Who are you? |
A mother, a brother, a sister, a father, a friend, a cousin, a wife, a husband, a writer, an athlete, an artist, an aunt, an uncle, a liver of life; who are we? What makes us, us? The people that encircle us, the experiences that sculpt us, the culture that surrounds us. All of these pieces scramble together to fabricate our existence─ our identity. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always turn out to be a favorable thing. With that being said, we cannot decide our identity, but rather who we surround ourselves with to shape it. A caged animal for instance, if it was locked up for all of its existence
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Environment |
Identity
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Who are we? |
We are a product of our environment. |
Dolls |
just a doll in her dollhouse. |
Who they are: who they become. |
people are a product of their environment, whether they like it or not. |
Make a difference. |
A Naïve "Woman" |
A prime example of this idea, that we are a product of our environment, shows up in Henrik Ibsen’s play "A Doll’s House," where a petite wife just cannot seem to find her place. Disastrously, this all arises on account of her dear husband, Torvald. Ibsen uses a variety of pet names like "song bird" (Ibsen, 1094) and "squirrel," (Ibsen, 1093) to assure the reader understands that Nora, the wife, is just a “foolish,” (Ibsen, 1102) and rather naïve, "child" (Ibsen, 1100) in an adult’s body. This childishness can be picked out by the reader all within the first act. Nora’s husband was not the only person who sculpted her helplessness, the maid, children, and father all played their own roll in the making of her identity. The maid cleaned, cooked, and looked after the children, leaving Nora to shop
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Mass Destruction This patronizing was what eventually destroyed her. With no worldly experience, Nora made frivolous decisions, one in particular tied her into a dangerous deal with a dubious man─ Krogstad. This relationship started the conflict that led to the downfall of her marriage; all because she simply didn’t know any better: all because her environment never taught her any better. 48 hundred crowns from “daddy” (Ibsen, 1102) just wasn’t enough anymore. This lack of upbringing deprived Nora of finding her authentic self. Nora was just a trophy doll wife in a trophy doll house. Not a prehistoric clay doll, but a polyvinyl chloride Barbie Doll. With everything in her environment being given to her with the point of a finger, Nora didn’t get a chance to learn common courtesy, let alone business and laws. Nora was just a doll in her dollhouse. Although it took her eight years to finally see this, she eventually did. Nora finally realized that she knew nothing of her place in this world and that she must discover it in order for things to change. She was tired of being "blind, [and] inexperienced" (Ibsen, 1150). Nora knew it couldn't be done in her own home so she left her "duties to your [her] husband and your [her] children" (Ibsen, 1150) with nothing more than a goodbye and slammed door.
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A Drowning Environment Another example of how environment shapes a person is shown in The Yellow Wallpaper, a short story by Charlotte Gilman, which expresses a sick woman who is isolated by her husband who "does not believe I [she] is sick" (Gilman, 8). While her husband is “kept in town very often,” (Gilman, 4) she is left home all alone during the day. Eventually this leads to a worsening of her mental state. The woman becomes poisoned with depression and various other diseases like schizophrenia and synesthesia. She started seeing "a woman stooping down and creeping about" (Gilman, 5) the wallpaper, and claimed she tasted "a delicious garden" (Gilman, 1). She also experienced extreme "nervousness" (Gilman, 2) and "silly fantasies" (Gilman, 5). Proving that her isolation, or negative environment, led to negative outcomes. If she was only handled with more love and care, she might’ve had a better future and health ahead of her. It truly shows how one must be careful with how they treat someone because their actions impact those around them, both positively and negatively whether they like it or not. Overall, this shows that one’s environment does impact who they are: who they become.
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i·den·ti·ty
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Back to the Real World Coincidentally, many scientists also make this claim: environment affects people. Bickhard, a professor from Lehigh's premier research University, explores this in his report “How Does the Environment Affect the Person?” In his report he relays his studies on how human’s environmental influences impact their brain development and skill level. Bickhard talks about how the brain processes information through the senses, and how that information relays in people’s actions (Bickhard, 2015). Since everyone experiences different situations and information, they gain a unique personality: a unique identity. With Bickhard and many other scientists coming to this conclusion, it can be said one more time: we are a product of our environment.
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To the Movies An American Comedy Trading Places, directed by John Landis shows this concept beautifully. Although portrayed in a more comical sense, the film shows how people do not choose who they become, but rather how their surroundings and upbringings choose them. The film follows a storyline of two polar opposite men. One, a wealthy white man who works for a top-notch company, has a maid, a trophy wife, and a beautiful home, and another who is a homeless, poor, and unemployed black man raised in a "troubled home." Although the first man had a bright future ahead of him, his boss had other plans. After running into this unemployed black man, it seemed only fitting to him to have a little "experiment." The boss then managed to switch the places of the white and black man, the results showed a fitting transformation. The roles of each man followed that of their surroundings. Although just a film, it relays the claim quite well: people are a product of their environment, whether they like it or not.
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The best of one world Another more real life example appears in foster care programs. Although many children have rough childhoods, when brought into a family with positive surroundings, they are often able to flourish and succeed in the real world. Unfortunately, if in poor surroundings, many children don’t get the chance to reach their full potential. They aren't able to find their talents and skills, they have limited resources and funds. Their life is a fragile trip wire waiting to be triggered. A fine example of this shows up in a personal story of my own. Being a foster host family, my family gets first hand experience with foster children and their stories.
My story with the three kids ─ Thomas, Ashlin, and Dez ─ begins in a positive flourishing environment that holds both consistency and love. The children move-in in early December of 2015, the transition period was everything but smooth, for leaving your family is never easy. But with time the kids began to flourish and strive, they each excelled in both school and sports, and had many friends without being afraid of bringing them home. Fortunately, or unfortunately, whichever way you choose to look at it, they were placed back home with their mother, who had done enough to receive her rights back. After moving back in with her, they have switched schools three different times within one semester, one has become an alcohol and drug abuser at the age of twelve, and caught stealing a car and shop lifting on various occasions. Another struggles with depression and anxiety, and the third is only eight, but struggles with school from the lack of support. This is just one of the countless examples that show up amongst the foster care program, although each unique in verse, they all reiterate the same claim: we are a product of our environment. |