Personal Identity Essay

Personal Identity

An individual's identity is molded by various aspects. Family, culture, personal interests, and outlaying environment all of them are factors tending to shape the personality of individuals. Personally, I tend to question myself whom I am and always think of what it takes to be a person. Out of these thoughts, I do get some of my personal identities. The most salient identity I get is my religion. Religion is an idea with many different interpretations, especially amongst diverse societies, and cultures. Most people have some idea of what a religion is, whether they are insiders, outsiders or don't–know. It is commonly thought that our interpretations and assumption of what exactly a religion is are founded by our surroundings in society and the communities we live in....show more content...

It is not to be discussed in schools or any other non–church related activity because someone there might be offended. I personally don't care if you talk about religion to someone just as long as if they believe something different than you, don't tell him or her that they are wrong. I believe Some conversations don't belong in the workplace, or at least they should not take place between coworkers who aren't also close personal friends. Certain topics could make things awkward and even unpleasant for my coworkers.

I tend to belief that my religion has molded me to become what I am today. Christianity which is my religion of preference has definite morals and values which instill some qualities to its true believers. Honestly, I think that every virtue I express is based on the requirements of a Christian believer. Some this benefit includes honesty, integrity, caring and loving. Christianity is a salient identity to me because there are many people whom we differ. Some of them, their religious understanding is totally different from my

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Personal Identity

Personal identity is something that we originate from many sources in our lives. It can be obtained from life events, experiences, or persons who bring meaning or significance to our lives. Therefore, I believe that we acquire personal identity from not only our skills, occupation, but from all aspects of our everyday lives. However, I also believe that personal identity is obtained from the things that we care most such as family, friends, career, college degree, and social work. Family, friends, career, college degree and social works are sources of identity and are very meaningful part of my life.

My parents are very important part of my life. Their presence in my life have brought many significant events that have change my way of thinking

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Personal Identity Reflection

A person's identity is what she believes in and her core values. It is not static and can change, but many basic ideas that make up the foundation of one's identity stay relatively the same. One can build her personality based on many people, events, or organizations including church, family, or childhood. Everyone in some way is the same and also varies from each other in identities, but it is how one acts on her beliefs that makes her unique. The most stable parts of my identity can also be seen in my family members, and I have developed my own through the way I was raised. The faith and belief that I have in God came from my mother; she is the person in my family that pushes everybody to go to church and the one that thought it necessary for my sisters and me to attend Sunday school and receive our sacraments in the Catholic faith. When I was younger I dreaded having to go to Sunday school, but now looking back on it many of my core beliefs come from what I learned during that hour and a half. At the time when I was forming my religious beliefs, being transgender was not seen as an acceptable lifestyle in the Catholic faith. Once I became more exposed to the world and saw what people were doing to their bodies in order to fit what they thought they were supposed to be like, I was immediately against it. In my view, when people decide to have surgeries to change the orientation of their body, it is very similar to how Jin in, American Born Chinese, feels the need to change the way he appears in order to fit in. I will never be discriminatory against someone who is transgender or gay, but to me, in my heart, that is not the way that God wanted people to live. Starting when I was young, I have had a strict level of appearance that I believed I must meet in order to go into public, and this was because of my sisters. Generally, when one looks back on photos of the good years in kindergarten, they often ask themselves what they were wearing. Not me. I knew from a very early age that I never was allowed to wear patterns on patterns, have bumps in my hair, and to roll the bottoms of your jeans to make the outfit look better. All three of these basic style facts still are with me today and have never changed.

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Identity, an ambiguous idea, plays an important part in today's world. To me identity can be defined as who a person is or what differentiates one person from another. Identity would be a person's name, age, height, ethnicity, personality, and more. A quote by Anne Sexton states "It doesn't matter who my father was; it matters who I remember he was"(Anne Sexton). This quote helps me define identity because I believe it is saying that identity is what people are remembered by. When some people think of identity, words such as, uniqueness, distinctiveness, or individuality may come to mind. However, I disagree with this because when I think of identity I think of mimicry, self–consciousness, or opinions. I think of words such...show more content...

