Research Paper Example on Identity

What is the true meaning of identity? Such a simple, but intricate query. The definition of identity varies for each person; some may say identity is based on appearances, such as race or gender, and others may say it is based on personality. Both definitions are arguable and justified because either of these meanings is used to identify the average individual. The complete definition of identity according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary is “the distinguishing character or personality of an individual: individuality”, and is arguably the most agreeable definition. Although a person can be identified, either negatively or positively by their features and outward appearance, such as their race, sex, weight, etc., a person's identity is what differs them from the masses, and that is created through personal experiences and the decisions that a person makes in their lifetime. 

Take, for example, Brent Staples in his essay, “Black Men and Public Space”. In this essay, he analyzed the manner in that people regarded him due to his appearance, a “black man- broad six feet two inches with a beard and billowing hair” (Staples 618). His demeanor caused the multiple people whom he passed by and met to view him in a negative light; as a hooligan, a burglar, a rapist, and as a threat to themselves and the people around them. However, this viewpoint is far from who Brent Staples was as a person. When Staples was recalling the day when he was walking on a street near Hyde Park and a young white lady noticed him and bolted away in a panic because of her negative view on Staples, he was a “graduate student newly arrived at the University of Chicago” (Staples 618). This demonstrates the striking difference between the ways we are identified and our identity, or who we are as a person. Staples coming off as intimidating is not part of his identity, but what could be is the way he whistles when he walks down the street, him being an author or his love for writing. These factors of Staples were selected by him, and/or were made from personal experience.

Another example is in the New York Times essay, “Choose Your Own Identity” by Bonnie Tsui. She attempts to explain the concept of race to her five-year-old son, and why her son is Chinese, but her son refuses to accept and then denies this assertion. She goes on to defend his claim, admitting that although her son’s reply did hurt her, this was his choice at the end of the day. The son preferred not to use his race as part of his identity, or the way people view him. This ideology is similarly seen in the essay by Zora Neale Hurtson, “How It Feels to be Colored Me”. While she is not opposed to the idea of being the race that she was assigned like Tsui’s son, she chooses not to add her race to her identity, and decides to use her personality, mimicking the way she was seen in her hometown before she realized that she was “colored”. Both of these examples demonstrate the dissimilarity between how a person is identified and their identity. These two individuals have distinct factors that differentiate them from each other, Hurtson is an African-American female, and Tsui’s son is half Asian, but they both choose to not add this factor to their identity, because that is something that they pick for themselves, such as Zora’s love for jazz music or the fact that Tsui’s son eats Chinese food.

However, if a person likes, they can use the features of their outward appearance to be part of their identity. In “On Being a Cripple”, Nancy Mairs reveals why she uses the term “crippled” to describe herself, and why the label is part of her identity. “I am a cripple. I choose this word to name me” (Mairs 580). She explains that although at first she hated the term and she disliked herself for being crippled, she grew to overcome that self-loathing, and went on to reclaim the word. But even then, it was a decision that she made, not something that a person forced her to accept. Later in the essay, she clarifies that although she does use the term crippled to describe herself, she is “not a disease” (Mairs 586). She sees other parts of herself which add to her identity, such as being “a terrible housekeeper” or being able to “play a fiendish game of scrabble” (Mairs 580). A person can still use their appearance to be part of their identity, but that must be a choice that they make. 

All individuals are identified through several factors, often specifically based on the way that they look. These characteristics can accurately describe a person’s outward appearance but can be completely inaccurate in describing a person’s identity. In all of these sources, the authors reveal that identity is not what society describes a person as, but what we choose to describe ourselves and what we choose to make us who we are. And although sometimes an individual may select one of their labels to be part of their identity, it was a choice that they made based on whatever event or experience that happened to them, physically or mentally.