Michael Jackson Personal Identity

Michael Jackson and Heather Griffin have the ability to develop a deeper understanding of their personal identity as a result of their suffering experiences in family relationships. In particular, a significant experience that substantially impacted Jackson was the abuse he suffered from his father, Joe Jackson (ref). It is evident that the trauma he suffered was the catalyst to the shaping of Jackson’s personal identity. Two significant pieces of work produced by Michael are the songs; ‘Thriller’ and ‘Man in the Mirror’ and within these songs, elements of identity become apparent through particular lyrics of the song. Both songs, along with a vast majority of Jackson’s musical compositions follow themes, which incorporate moments of suffering. …show more content…
As a child, Michael experienced suffering through familial relationships; such as with his father where he was shown loss of love, resulting in extreme suffering, therefore initiating his desire to conform to the collective understanding of life. Likewise, Heather’s children’s sickness and suffering led her to prevent others from feeling the same significant feeling of helplessness and loneliness. Michael was able to discover his meaning or purpose in life and overcome his suffering through creating music and performing. In doing so, Jackson could alleviate his suffering and remove the realistic, dark occurrences in his life as essentially problems disappeared. This is prevalent throughout many of Michael’s major performances were he is completely immersed in the atmosphere, in order to provide people with joy and relief from their own personal suffering, “Music is my gift to all of the lovers in this world. Through it, I know I will live forever.” In providing fans with a distraction from the trauma in their life, Michael was able to find peace within himself and others, which ultimately signifies his meaning in life. Michel’s collective understanding into the purpose of life is to provide people with an escape from their suffering and a momentary feeling of peace and happiness. Through Heather’s role as Uniting Church minister, she too was able to shape her own individual understanding of the meaning of life through suffering. Through the experiences of her children and the evolution of becoming a United Church minister, Heather was able come to an individual understanding of her purpose in life. In addition, as Church minister, Griffin was able to empathise with others by supporting them in heir suffering,