Your personality and actions will become very much alike and at times may not differ. So if people want to see what they act like they can most likely observe an old and close friend. A person'sculture would be an example of how identity is patterned or mimicked. One definition of culture that I agree with corresponds to The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition which states that "culture is defined as the shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, affective understanding that is learned through a process of socialization, and distinguishing one from another"(Maximizing Study 1). In other words, culture can be copied within the same cultural group, but it still distinguishes one cultural group from another. An example of culture being patterned would be in "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant. In the story a character is born into a poor family. When the character grows up she is still poor. But she envisions herself becoming rich and she does this by wearing a diamond necklace, that she thinks is real. So the pattern would be that she lives a life of poverty and so did her parents. She tries to break the pattern by visualizing herself being rich and ends up continuing the pattern because she loses the necklace and replaces it with a real one, which makes her poorer than she was to begin with. Even though parts of identity can be mimicked,

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Several would consider my upbringing atypical. I never had the suburban home, the middle–class family, or the perfect little hometown experience. I consider my childhood to have been a trial. A challenge from the universe to prove it, and everyone who ever judged me, wrong. Proving them wrong is what I intend to do. Imagine a teenage girl, around 15, with alcoholism and an extremely irresponsible attitude. Picture that same girl constantly getting intoxicated with her friends and doing God knows what. Imagine that same girl sleeping with a detestable teenage boy. Finally, picture that young girl finding out that the same boy impregnated her and that he refused to help take care of the child. That would be an, albeit exaggerated, interpretation...show more content... This is a particularly blank spot in my memory, however, I have heard from some extended family that I once told them I was lifted by my neck by one of my mother's boyfriends' daughters. Ultimately, my mother decided to visit my grandmother, known as Nana. From what I have gathered, they got into a confrontation after Nana found some lice in my hair. In the end, I moved in with my Nana. My Nana was one of the biggest influences on my personality, in both a good and bad way. The time I spent at my Nana's house was definitely the happiest I had ever felt. As though in some perverse tale, I was still faced with a repugnant problem. My step–grandfather, a sick, abusive, and atrocious man. He may or may not have gotten better, regardless, I remember him as the man who propelled my dachshund across the house with a swift punt, screamed at my Nana, treated me in an uncomfortable manner, and shouted at me after I beheld my Nana's corpse. In relation to that last mention, my Nana passed only a couple days after my ninth birthday. I remember it vividly. It all started the night before. My Nana told me it was time for bed, but I felt a sort of disturbance. It was as though my mind was sending a warning signal. I begged her to let me stay up just a little bit longer, but she would have none of it. Since I was only nine, I passed out after a while. After waking up, I came downstairs to see my Nana Get

According to the Oxford dictionary Identity is, The fact of being who or what a person or thing is. In my opinion I believe that no one can tell you what your own identity should be. Your identity is everything you are and no should be able to change that about you. Your identity is your character, your personality, yourself, your singularity and your existence. In the short stories," Two Kinds" by Amy Tan; "The Bass, The River and Sheila Mant" by W.D Wetherell and " Papa's Parrot" by Cynthia Rylant, all of the characters realize their personality and their identity in their own special ways. To begin in the short story," Two Kinds" by Amy Tan, JIng–Mei understands more about herself and her mother and what her mother thinks is best for her. For Example, the first time she noticed the other half of the paper she realised something. Jing–Mei says, "And for the first time or so it seemed, I noticed the...show more content...

In this short story it says," When Harry entered junior High school, though, he didn't come by the nut shop anymore." It also says," Nor his friends, they were older and they has more spending money"(1) Later in the end Harry's father gets very ill and and when Harry went to his father's shop to clean up Rocky the parrot says," Where's Harry? Wheres Harry?" repeating what his father had been saying. He was repeating this because his father had missed him and he would tell the parrot what he thought. This quote explains that as Harry's father missed him he said he missed harry to the parrott, when Harry came to clean up Rocky was repeating what Harry's father had said to Rocky. Now Harry knew his father missed him and he also learned that he should have been spending more time at his father's shop with his dad. Overall this shows that Harry realised that he should og been spending time with his

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Personal Identity

Part A) "Social networking in real life looks absolutely ridiculous," was unquestionably funny! I related to her being "connected" because I personally use LinkedIn often and have made many connections in the work place through this social media. Also, the "endorsing" of your skills comment was right on the nail. I always feel that if someone endorses me I in a way also need to go on their page and endorse them as well. So Jenna wondering out loud if the other individual in the coffee shop was going to endorse her was something I've also thought about. I found it hysterical when she decided to "poke" the guy on the street, which was a reference to Facebook, but more importantly he said "this is weird though I don't even know you" and once again her answer...show more content...

