PERSONAL IDENTITY
A personal identity is, well hard to explain. It is who you are. There is no definition that can accurately describe a personal identity. It is not only the personality of a person, but also their beliefs, where they come from, their experience in life, their position in society, and more. It is always changing. Every second of the day, you are changing, but there are good and bad ways to change.Letting someone convince you to change is a bad thing. In “the Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Georgianna had a birthmark that her husband, the scientist, didn’t like. He wanted her to be perfect, to change who she really was into the perfect being. He tried many things, and at one point even Georgianna herself started to think she was imperfect. She had changed the way she was, because someone else wanted her to. Her personal identity changed.
A good example of changing is "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho. In the Alchemist, the main character is a shepherd who wanted to travel. His name is Santiago. Santiago had a dream that he would find treasure in Egypt. He took a journey across Egypt and learned the hard way how to live and find himself. He lost all his money, but worked at a crystal shop. He helped the owner of the crystal shop by giving him advice, and in turn the man gave him money to get to the pyramids. He followed another man there, but got stopped at the
oasis. There,
he found the love of his life, fought against invaders, and met the alchemist. The alchemist agreed to help him on his life’s journey. At the very end, when Santiago found where the treasure was, he realized he had been there all along. And that selling his sheep in the very beginning, was probably the best thing he could have done. He found that he really wanted to travel, and that there were many other ways to travel besides being a shepherd. Santiago let others influence his decisions, but they weren’t forcing him to change. He took suggestions and listened to others, but he made his own decisions and did what he was passionate about, traveling. Change comes without you forcing it, otherwise it is not you. So go out there and live life to its’ fullest, because your personal identity will be there, as long as you don’t force it.
Article based on information from The Birthmark and The Alchemist
Photo from Arapahoe House
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