Identity Essay

Andrew Hamer

English 1100_35

September 2nd, 2015

Prof. Young

Identity of me

Identity, identity can mean a lot of things depending on how you think of it. It can simply mean your name if you want to break this down to its simplest point, it can mean who you are to others, or who you are to yourself. According to our class, identity is the uniqueness of a person. It is their religion, culture, traditions, gender, race, and how we see ourselves as well as others perceive us. I can definitely agree to this definition because many if not all of those examples can be different when comparing any two people. Much like how Gloria Anzaldua said in How to Tame a Wild Tongue “I am my language.”, I can agree and say that I am my traditions, I am my religion, and I am my culture. Each of these different ways of looking at identity change for everyone, but I believe that they are just as important to all of us. Identity is one of the most important things to me because when it comes down to it your identity isn't just who you are, it's what you are and what you want to be.

Obviously my name is Andrew so I’ve covered my identity at the simplest point possible, but who I am to others and to myself is something that is a lot harder to explain. I honestly don’t know what everyone thinks of me and who they identify me as. The few things I’ve been told about how others identify me is that I’m a nice guy, I am very dependable, and that my friends trust me. I don’t know if they were telling me the truth or not but I’d like to believe that my friends were being honest. If that is really how others identify me then I am pretty good with that. The fact that people identify me as someone that they trust and can depend on makes me feel amazing, and makes my identity that much more important to me. Especially since those are some of the traits that I identify myself with most of the time.