Personally I grew up in an English speaking home, however, was always encouraged to learn different languages and to broaden my horizons. As a child I did have a Spanish tutor and I also took Spanish in grammar school and throughout high school. This ability to interact with individuals who speak Spanish has allowed me to not only be more understanding but also be able to interact and share my own experiences. It's because of the initial push and a formation of an independent self that I took up French in college and it also sparked my curiosity to learn more about all cultures not just my own of which wasn't very defined growing up. In terms of self–concept I think that being able to speak more than one language allows me to in a way count for more than just one person because it allows me reach a greater group of people. I normally say my nationality is where my parents were born but the culture that I was brought up with is simply multi–culture and a little bit of everything. I think culture is a beautiful thing and being a part of Rutgers gives me the opportunity to learn something new everyday because of its

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A person's identity is shaped by many different aspects. Family, culture, friends, personal interests and surrounding environments are all factors that tend to help shape a person's identity. Some factors may have more of an influence than others and some may not have any influence at all. As a person grows up in a family, they are influenced by many aspects of their life. Family and culture may influence a person's sense of responsibilities, ethics and morals, tastes in music, humor and sports, and many other aspects of life. Friends and surrounding environments may influence a person's taste in clothing, music, speech, and social activities. Personal interests are what truly set individuals apart. An individual is not a puppet...show more content... Society has had a limited impact on my lifestyle, mostly because I despise trends. The largest trends I despise are rap and hip–hop and the clothing, attitudes, and type of speech that that type of 'music' is breeding. I chose to steer away from that crowd, but it may also be because I live my life off of adrenaline. My high on life is the energy I have when I get my blood pumping, my heart pounding, and my adrenaline raging. Most aspects of my individuality reflect that very well. I love hard, aggressive music, and also guns, but my passion in life is extreme sports, whether it be on a dirt bike, a bmx bike, a snowmobile, or a snowboard. I have a strong set of morals and ethics that I have partly adopted from my parents, but some are also partly my own. My morals mostly consist of karma (being kind, caring, helpful, truthful, and considerate to others), not littering (especially in nature), respecting nature, keeping a clean and welcoming home, success that is measured with happiness and not possessions, and having strong family ties. I feel that I am very strongly rounded individual who is going to go far in life. Many people would agree with that, although some people just think that I am an absolutely crazy person who has a death wish and will not go anywhere but to the hospital or the morgue. Educational experiences also tend to influence a person's identity. I have not had too many educational

Identity is a state of mind in which someone recognizes/identifies their character traits that leads to finding out who they are and what they do and not that of someone else. In other words it's basically who you are and what you define yourself as being. The theme of identity is often expressed in books/novels or basically any other piece of literature so that the reader can intrigue themselves and relate to the characters and their emotions. It's useful in helping readers understand that a person's state of mind is full of arduous thoughts about who they are and what they want to be. People can try to modify their identity as much as they want but that can never change. The theme of identity is a very strenuous topic to understand...show more content...

As they tried to get adjusted in New York City it was very hard for them to do since their families wanted them to maintain their cultural roots but yet the girls wanted to be like everyone else was so that they could feel comfortable. Trying to adjust to their new way of life is very difficult especially in a city like New York where if you're not high–class you struggle along in often dangerous community which is something their mother doesn't want them to become exposed to. As they search for their cultural identity this also interferes with their personal identity. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents is story that is mostly told through Yolanda's point of view since she was the one that in the family that most struggle with her own identity. She was born in theDominican Republic but when she came to New York City everything changed. As she tried to accommodate herself she lost many of her old ways yet gained knowledge of the American ways. In Chapter 1 Yolanda returns to Dominican Republic after five years but she had changed a lot. It was hard for her to speak Spanish the way she used to before and also difficult to remember any cultural words. Her aunts explained to her that an "antojo" is a craving you have for something. At the thought of this she decided to go into the countryside and search for some "guavas". As Yolanda was in search for such fruits, two men with weapons asked her if Spanish if she needed help. "She has been too

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Personal Identity

The Development of Strong Mental and Emotional Health One's entire health is codependent upon various aspects of a stable mental and emotional health; these all rely on who they are, how they think of themself, and how they express what they feel. Furthermore, the state of one's mental and emotional health can further impact their physical and social health. Good mental and emotional health is built upon several prime subcategories of this form of health, these consisting of one's personal identity, their self–esteem, and their understanding and expression of emotions.

