Who Am Who I Am

Everyone in the world has their own identity but some are still searching for it. Many base their identity on race, religion, culture and language because it’s easier to belong to a certain group. However, there are some people who struggle with finding where they belong. For instance, James McBride in The Color of Water wonders who he is through most his childhood and some of his adult life. Mcbride tries to find himself by learning about his mother's background. After evaluating his mom’s past,culture and race his own issues with himself were made clearer because now he finally knows where he came from.

There is many things that shape identity big things and small things such as family, religion or even random people they have met in public. For example Juliet wouldn't be the same without her parents she would be alive and would have never met Romeo. One of the biggest things that shape someone's identity is life experiences, whether it's if you lost your dad or met an amazing person life experiences are a huge factor in shaping one's identity.

People live day to day struggling with identifying who or what they want to be. People allow parents, peers, friends, and even the media dictate what makes them unique. Identity is something that makes one person different from the next. Though it may take longer for certain people to understand that, it is a conclusion that one has to come to in time. People allow norms to stop them from being exactly who they are. We were all given a different identity so we could fully embrace the world head on. The time has come for people to stop letting outside forces like names, race, social identity, handicap, and gender determine who they are. One should identify who they are and never let any opposing forces get into the way of what they have to offer the

This identity is constantly being personally refined and reshaped. By having the understanding of where they come from, trying new things and being told that they aren’t good enough, and admittedly sometimes making the wrong choices, people must create their identity from scratch. All of the pieces of literature mentioned each show a different way identity can be made by someone. This proves that it is impossible to be born with life already planned out and that there is a journey to finding a true identity. And with the words of Thomas Merton, “identity is much more than the name or features one is born with… Identity means having ideas and values one lives by.”

The growth of identity is a practice molded by a person’s family history, environmental experiences, and societal attachments. Identity endures ordeals to make the person secure and attentive so that it’s easier for the person to know what to expect out of their life. Although changes in our surroundings can be accepted, adjustments to one’s identity can often be challenging. Particularly in African American identity, there is difficulty in accepting who one is and knowing one’s place in society. There is an even greater difficulty if one is a biracial African American.

Identity is who we are, even though it can be hard sometimes to find out exactly what that means. That is why our identities can be so easily changed and shaped by different things. This is especially true during our adolescent years, when we are vying for acceptance from others. Sometimes we are the ones who shape who we are. This can happen when we choose to ignore outside influences who would normally affect us. Nevertheless, most of the time we are shaped by other people. Human beings have a never ending want to be socially accepted. We are all insecure in our own way, leaving us prey to the influence of others. We are able to choose how we act and what we do, but even so we end up being changed by everyone who surrounds us. Although we have the freedom to make our own conscious decisions, ultimately the people around us shape who we are by the way they treat us.

     Identity is one of the main questions throughout all of our readings, because it is hard for people to accept who they are in society. Accepting their identity as a minority with little if any freedoms

This goes along with the nature versus nurture theorem. As I have studied in Sociology, the way you grow up can impact your identity greatly. What you see, how people interact with you, and what you learn from adults contributes to this. Recently many young African Americans have seen murders on the news of people of their race. They watch the videos of the victims dying wondering why.

What makes your identity? Is it your past, your family, your hopes, dreams, fears? It is all that and more. Your identity makes up who you are. It is always growing and ever-changing. Your identity is what makes you human. Finding it can be a struggle, maintaining it can be even harder. Katniss and Peeta in The Hunger Games were two examples of finding and holding onto your identity. Katniss was the girl who had to grow up to fast. She had to learn how to provide for her family, to be strong. Katniss thought to do this she had to create a wall to hold back all the childish things that were apart her. She put on a mask to grow up but to also protect herself from those who would wish to abuse her innocence. The mask, the wall they kept her

Someone’s identity is shaped through many different experiences. Your story is molded by how you respond to those experiences and how you use them to learn and grow as a person. Personal growth seems anything but personal when I realize how many people have contributed to my personal growth; these people are near and far away from me. Race, school, and the internet have influenced me in a way nothing else ever could. These factors have made me who I am proud to be today and have forged my story and personal identity.

One’s identity is who or what a person is and how they are perceived by themselves and others. Your identity defines who you are and where you fit in. It is a self-representation of your interests, relationship, social activity and much more. Some believe our sense of identity and belonging is shaped by various factors, including our experiences, relationships, and our environments. Conversely, others believe that personality is shaped by nature, and that one is defined by their biological characteristics and hereditary traits passed down from previous generations. Nevertheless a combination of both nature and nurture shapes us throughout life. For a majority of the population their journey to find their identity and belonging can often

Identity is what evolves us, it is what makes us think the way we do, and act the way we act, in essence, a person’s identity is their everything. Identity separates us from everyone else, and while one may be very similar to another, there is no one who is exactly like you; someone who has experienced exactly what you have, feels the way you do about subjects, and reacts the same to the events and experiences you have had. This became prevalent to me as I read through many books, that everyone goes through the process of finding who they are. A prevalent theme throughout literature is the idea that over time one develops their identity through life over time, in contrast to being born with one identity and having the same

When I think back to why I am who I am, I think back to my childhood and what memories have stuck in my mind. They often come up in certain situations as a reminder to never forget the people that love me, or the places that I love that influence my choices and the road to my future goals. I try my best to follow advice and recollect on the important things in life, like zipping up my coat or enjoying time with my family, making the best out of situations and thinking positively. I remember repetitive smells or touch that one day added to my mind and never left, that will always be a part of me, Now I am eighteen and in college, about to start a new chapter my life and compose new memories with new people. Thinking back now makes me wonder what it will be like to think back years from now to these moments that im making now, and how I will connect them all.

The question “who am I”? Can have a lot of individuals thinking about themselves, including myself because one might not know where to start. It is a very broad question, but having done the Strengths Finder 2.0 assessment, I realized more in depth what kind of person I really am based on my top 5 strengths. Who I am as a learner, who I am in my career and who I am as a person of faith lead me to answering the question above and understanding more of myself within.

In the time we spent analyzing the ultimate meaning of identity, I discovered how identity was not limited to one’s self. In fact, it inevitably involves the world around us. In “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” Beverly Tatum explains how identity is formed from your own ideas and others’ views. In addition, the text mentions how identity contributes to intersectionality, which determines one’s power in society based on the seven categories of “otherness” - age, race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, socioeconomic status, and physical/mental ability. If you fall under the dominant culture - that is, the most powerful, widespread, and influential culture in a society - in any of these categories, you are granted an advantage in power. Chimamanda Adichie connects this concept in her speech, known as “The Danger of a Single Story.” In observing this, I learned of the “single stories” that people apply to various cultures, especially to non-dominant ones. These narrow-minded ideas place labels on those certain groups, and can lower their power in society. Furthermore, through David Sedaris’s story “Go Carolina,” I grasped how one increasingly understands their identity as they go through the course of life. We reflect on our identity everyday, without even knowing it. In creating my identity collage, I used all of these lessons to create my personal masterpiece.