Betarie 1 Joe Betarie Mr. Harrell English Comp 1 21 Oct.

2013

I.D. Identification can be a drivers license, social security card or even the friends we associate with. In the book The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinners Semester at Americas Holiest University the author, Kevin Roose, struggles with different forms of identity. Forms many others dare not to touch, the identity of religion. Identity is the fact of being who or what a person is. This includes a persons individuality, selfhood, and uniqueness. Roose was on a mission to expose how a Liberty student went on with their day-to-day activities in order to write his book. So he set off on his journey to become an evangelical student. Attending Liberty may add different beliefs to Rooses idea of himself and may confuse his own identity momentarily. However, everyones identity is an accumulation of the past, present and future. The Unlikely Disciple illustrates the fluctuating identities impeccably by demonstrating the struggles the characters endure. The school struggled with its own identity because of the leader Jerry Falwell. He had a lot of hype built up about him and that brought the school into the public eye multiple times. He made some astonishing acquisitions such as the September 11 attacks were caused by homosexuals and that the purple teletubby named Tinky Winky was intended as a gay role model because purple is a gay pride color and his antenna was a triangle. This strange homophobia existed all across campus and went to extreme levels.

Betarie 2 Roose writes, Guys, if you hear of any, you know, homosexuality in the dorm, let me know. I dont want anyone getting a crush on me, you know?(108). The students and the environment the school provided had the same intolerance that anything out of the norm is completely unacceptable. Jesus wouldnt love us any less if we were straight, gay, or lesbian, but Liberty feels strongly against that. Falwell struggled with the Christian stance on gay marriage so he tired to make his message known in a very unorthodox way. If one is struggling with their own identity they shouldnt be passing on their beliefs to others. In the end it could ruin the psychological thinking of any the followers. They could be messed up for the rest of their lives with the way they were taught to think things out. Who in their right mind would thing that a terrorist attack was caused by the Lesbians of the world? Liberty was just a little too much off its rocker for me. Liberty University also had their own mindset on how students should be living their life. They had the Liberty Way which was full of rules and regulations on what the students could and couldnt do. This made many people uncomfortable of doing anything out of the ordinary and if they chose they would be harassed. Roose writes, Every hour of the day is filled with hundreds of chances for error. Im scared to talk for fear of saying something immoderate. Im scared of eating in a group for fear of praying the wrong way before my meal or violating some biblical silverware law that I dont know yet(29). No one should be afraid of living and being at Liberty made Roose feel like that from the beginning. This college is stricter than anything Ive ever imagined. When at a university it is ridiculous to give out reprimands for the students watching an R-rated movie or to have a curfew. These are no longer toddlers. They are grown adults that deserve some respect and need to be able to live life on their own. My parents never

Betarie 3 even had those restrictions on me, so where does the school think they have the authority to tell me that I cannot kiss my own girlfriend? Its the school overusing their authority. One would think this kind of structure makes the students want to be more rebellious. This is proven by when we thought that the students obeyed and followed these guidelines. Roose also believed that the majority of the students followed the code of conduct. He was proven wrong at the end of his semester when some of Libertys students confessed to breaking the Liberty Code. So even though many of the students were thought to be the little angels of Liberty, they were just like the rest of the world, sinners. Even though many of the students didnt believe fully in the Liberty Way they still acted like sheep. Jerry Falwell was the Sheppard and the students of Liberty were the sheep that blindly followed him whether or not they believed every word he said. They were told what to do by a headmaster many of them have never even met. Thats a sign that they dont know what they believe in or who they are. At Liberty there was one way people could believe and it was their way. The school wanted the students to be lead by the blind in a journey of faith that was their way or no way. Roose writes, At the end of the lecture, the pastor addressed the two-hundred plus students in my class this way: I just want to say this, Liberty students. My biggest worry about you, about all of you, is that youll become educated beyond obedience(247-8). This backs up the theory on how Liberty had its own way of thinking and that they did not want the students to think out of the box, or at all. They should just do what theyre told and do not ask questions. In the text, Roose was shifting his beliefs a little bit. He was becoming more accustomed to praying all the time, asking for forgiveness and going to bible study. I

Betarie 4 truly felt as if he was going to change. He acted like the things that occurred at the school were not so crazy anymore and that maybe he could fit into an environment like that. His identity was still unchanged but his beliefs seemed to be shifting. Roose writes, All semester, Ive been worried about getting in over my head at Liberty, but what if its too late?(181). Basically, Roose was getting overwhelmed that he might actually be changing for the better or what he thought may have been worse. He was getting sick of what people would think about him back at Brown University. The typical identity of a student at Liberty was going to Bible study, attending the choir and having a clean-cut life. Roose didnt want people to think of him that way outside of Liberty Univesity. At this point Roose was getting kind of frustrated with his agenda. He was on a mission to gather as much info about Liberty as he could. Some roadblocks came inbetween him though. He met Anna, a pretty girl that Roose couldnt get out of his mind. She started to go out with Roose multiple times and he loved it. He thought of her as some sort of goddess. Unfortunately, they didnt last for as long as he had hoped. Roose started to see the true colors of everyone completely showing. After Dr. Falwell passed away, many things came out that no one expected. Anna revealed she didnt agree with the Liberty way and decided to leave the school next semester because of her difference in views. This was a relief to Roose. He had completely fallen in love with her and wanted things to last, but knew he was deceiving her. Throughout their whole relationship he felt like he was hurting Anna because she was way too church-like. This was a project, not a relationship. Unfortunately, Roose knew he was more of the secular world so they wouldnt belong together. All the identities in this book

Betarie 5 were twisted up. Even Leslie, who was portrayed as a feminist was a fake. She just led that lifestyle and made everyone believe that she thought women were superior. Identities some people depict to be like arent the ones that really represent them. For example, Anna who was supposed to be a bible-thumper who worshiped Jesus and wouldnt disobey anyone. In reality, she couldnt stand the level of strictness at Liberty. Leslie, the feminist who really wasnt one but faked people into thinking she was one just for the popularity. Even Jersey Joey had made some choices that other people did not know about. Not many of the so-called bible thumpers where any different than the rest of the world. On the inside the students knew who they were, but didnt want others to think of them any less, so they make each other believe what they were speaking was the truth. Roose had a set identity in the beginning of the book. He was a sinner that made his choices how he wanted to. He didnt worry about how theyd affect anyone else. He was the only one who actually knew who he was from the start and ended the same person in the end. Everybody struggles with identity and The Unlikely Disciple brings that idea into perspective. The students were under pressure by what their families taught them, what the school thought was right and their own viewpoints. However, we dont have to be religious or what others want us to be. We just have to be ourselves, even if that self is constantly evolving. A famous quote that represents identity is Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everyone I've ever known(Chuck Palahniuk). A piece of everyone that comes into our life is added to our collection which shapes who we are. How we keep ourselves original is our unique, unchanged, identity.

Betarie 6 Works Cited

Roose, Kevin. The Unlikely Disciple. A Sinners Semester at Americas Holiest University. New York: Grand Central,2009. Print. "Chuck Palahniuk Quotes." Chuck Palahniuk Quotes (Author of Fight Club). Goodreads, 1 Jan. 2013. Web. 01 Nov. 2013.