Personal identity is who somebody is, and is the foundation of mental and emotional health. Additionally, it prominently partakes within how and why one emotes certain feelings and within controlling them. Personal identity is one's background, their race, culture, and gender; even who they are because of how and where they grew up. It is the conception one creates of themself as they age and encounter both positive and negative experiences in life. Accordingly, it consists of others opinions of oneself and one's actions will often reflect the type of opinions. Personal identity can...show more content...

It relies upon one's confidence in who they are, most commonly relating to their self worth and their physical, mental, and social abilities; most prominently, it relies on their self respect as person. Its a sense of belonging and the belief of oneself. Self–esteem can, simply enough, result from limitations within life and can only "kill" oneself if they allow it to control them. Correspondingly, poor mental and emotional health can be avoided by not giving in to other's negative opinions, recognizing and accepting compliments, not only ignoring but accepting one's flaws, and, lastly, trying out new things and attempting to better the flaws that are

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Personal statement

Some of the things that have shaped me into the person that I'm today are my family, the people that I grow up around, and some of the events In my life. There are many events that have shaped me into the person that I'm today and not revengeful. Also the people that I have grown up around has dramatically helped shape me into the person I am and not winsome and irrevocable. My family is one of the main things that have helped shape me into the responsible and capable person I'm yo day. One of my early memories winsome is of my mom working and going to school at the same time to take care of eleven kid son her own. We also used to have a garden and we would go there every day to take care of the plants. But my mom...show more content... This helped shape me into the person I'm today because she helps me to become more independent and self reliant . These are some of the things that help shape me into the person I'm today. So this is how my family, the people that I grow up around, some of the events In my life helped shaped me into the person I'm today. I feel that I have learned and experienced a lot from the people that adopted me and it had it had helped shape me into the person that I am today. I have many expectations for college. Some of those are that it is going to be exciting and demanding, but difficult at the same time at the same time, that I will meet many wonderful people, and I get all the information that I need out of it for the career that I have chosen. I have many fears about college and how it could go wrong. What I'm looking forward to the most is the life lessons that it can give me. The reason I expect college to be fun is because There are so many new people coming from so many different places trying to accomplish the same goal. I also know that it is going to be hard because there are a lot of people trying to do the same thing as you and it is going to be a lot more work than I'm used to doing. What I'm looking forward to the most is the life lessons that it is going to give me because it is going to help me out a lot more in the real world.Some of the things that I fear the most is the I go through it all and don't finish. I fear this because I

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Part A–Defining Identity Identity are traits that express who you are.The five traits that attributes to my Identity are stubborn, intelligent, creative, apprehensive, animated. If I had to describe my mother's Identity I would say my mother's attributes are strong, skilled, compassionate, independent, stubborn. My thought process of choosing attributes that describes myself and my mother are traits that really describe who we are, excluding gender or race. I did not want to include gender or race because those are unsubstantial things that contribute to a small degree of who you are. Stereotypically I am labeled as an African American female, but I am more than that. I wanted to be creative and really think of the traits that really...show more content...

My criteria of Privilege eliminates the need for intentional display of materialistic values. I prefer things that you need to live to be the true measure of privilege due to the fact there are people with less, which some may forget because they are not competent with what they do have. Privilege is an acknowledgment of what you have and that may vary with different people and how they choose to identity themselves. Others may contribute their wealth to being privileged and some may think having family and just being alive is a privilege. This is where the beauty of differences of Identity and perspectives of Privilege is displayed.

Time after time, the United States has shown to only help the rich population which is discussed in the article "Savage Inequalities"by Paul Street. This article states" the United States remains a harshly unequal society in which policy primarily serves the interests of the privileged 1 percent that owns roughly 40 percent of the nation's wealth". This article's perspective of privilege and power is attributed to wealth. It feeds into the assumption that if you are wealthy you are powerful and privileged more than an person who has less. My idea of privilege contradicts this because I believe being privileged is to have access to necessities and life in general which excludes the amount of wealth. Some

Nationality fosters identity. One's identity is usually traced back to one's culture and place of birth. But for me, nationality has fostered confusion. I was born in New York City and lived there for eight years; therefore I should identify as American. But when my family moved because my mother received a job transfer to Geneva, Switzerland, I was surrounded by a foreign language and culture. Living for the first half of my life among the diverse American population and spending the second half of my life surrounded by the homogeneous Swiss population sparked my curiosity. My exposure to two contrasting cultures shaped my perspective and allowed me to mature, as I learned to define myself and my ideals. My past allowed me to appreciate the value and privilege of learning–something that I had previously taken for granted. My curiosity cannot be shut down. When my middle school advisor in Geneva, Switzerland told me that science and mathematics were subjects I ...show more content...

