similarly, the characters in Something Wicked are tempted, they give in to the temptation and come out of the story with increased knowledge.