Black like i thought i was/ No name woman/ mixed messenger - Essay Example

Black like i thought i was Describe changes in the way individuals understand themselves and their identitiesAccording to the articles under discussion, once people truly come to learn the truth about them, they change the way they have perceiving themselves and the people close to them. It is like having a new perspective or an insight into their life which did not exist before. An example is in the “black like I thought I was” article where Joseph discovers that he has no black DNA even though he has been living all his life as a black individual.

This threw his whole life and that of his children as they knew it into confusion. He started gaining an understanding of himself not in relation to any racial or ethnic background as he discovered he had several but as an individual entity (Mauk and John 127).In the “No name woman” article, the author explains about her background and the rules that are not reasonable and oppressive which she does not agree with. According to her, her own sense of identity does not lie in her cultural backgrounds but in her as an individual.

Her own decisions and sense of style and belonging are simply her own choosing not following what she is being taught by her mother or what her ancestors did. She decides to derive her happiness through her own choices and decisions just like her aunt did before drowning herself and her child. Draw conclusion about identity and about how we can change over timePeople do not always have to follow the designated path of life or he life choices being made to them simply because they belong to a particular culture or way of life.

Identity creation process takes time as one weighs the pros and cons of the present. If the current life choices, decisions and actions do not elicit happiness in an individual, they have every right to seek happiness in another way and this may as well require forming a new identity as well. These changes of identity may not be immediate but eventually they will come and full identity change will be achieved. Different ways of life have been making people similar with others which do not really sit well with every person.

Listening to tales about other people’s lives and courageous acts is what contributes to the change of identity in others. This does not mean that an identity change is inspired always by others; it may as well be inspired by an individual himself or herself. When an identity change is inspired by oneself, the change is bound to take a shorter time to be acquired but will last longer. If people desire to change their identity over time, they must seek inspiration. They must have something that will also motivate them and drive them towards the change.

This may not always be easy and especially for a large group of people but it does not mean that it is impossible. Once an inspiration lands and people are really determined to change their identity, nothing can stand in the way and this is what the three articles conclusively indicate. Work CitedMauk, John and John Metz. The Composition of Everyday Life. New York: Cengage Learning, 2013.