Photo: Anh Quân
One influence that strongly impacts the creation of one’s identity is family, as it can teach a person a variety of different morals,lessons, and philosophies. As a result of a family having to live, care, and motivate each other for their whole lives, influencing each other is a common and natural effect . An example would be Atticus teaches Jem and Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, “I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” (Lee 92). Atticus is telling his children an important ethic: it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. As a result of this interaction, Jem no longer bothers with Boo Radley, a symbolic “Mockingbird" in the story. Ethics and morals are, in fact, not only the basics in living a deep and meaningful life, they are also important in character development. Furthermore, family can also influence an individual’s identity because family can help encourage and support an individual through life, thus resulting in the individual’s success. An example would be Jing Mei's mother, who motivates and encourages her child when she commented “"Of course, you can be a prodigy, too," my mother told me when I was nine. "You can be best anything. What does Auntie Lindo know?”” (Tan 2). Jing Mei’s motivating mother told her daughter that she can become a prodigy, despite what her aunt says. As a result of this encouragement, her daughter tried many distinctive activities and test herself with different subjects. If it wasn’t for her mother, Jing Mei wouldn’t try anything new, thus resulting in a fruitless life. Family can influence one’s identity in many different ways, ranging from simple but important ethics, to life changing encouragements. No matter how they affect one’s character, it is undoubtable that the influence brought on by family is an important one, but family isn’t the only influence that can affect the creation of an individual’s identity.
Another influence that can affect a creation of one’s identity is society, which surrounds an individual’s everyday life. Depending on what kind of society an individual formerly or currently lives in, his perspective and his fate, both important part of his identity, can be altered and influenced in many ways. For example, Juror 10, a character in 12 Angry Men by Reginald Rose, announces his perspective to other jurors when he barked:
“ Look, you know how those people lie. l don't have to tell you. They don't know what the truth is. And lemme tell you, they...don't need any real big reason to kill someone either.You know, they get drunk, and bang, someone's lying in the gutter. Nobody's blaming them. That's how they are. You know what I mean? Violent!” (Rose 27).
Juror 10 directly states that “those people” are a violent and untrustworthy kind of people. It can be concluded that Juror’s 10 perspective is biased and distorted by society. Be it good or bad, society changes an individual’s perspective in a particular situation. As a result of society's influence, Juror 10’s perspective on “those people” are distorted negatively to view them as animals and criminals instead of human beings. Looking at the bigger picture, this further proves how much society can affect and shape a person’s perspective, which is a vital part in one’s identity. On another note, society can also affect the creation of one’s character by determining who they are in society and even in their future. Both are important in the creation of one’s identity. An example of this can be proven in the short story, “The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury, when Mr. Mead is being forcefully being taken away to be aggressively changed: “"Where are you taking me?"The car hesitated, or rather gave a faint whirring click, as if information, somewhere, was dropping card by punch-slotted card under electric eyes. "To the Psychiatric Center for Research on Regressive Tendencies."” (Radbury 2). It is suggested that since Mr. Mead is not conforming to the current society, he is being taken away to be changed to fit into society. More importantly however, this shows how society can forcefully and aggressively affect an individual’s character. In his current situation, Mead has chosen to be a social outcast, which directly affected him since he is forcefully being taken away and changed to what society sees fit. Through these reasons, it can be concluded that society is one of the factors that strongly influences the creation one’s character in many different ways.
Even though there are many influences that impacts the creation of one's identity, both family and society has the strongest influence in the makings of one's identity. All the information from the evidence further proves and supports the thesis since all of the evidence help proves a point: in “To Kill A Mockingbird" and “Two Kinds", the family members influenced each other by both teaching them different morals, such as not to kill a mockingbird, and motivate each other to achieve greatness, such as when Jing Mei’s mother told her she can become a prodigy. As a result of motivation and teaching ethics, an individual's identity can be influenced by family. In “The Pedestrian” and “”12 Angry Men", both juror 10 and Mr. Mead were influenced by society. Juror 10’s perspective was altered by society, while Mr. Mead we force to be taken away because he wasn't conforming to society. Nonetheless, all of the evidence concludes that society and family will strongly influence the creation of one's identity. It is vital for readers to take away how important and influential society and family is in their lives, and realize how much of their identity are influenced by society and family.
Doãn Quốc Sỹ Tâm
Work Citation
Bradbury, Ray. “ The Pedestrian.” Literature & Language Arts. Ed. John Layden and Hester Weeden. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2003, 47-51. Print.
Lee, Harper. To Kill A Mockingbird. New York: Hachette Book Group, 1960. Print.
Rose, Reginald. Twelve Angry Men. A Book of Plays. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2000. 218-256. Print.
Tan, Amy. “Two Kinds”. Literature & Language Arts. Ed. John Layden and Hester Weeden. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2003. 98-107. Print.
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