Identity: The Sculpture of Self
There are over seven billion people in the world, each with a different identity. Some choose what they want their identity to be, while some come to accept what others identify them as. But since identity is such an essential factor in someone’s life, it is useful to know how someone can construct it. In the chapter “Son”, Andrew Solomon talks about understanding his sexuality, which allowed him to accept and even feel pride in his identity. While, Oliver Sacks combines the experiences of blind people and expresses how blindness affects people to adjust to their new states of being in his article, “The Mind’s Eye”. Both authors show how humans are capable of redefining their identities, but to what extent? …show more content…
Along with how we interpret information from others to shape ourselves, our identities are also developed by how others view us. The way others perceive does contribute to a major part of our identities, but it is something we cannot control directly ourselves. Even though we cannot directly control how others will see us, based on our actions, we can create more identities for others to choose from. Solomon, for example, was identified as the unusual boy in school, but as he grew and became a successful writer, he unleashed different identities for himself. So people can now choose to view him either as they knew him in the past, or they can identify him as what he has become. Thus, although Solomon did not directly construct his identity, he guided others to see him the way he wanted to be viewed by becoming a successful writer. The way Solomon’s classmates view him now is probably very different then how they used to identify him before. In essence, Solomon’s identity through the eyes of others changed through the actions he conducted. While Solomon’s actions were more in terms of his career, Zoltan Torey performed physical actions that held a great impact to his viewers. Torey, who was viewed as a dependent person, incapable of fully taking care of himself, constructed his identity to be just the opposite. “I replaced the entire roof guttering of my multi-gabled home single-handed…and solely on the strength of the acute and well-focused manipulation of my new totally pliable and responsive mental space.”. Torey later expanded on this episode, mentioning the great alarm of his neighbors at seeing a blind man alone of the roof of his house” (Sacks 332). Through the action of fixing his gutters, Torey was able to show his neighbors that he was capable of such tasks. Torey’s actions gave him a new identity in the eyes of his neighbors, which was that he is
There are over seven billion people in the world, each with a different identity. Some choose what they want their identity to be, while some come to accept what others identify them as. But since identity is such an essential factor in someone’s life, it is useful to know how someone can construct it. In the chapter “Son”, Andrew Solomon talks about understanding his sexuality, which allowed him to accept and even feel pride in his identity. While, Oliver Sacks combines the experiences of blind people and expresses how blindness affects people to adjust to their new states of being in his article, “The Mind’s Eye”. Both authors show how humans are capable of redefining their identities, but to what extent? …show more content…
Along with how we interpret information from others to shape ourselves, our identities are also developed by how others view us. The way others perceive does contribute to a major part of our identities, but it is something we cannot control directly ourselves. Even though we cannot directly control how others will see us, based on our actions, we can create more identities for others to choose from. Solomon, for example, was identified as the unusual boy in school, but as he grew and became a successful writer, he unleashed different identities for himself. So people can now choose to view him either as they knew him in the past, or they can identify him as what he has become. Thus, although Solomon did not directly construct his identity, he guided others to see him the way he wanted to be viewed by becoming a successful writer. The way Solomon’s classmates view him now is probably very different then how they used to identify him before. In essence, Solomon’s identity through the eyes of others changed through the actions he conducted. While Solomon’s actions were more in terms of his career, Zoltan Torey performed physical actions that held a great impact to his viewers. Torey, who was viewed as a dependent person, incapable of fully taking care of himself, constructed his identity to be just the opposite. “I replaced the entire roof guttering of my multi-gabled home single-handed…and solely on the strength of the acute and well-focused manipulation of my new totally pliable and responsive mental space.”. Torey later expanded on this episode, mentioning the great alarm of his neighbors at seeing a blind man alone of the roof of his house” (Sacks 332). Through the action of fixing his gutters, Torey was able to show his neighbors that he was capable of such tasks. Torey’s actions gave him a new identity in the eyes of his neighbors, which was that he is