Roddy 1

Alexis Roddy

Jennifer Rodrick

English 115

October 19, 2017

Changing Identity Due to People and Surroundings

Have you ever been in a situation where you did not feel comfortable and felt the need to

change who you are to fit in? You make think that it is just for the moment, but if it continually

happens, it ultimately becomes a part of who you are. For example, you would not act the same

way sitting with someone in a professional situation as if you were sitting with your best friend.

It happens to everyone, and even if you don't think that you are being affected by some outside

source, you probably are. People's identities are majorly impacted by the people who surround

them, causing them to conform in different places and situations.

Think back to a time when you had not seen your family, maybe cousins, aunts and

uncles etc. Do you remember how everyone in that setting acted a certain way and then acted

different after not being surrounded by those people? When individuals are put in different

places and are surrounded by old friends or family, we tend to go back into our old habits or act a

certain way when we would not act like that if we were not in that space. In the article written by

Joan Didion On Going Home Didion gives an anecdote of how her personality changes when

she goes home to visit her family. Didion states My husband likes my family but is uneasy in

their house, because once there I fall into their ways, which are difficult, oblique, deliberately

inarticulate, not my husbands ways(Didion, 1). This demonstrates that her husband does not like

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to go to her family's house because she conforms to the way that her family acts when she gets

there. She is not exactly changing who she is she is just falling into old habits. That part of her

personality is just not brought out when she is just at home with her husband and kid. This

personal anecdote is an example of how people's identities can be affected by the space that we

are in and how we conform when when we are surrounded by different people. Where we are,

even if it is a place like home, we are always going to be shaped in some way or form.

Being in public places can shape who we are as well. People tend to conform when they

are put in public spaces in fear of being judged by others. They may have the pressure to act a

certain way because of expectations and social norms. In the article Black Men In Public

Space Brent Staples demonstrates how people adjust how they are in public spaces in fear of

being stereotyped. A consequence to changing who you are or conforming to the social norm

every time you go out will eventually change who you really are as a person. Staples states in his

article, I now take precautions to make myself less threatening. I move about with care,

particularly in the evening. I give wide berth to nervous people on the subway platforms during

the wee hours, particularly when I have exchanged business clothes for jeans (Staples 143).

This is demonstrating how he has changed and adjusted to his surroundings just so that he will

not be feared by others. People should not have to adjust themselves because individuals

stereotype them as dangerous. Society is so stereotypical that people have to conform to

something that is not who they truly are, and ultimately changes who they are as a person. Now

that he does these things every day it became who he was, and it was only because outside

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sources made him act that way. Our Identities are shaped by the people who surround us and

conform us when we are in certain places.

Certain instances can affect who you are by the space that surrounds us and the people in

those spaces. Our identities can change when our surroundings or outside sources change. In the

article Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self, written by Alice Walker, tells a story of

when she was little and how her life dramatically changed when a physical feature was damaged.

It affected her identity to the point that she would not raise her head because she was afraid of an

outside source judging her and bullying her. Her daughter made her feel content with herself, as

well as those who surrounded her, and made her feel good about herself. In her article Walker

says as I dance ,whirling and joyous, happier than i've ever been in my life, another bright faced

dancer joins me. We dance and kiss each other and hold each other throughout the night. The

other dancer has obviously come through all right, as I have done. She is beautiful, whole and

free. And she is also me(Walker 28). This is signifying that she has finally found peace with

herself and she now feels beautiful again. The only reason for this is because of mainly one

person and that is her daughter. This is important because it shows how you can be affected by

your surroundings. In a Ted Talk Video called How Do You Define Yourself Lizzie Velasquez

gives insight on how her identity was impacted. Lizzie Velasquez has a rare condition that does

not allow her to gain weight. She speaks about how she was bullied once she started school. She

tells us that she had a major support system that would not let her get discouraged because of

what she looked like. Having this support system led her to being confident in herself. and taking

the horrible comments from others and turning it into drive to be a better her. This shows that

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outside sources can affect who you are and in this case she took the bad and turned it into good.

This ultimately affected her because she grew as a person and found her true identity because of

those outside sources. These two instances go hand and hand because they both struggled with

being put down by others because of a physical feature. Since they surrounded themselves with

people who loved them for who they were and seen beauty in them, that really affected who they

were as people. Both of these demonstrate how people can impact your identity for the better. It

only takes something minor to change the view you have of yourself and that is why I feel that

our identities are so impacted by the space around us.

Individuals identities can be affected by a major event that happens to them in their life or

experiencing something that is impactful to them. In the Ted Talk Is Your Identity Given or

Created Marcus Lyon introduces the idea of how many of us define ourselves through

experiences and certain people in our lives. He tells the story of how he spoke with many

different people and asked them how they would define themselves. Lyon focused on four of the

people that he spoke with. Each person had told a story of why they acted the way they did, or

the reason why they are who they are today. One woman named Ana Claudia spoke on her story

of how when she was a little girl, her grandmother had her legs amputated. Ultimately having

that emotional effect as a child led her into doing medical practice so that others would not have

to suffer like her grandmother did. This shows that people's identities can be affected by other

people and in this case it was an incident that happened to another person close to her that made

her who she is today.

In conclusion there is different ways that people are affected by the space that surrounds

them. Identities are affected through people and our experiences with different people. It is not

so much the area that we are in that affects us. but it is the people in those spaces that really have
an impact on who we are, or how we define ourselves.All of these authors gave great examples

of how impactful our surroundings are on us humans. People are always going to conform in

different situations, and this can really affect who you are as a person.
Work cited

Didion, Joan.On Going Home. The Norton Reader: An Anthology of Nonfiction, edited by

Melissa A. Goldthwaite et al., shorter 14th ed., W.W. Norton, 2017, pp.1-3

Lyon, Marcus. Is Your Identity given or Created? | Marcus Lyon | TEDxExeter. YouTube,

Tedx Talks, 11 May 2016, youtu.be/-tJKGZ_xSZ0.

Staples, Brent. Black Men and Public Space. The Norton Reader: An Anthology of Nonfiction,

edited by Melissa A. Goldthwaite et al., shorter 14th ed., W.W. Norton, 2017, pp. 141-

143

Velasquez , Lizzie. How Do You Define Yourself? | Lizzie Velasquez | TEDxAustinWomen.

YouTube, Tedx Talks, 16 Jan. 2014, youtu.be/QzPbY9ufnQY.

Walker, Alice. Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self.The Norton Reader: An Anthology

of Nonfiction, edited by Melissa A. Goldthwaite et al., shorter 14th ed., W.W. Norton,

2017, pp. 22-28