More important than a person’s identity, is what a person identifies as. The difference between these two is that identities are constantly being assigned and replaced throughout our life by society and biology, while identifying is a process independent to each individual. Individuals have little control over the process of being labeled and defined by others in ways that sometimes do not reflect their inner self. However, through identification, individuals are able to decide which and to what degree identities apply to them. In other words, identification is not about fitting in to a label, but making the label fit into the individual’s perception of their self. In “Reading Lolita in Tehran,” Azar Nafisi and her students exercise the power
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The power of identification is visually represented by the two photographs Nafisi took of her students. In the first photo, there are seven women standing against a white wall, all dressed in black robes with only the oval of their faces and their hands showing. In the second photo, after they have taken off their coverings, “each has become distinct through the color and style of her clothes, the colors and the length of her hair; not even the two who are still wearing their head scarves look the same” (Nafisi 280). This before and after photo of the women wearing the black robes represents identification because it shows that even though they are all women, they are not the same kind of woman. Just as each woman is physically different, they each identify differently. The black veil they were wearing took away from their individuality. However, by taking off their veils and meeting secretly to discuss forbidden literature, they show that not all women are or have to be the submissive, obedient, and restricted women that the Iranian government and society dictates. By taking these actions, these women are demonstrating the power of identifying themselves despite what society tells them who they are and how to act. Likewise, a man who defies society and
The power of identification is visually represented by the two photographs Nafisi took of her students. In the first photo, there are seven women standing against a white wall, all dressed in black robes with only the oval of their faces and their hands showing. In the second photo, after they have taken off their coverings, “each has become distinct through the color and style of her clothes, the colors and the length of her hair; not even the two who are still wearing their head scarves look the same” (Nafisi 280). This before and after photo of the women wearing the black robes represents identification because it shows that even though they are all women, they are not the same kind of woman. Just as each woman is physically different, they each identify differently. The black veil they were wearing took away from their individuality. However, by taking off their veils and meeting secretly to discuss forbidden literature, they show that not all women are or have to be the submissive, obedient, and restricted women that the Iranian government and society dictates. By taking these actions, these women are demonstrating the power of identifying themselves despite what society tells them who they are and how to act. Likewise, a man who defies society and