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Abby Flanagan
Mrs. Wenick
Honors English Foundations I
6 January 2017
Can you create your own identity?
I am growing up in a small town. The town that is small enough to the point where
everyone knows everyone in some sort of way. Whether it be through sports, school, or even
friend groups. I feel as though my identity is made up of many factors whereas someone elses
identity can be made up of one major event that took place in their life. Everyones identity is
different in their own unique way. A person can definitely create their own identity. There are
many ways that an identity can be created. It doesnt have to be just one specific event, but the
many special events that lead up to it. We can create our identities using many different factors.
Our identities can be created by the environment in which we live in, the people we spend our
lives with, and the history of the place you are from.
Our identities can be created through the environment we live in. The environment you
live in can affect your identity and personality in many different ways. It can also affect the way
someone perceives you to be and who you are. For example, the people who live in the inner
city may be perceived as if they aren't nice, well kept, or they are not as privileged as someone
from a place like New Fairfield. In In the Inner City, Lucille Clifton states, In the inner city/
or/ like we call it/ home (Clifton, 1-4). This quote shows that the people who live in the inner
city, refer to it as home. The environment you live in most definitely has a huge impact on your
identity. You will have a very different personality and identity if you grow up in a place like the
inner city or in a small town like New Fairfield. The environment you grow up and live in shapes
your identity more than you know, you shouldnt let the people inside the place shape your
identity. You shouldnt let what other people think about you affect your decisions to make for

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yourself. You shouldnt let the the place and the surroundings around you in your life affect who
you are, although they can still have a huge impact on what creates your identity.
The identity of a person can also be created through the people in their life and the people
they spend most of their time with. The people in our lives can have a huge impact on what
makes up our identity. In The Necklace, Madame Loisel became very self-conscious of her
looks because of the people she was friends with. Since she was not the wealthiest woman in
town, she didnt have clothes as nice as some of her friends. She then slowly began to change the
way she dressed and acted so she can fit in with the people around her. The people in our life
impact someones identity because we try to fit in and make people like us. That can have both a
negative and positive outcome on our personality and identity. The day of the party drew near,
and Madame Loisel seemed sad, uneasy and anxious (de Maupassant, 2). This shows that
Madame Loisel was very anxious because she did not have clothes that she felt were proper to
wear to the event. She was scared what her friends and the people in her town would think of her
if she did not arrive in a beautiful gown. Madame Loisel would always act the way she thought
people would want her to act. She was never herself. You shouldn't let the people in your life
contradict what decisions you make, although people are a big part of your identity.
The final way we can create our own identities is knowing the different history of the
place we live. The history of our home will definitely affect how an identity can be created. For
example, in the Ted Talk: Pico Iyer, Pico Iyers identity was made up (not from where he is
from) but where he was born. He knew that he was from India so he knew how to speak and act
as if he was Indian. This also comes back to what was said before. Pico was also seen as an
Indian because of the way he acted during the Ted Talk. Although he was able to speak Indian,
that does not mean that he was born and raised in India. During the Ted Talk, Pico said, I can't

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speak even one word of it if its more than 22,000 dialects. So I don't think I've really earned the
right to call myself an Indian (Iyer, 0:39). He knew both the history and the heritage of both
America and India which was how he was able to act as if he was Indian. Even though he was
born and raised in America, his family is from India. His heritage would also play a major role in
the creation of his identity. He was able to know how Indians act because he knew his heritage
very well. His identity is made up of being Indian and American and having both of those
heritages.

Our identities can be created in many different ways using many different factors in many
different ways. The environment we live in can shape a persons identity through the way the
environment in which you live in is perceived to be. The people we are surrounded by also have
a major impact on the making of someone's identity through the opinions and the different
judgments of the person you are trying to be like or impress. The history of the place we live can
affect the creation of someones identity because if you live in a place that you are not from, the
history of your home can help you shape who you are. Although there are many other factors that
can contribute to the making of a persons identity, I feel as though these three factors are the
most important in creating an identity of a person.

MLA Works Cited

Clifton, Lucille. In the Inner City NYU School of Medicine,
http://medhum.med.nyu.edu/view/197. 5 January 2017
de Maupassant, Guy. The Necklace. Literature, edited by Allen, Janet, 1st ed., McDougal
Littel, 2008, 1-7

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Iyer, Pico. Pico Iyer: Where is home? TED Talk. TEDGlobal 2013, June 2013. Web. January 6,
2017.