The Changing Identity free essay sample

The changing identity 2 Identity, personality, self, selfhood, individuality are the words that make a difference between people. Changing identity is really important in point to form new people. People can change their personalities at any period of their lives. Always they change individualities when they move to the next step in their lives and they are in a new society. First, young people always want to change their identities when they start a college. So, when they finished high school, they wish to be free from their old identities and show themselves as new better persons. Jennifer Crichton (1984) in â€Å"The Allure of a Fresh Start† said, â€Å"Going away to college gives us a chance to rinse off part of our past, to shake off our burdensome reputations†(p. 239). The period when young people change their old high school identities and try new identities se called â€Å"an identity crisis. † For most of the students it is a difficult time when they know nobody and nobody know them. Moreover, changing identity would not be so simple and predictable. From the first day in a college, students did what they came to college to do as Jennifer predicate, â€Å"Anonymous, alone, without even a name, I would start over and become the kind of person I was meant to be: like myself but better, with all my failures, rejections, and sexual indiscretions†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (p. 240). Also students sometimes afraid to show their changes for a public when they are at high school. Because people, who know their well enough, could see this changes and could convict or approve it. On the other hand, when young people live at home, they are under parents’ pressure. So, they wait for a college as for a chance to realize their dreams. For example, Crichton(1984) tell us about her friends Jacki and Dana who set their expectations too high because they want to show themselves as smart , kind, and look pretty girls. In addition, they believe that when they are playing at being smart and pretty and do this long enough that things will become them. However, when young people did not have something enough in their childhood, they want to get it later by different way. As an illustration Crichton (1984) talks about her another friend Joan, who wants to be like rich kids because she had â€Å"hardscrabble life. † Now she wears overpriced clothes and gets expensive haircut, but she makes a mistake telling about cause of study in a college. She just wants to be like her privilege classmates, but really she was â€Å"rootless, anxious, and alienated†¦ by extension, from herself This wasn’t change: this was lies† (p. 242). Crichton (1984) assumed, â€Å"She scared me. But we learn a lot about friends from the kinds of masks they choose to wear† (p. 42). Any changes are uncomfortable for people, but if they used to it long time, that characters become them. Therefore, Crichton(1984) told The changing identity3 about herself, she explain that always after playing a new role and returning to her old identity, she is a little different from what she was. She assumed that after finish college she became a different person and she said, â€Å"I have the slate of the rest of my life to write on. † Second, young people change their personality when they leave home. According to â€Å"I miss my family† by Hadley Moore (2002), young people try to confirm their maturity and success by leaving far from their parents. She also said,† my success and maturity would be measured largely by how far way from my family I went to attend my college and, eventually, get a job. † When she was in school just hour way from home, she always wants to move and took every opportunity to travel. But when she graduated school and choose a college that was several states away, she realized that was too hard to leave her parents. Moore (2002) said,† I was totally unprepared for the grief I felt† (p. 44). Also after graduating college and getting marriage she decide to move closer to her parents because she still miss her family. Moreover, she realizes that she changed her old identity and explored new self, who â€Å"should continue to love parents and even to ask their advice once in while† (p. 245). Furthermore, she discovered tha t her friends change their relationship with their parents after September 11when disaster occurred. But it only means that trouble and trauma could group together all family members for keep them safe. Moor calls us to keep our relationship with our family all the time. In my opinion, we have to always communicate with our parents. I, like Moore, always want to leave my parents and want to be free from parental discipline. When I was a student and left my home, I always missed my family. At that time I cold not call them and saw them just two times a year. After my graduating, I went to work to the school that was near my home. However, I still miss my parents a lot while I have my own children. I changed my old identity when I want to be free from my parents and explored new self who really loves and miss the parents. In additional, people have some situation when they have to change their identity. For example, when they immigrate to another country, where everything is new for them, they have to adapt their old identities to a new environment. More information about this topic I found in the article â€Å"Identity as a key to a learning English† by Fan Shen (2006). In this article he tries â€Å"to describe and explore this experience of reconciling my Chinese identity with English identity dictated by the rules of English composition† (p. 246). Author was born in a People’s Republic of China where words â€Å"I† and â€Å"myself† were identified The changing identity 4 like a â€Å"bad words† and they used â€Å"we† instead. When Shen(2006) wrote his first English paper he discovered, †that I had to reprogram my mind, to redefine some of the basic concepts and values that I had about myself, about society, and about the universe, values that had been imprinted and reinforced in my mind by my cultural background, and that had been part of me all my life† (p. 247). Moreover, he found that rule number one in English composition is,† Be yourself†, that means â€Å"Just write what you think. †(p. 247) It is really hard for people who grew up under pressure by Communist party where â€Å"I† was always subordinated to â€Å"we†. Shen (2006) explains to us how he was redefining himself by writing many â€Å"I’s† and after that he became more comfortable with only â€Å"the shadow of myself. † â€Å"The new â€Å"Self† helped me to remember and accept the different rules of Chinese and English composition and the values that underpin these rules. † (Shen, 2006, p. 49). He brought together his old cultural values and the new values required by English writing without losing past. In my opinion, when you immigrate to another country you pass through a very difficult period in changing your identity. I am immigrant and I have experience of adaptation in new country. I know how uncomforta ble you could feel if you know nothing about a country, people and language. I was a teacher in my country but I had to start learn English in Canada so I became a student. I had to change my personality and tried to be like Canadian people. Now, after eight years leaving in Canada, I discover how I changed my personality. I am different person from my old identity. Getting to know your new identity can sometimes to be difficult. But I do not lose my old identity and I am new person with my old culture values. In conclusion, all three authors show to us how people can change their identities when they change their life style. Also they change their minds and beliefs, so they become new better persons and try to change their personalities without losing former.