Self-Identity
by Duc Nguyen
Some animals identify one another by scent. For human beings, the process of identifying oneself is more complex. It involves racial make-up, cultural background, political ideology, educational, professional, economic status, and lifestyle of choice. For the subjects in the essays, though the process of creating identities varies according to the environment, their reasons for assimilating self images is to simply fit in to satisfy the demands from society.
A person view’s of the world and his relation to it is affected by the understanding of an ideology, underlying a society which it supports (Shen 534). In the process, one develops an identity, which becomes the standard of his overall thinking (Shen 535). For the author, to excel in English writing, he creates an identity accordant to the capitalist society. In Fan Shen’s case, defining and accepting an ideology is an important process in creating an identity in the social structure of that society (534). In effect, one must see and understand the implication of the social and political structure of society to clearly define oneself (Shen 539). Political ideology, being an important force in molding one’s view of the universe, is a crucial factor in the identity creation process.
Identity creation is also attributed to the pressure of the environment. Due to certain expectations based upon cultural…