Identity

Identity as a theme in the texts

Identity is a term that has come up a lot so far in this class. Characters struggle to figure out who they are, whre4 they fit in the world, and what identity itself means. Write an essay in which you discuss at lest three different works – at least 1 from the first half of the term and one from the second half of the term – in terms of identity. What does each work have to say about what it means to be who you are and how you figure out who you are, and how are these works’ comments on this idea similar or different.

Identity is what one associates himself to be and a feeling of self worth. Identity is what tells a person he or she is actually alive. The search for self identity and a sense of “fitting in” is seen as the short stories The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie, Everyday Use by Alice Walker, and the book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Ron DeLilo. The antagonist in The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven searches for his own identity and a sense of belonging, much like a character in Everyday Use. One of the main themes that the book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is identity and self worth, and the struggle for survival that each identity brings. The stories I’ve chosen also have in them the constant struggle between self identity and social/external influences.

A loss of self identity is seen in the following passage in The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven:

Sometimes, though, I would forget where I was and get lost. I’d drive for hours, searching for something familiar. Seems like I’d spent my whole life that way, looking for anything I recognized. (page 488)

This passage deals with the narrator being lonely and lost, as well as struggling to overcome the expectations of the communities that he belongs to. The narrator does not know where he fits into the world because of his race, prejudices, and life style. When he talks about “looking for anything [he] recognizes,” he is referring to, not only physical things, but also his inner feelings and memories that associate him back to his culture and race, which may lead to his identity. This shows the struggle between individual identity, and the identity that is influenced by social/external forces.

Everyday Use deals with identity in a different way. Dee wants to find her cultural identity through material possessions instead of actually living the lifestyle of her mother and sister who are the result of the culture. The interpretation is seen in the following passage where Dee is speaking to her mother:

“That’s it!” she said. “I knew there was something I wanted to ask you if I could have.” She jumped up from the table and went over to the corner where the churn stood, the milk in it clabber by now. She looked at the churn and looked at it.

“And I want the dasher, too.” (page 432)

The churn has been used by her mother and Maggie, and Dee takes it, not appreciating the craft of the churn and dasher as mother does:

I took it for a moment in my hands. You didn’t even have to look close to see where hands pushing the dasher up and down to make butter had left a kind of sink in the wood. In fact, there were a lot of small sinks; you could see where thumbs and fingers had sunk into the wood. It was beautiful light yellow wood, fro ma tree that grew in the yard where Big Dee and Stash had lived. (page 433)

Dee is only using the churn top as centerpiece for her table and the dasher for “something artistic.” Dee is unsure of what part of her culture she wants to identify herself with. There is family connection of generations through the house, quilts, churn, and dasher, but Dee is selective of the items she chooses because of the history some items carry. This again shows the struggle between individual identity and group/culture association, and the identity that is influenced by social/external forces.

In the book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, identity is a main theme. The humans, androids, and specials all have different levels of belonging in the society. Androids and specials want to identify themselves as humans because humans are the “ideal.” Self identity and how society identifies a person is also present in this book.

Speaking up, Eldon Rosen said hoarsely, “We selected her as your first subject. She may be an android. We’re hoping you can tell.” He seated himself in a series of clumsy motions, got out a cigarette, lit it, and fixedly watched.

Not only is Rachael pretending to be human, she is wanting to be human. Some androids in this book do not believe that they are androids, and identity is what they are after. They want to be identified as humans because humans have the benefit of survival. They also have feelings and intelligence, unlike androids and specials. There is a very thin line between actual identity and presumed identity, even with the Voigt-Kamphff scale, and society, once again, plays an important role in determining this identity.

Identity is determined in many ways, but society always makes up a major part of who a person is, and with what a person associates himself to belong. Identification through race and culture is seen in the first two stories The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven, and Everyday Use. In these stories, there is a struggle between ones race/culture and how they want to identify themselves with that race/culture. Whereas, in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, identity is a means of survival. Knowing who one is brings about the realization of one’s life expectancy. Finding oneself and where one belongs is a journey that everyone must face. The three stories that I have talked about have very different perspectives on identity and the role that each identity takes on. It is a process with many stages, but coming to terms with ones identity is only the beginning of another very long journey; sometimes more than one identity exists.