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LaShalar Muhammad

Ms.Sroka

Writing

April 26, 2017

Nothing limits you like not knowing your limitations. This is a quote written by Tom

Hayes. This quote basically means that as you get older you will start to understand how your

identity is shaped. In the text Where Im From by George Ella Lyons perspective on identity is

that your identity is shaped by your background, and where you come from. In the text Eleven

by Sandra Cisneros says that as you get older you identity starts to build on. The similarities

that both authors have in their poem as using the background to shape your identity in some

way, the differences is that Cisneros uses build up more than background.

Both of the authors believe that background and upbringing shaped your identity, but

they have a slightly different view of childhood. The author of Where Im From says that she is

from the dirt under the back porch. (Black, glistening, it tasted like beets.) (Lyon) As she

grows up she can see that the things that were at her old house, shaped her to be who she is

today. Since her parents were religious she memorizes ten verses (Lyon) She had to learned

to recite verses from the bible because her parents were very religious people, so when she

gets older her background will make her a religious person. Therefore, Lyon believes that your

identity is shaped by your background and how you are raised. In Eleven, she also believes that

upbringing shapes your identity. However, she believes everything you experience in your life

builds to shape who you are, not just the way you are raised. As you get older some people

dont get that youre eleven, youre also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five,
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and four, and three, and two, and one. (Cisneros) As each birthday comes around your identity

builds, and you still have all of the younger ages inside of you. As you get older you will realized

that sometimes you wouldnt want to be that age because all the years inside of meten, nine,

eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and oneare pushing at the back of my eyes (Cisneros)

As you get older you may feel like what you're experiencing is too much, so you would fight for

all the younger ages to stay deep down inside. Both of the authors believe that identity is built

by the background, but the authors have slightly different views on how identity is formed.

Another similarity that the two poems Where Im From and Eleven share, is that they

both use rhetorical devices. One main rhetorical device that both of the poems use is repetition.

Ella Lyon discusses her upbringing by repeating I am from (Lyon) By her saying that she is

showing all of the things that helped shape her to who she is today. Sandra Cisneros discusses

how identity is a build up by repeating when youre eleven, youre also ten, and nine, and eight,

and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one. (Cisneros) She is talking

about how every time you turn another age you will still experience every single age, that you

already went through. During both of the poems Where Im From and Eleven both of the

authors use repetition inside of their poems, so that they can make their point clear to the

reader.

The authors perspective that I mostly agree with is Scars by David Owen. I agree with

this poem because I believe that the scars on your body really help shape your identity,

because you can tell a story with your body. I mostly connect with this poem because I have

scars on my body and I can look at most of all of my scars and be able to tell a person exactly

how I got the scars. Owen could think back to when him and his friends had cherry bombs, too,

and one of those blew up a few inches above my left foot. In your life you could do something

that you think is fun, and you get a scar, so then that fun thing now becomes a memory on your
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body, forever. As you get older your body will become kind of historical document, As you get

older all of your scars builds up and become something you could look back at. If you try to

remember all of the happiest memories you would remember that the most vivid memories

involved accidents. (Owen) If you try to tell somebody at your memories and remember all the

scars on your body.

In conclusion the two authors believe that upbring and your background helps shape

your identity the most. At the same time the authors have slightly different views on how

background and upbring shapes your identity. Both of the authors used rhetorical devices, the

rhetorical device that both authors used is repetition. I think every person has their own identity

and beauty. Everyone being different is what is really beautiful. If we were all the same, it would

be boring.
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Works Cited

Where I'm From, a Poem by George Ella Lyon, Writer and Teacher. Web. 01 June 2017.

Owen, David. "Scars." The New Yorker. The New Yorker, 31 May 2017. Web. 01 June 2017.

Cisneros, Sandra. Eleven. 1994. Web.