Does Language Or Labels Affect One's Character?

Language has plays a huge role in our everyday life. People use language to talk other people, describe an object, or express our emotions. Language has the ability to shape individuals based on labels given to them even though if the label inaccurately describes that individual. The labels as a result end up having a positive or negative effect on individuals. One individual may work hard to live up to that label while another student may try their best not to be associated with that label. When Jace's teacher Fensty sarcastically call him keen eyed this has a negative effect on Jace. After that experience, Jace tries his best not to be oblivious to things whenever he enters Fensty's classroom. Situations like this raise important questions: to what extent does language or labels affect one's character? Can reactions to labels change over time? Although I am only speaking through personal experience, one can see that my observation can be applied to others who are in the same situation. A label that has had a huge …show more content…
Not everyone is affected by labels given to them and some may not change their reactions to a label if it has affected them in a substantial way. However, I believe that to a large extent, labels affect one's character and that reactions to labels are subject to change over time. At first the label "stupid" affected me by making work harder so that I will appear intelligent in front of other; however, as time passed, working to not be associated with that specific label has lead me to my passion in learning. From my perspective, being labeled "stupid" extremely benefitted me by teaching traits even though my viewpoint on the label has completely changed. Being called stupid has lead me down a path of superficial desire throughout a majority of my academic career and now has taken me down a completely different path of my passion for learning recently during my life as a high school