These 7 AP courses have made me aware of how much there is to learn. I have barely scratched the surface. I discovered Absurdism and Existentialism when I read La Cantatrice Chauve, by Eugene Ionesco. I wanted to learn more about these philosophies, and my sophomore Honors English teacher agreed to help me create an independent study on Absurdism and Existentialism. These philosophies appeal to me because they help explain the world around me through another lens. Whereas science explains phenomena by making sense of what occurs through observation, absurdism rejects trying to make any sense and embraces the irrationality of reality. The juxtaposition of studying science, philosophy and literature, while relating these subjects to my past experiences of living in Europe and the United States, has allowed me to perceive the world from a unique Get

Personal Identity Nell Bernstein is the author of "Goin' Gangsta, Choosin' Cholita: Claiming Identity," an essay describing how the youth in certain parts of the country are choosing their preferred identity rather than accepting their own. For example, in Bernstein's essay a girl named April, living in California, wants to be Mexican; therefore, she dresses like and attempts to talk in the same accent as a true Mexican, even though she is Anglo. The essay also specifically talks about the state of California, where all this identity changing is happening due to the great diversity of race there. Bernstein claims that this is a positive situation when a youths choose an identity other...show more content...

The idea of people trying to change their identity just strikes me with stupidity. It is God's decision as to what color, nationality or such a person will be, and I believe He has a purpose for everything; therefore, each person should respect His decision with acceptance and serve Him well under the identity chosen for them. The biggest mistake of this essay is the misuse of the word "identity." Bernstein claims that, "Identity is not a matter of where you come from, what you were born into, what color your skin is," but rather, "It's what you wear, the music you listen to, the words you use..." (45). This is all wrong! Identity is exactly what she thinks it is not. The color of one's skin describes their race. That is one piece of their identity. Where they come from is their nationality. That is another piece. What they were born into, such as family, beliefs, religion etc...., is their culture, Furney 2 which is yet another piece. All these pieces together describes who a person is. Clothes, music, and accent only describe who a person appears to be. April, who is in fact Anglo and should be proud of it, dresses like a Mexican because she thinks this will make her Mexican, but it will not. Frankly, if I were Mexican and April came to me in her imitation Mexican costume trying to speak Spanish to me even though the only thing she probably knows in Spanish is, "Yo Queiro Taco Bell," it would annoy the hell out of me.

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My Identity Essays

Over the course of my life I have had many life experiences which have made me who I am today. When I was in my middle childhood, most of my life revolved around playing and having fun. I did not have to put forth effort in hardly any area of my life or work hard in order to achieve specific goals. As time went on however, my own life experiences began to have an effect on me, and shape the person I am today. My life started to change the most during middle childhood when I was around the age of seven years old. At this point in my life, I had to adjust to several big changes. Our family was moving from our old house in the county into a new house in the city. We had to do this, because my mom had just given birth to my younger...show more content...

As I went through elementary school I was not treated kindly by a large majority of my class. I was often the one singled out by others and excluded from activities. I am sure this has had an effect on my personality. Although I feel Erikson's psychosocial theory is correct, I believe it can be changed over time. At a young age, life experiences can play a large role in the shaping of a person's self–confidence and self–esteem. Even though an individual's past might not have been pleasant, as they get older they are able to gain awareness of past events and decide which ones will continue to have an effect on their lives (University of Illinois, 2013). The only year in elementary school I enjoyed was fifth grade. This school year was full of encouragement and kindness from my teachers. Their constant motivation and kind words gave me the confidence to improve my grades in school and interact more with my classmates. After fifth grade, my entire class and I left our old school, and relocated to the middle school. This change was not the easiest for me either. While elementary school was a tame and controlled environment, middle school gave students more freedom and was less strict on students. During middle school it was difficult for me to find a social reference group to associate myself

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