South Africans, both whites and oppressed blacks, struggle to find an identity. ... The search for self-identity can only be found by looking within. ... Coming to terms with a life-changing event must be the first step in finding personal identity. ... Only self-questioning and the obtainment of answers through change can create personal identity. ... Life must be led separate from any other in order to have this identity different from any other. ...

• Word Count: 795
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

In Toni Morrison's novel Song of Solomon, she explores several significant male identities by developing and metamorphisizing her male character aroubd the archetypal search for identity. ... His identity was their identity and in realizing their history and their lives, he could form a true black male identity of his own. ... Everyone wants Milkman's identity because he is the key to their own personal truth. ... Guitar loses himself in the false illusions of the black male identity, and instead of heading off on a search for his own identity he looks to violence and revenge and lo...

• Word Count: 1366
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Throughout the book the people of Maycomb are set on the idea that "Negros" are bad people therefore Tom, never gets to create his own identity. ... Identity makes up who you are as a person; conformity is the type of social influence. Imagine a society that determines your identity and automatically sees you as inferior. ... The right to create an identity that you choose, and the right to live in the community as equals....

• Word Count: 814
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

It also explains identity development in adolescence, helps us understand how adolescents cope with racist encounters, how academic achievement is viewed amongst black youths, and why adolescents search for alternative images or role models. ... Crossing racial boundaries with ease is uncommon during the adolescent stage because during puberty adolescents start to question self-identity, and they start to think about who they are ethnically and what it means to be black. ... Our black community is very much divided and there is a continuous struggle to learn about our identity and realizing ...

• Word Count: 848
• Approx Pages: 3

She suggests that strong nationality and patriotism are dangerous because the sense of identity that results from them can lead people to disregard the rights of individuals of different identities. ... She believes that human rights should not be concentrated on single national identities. ... Du Bois would recognize that Nussbaum fails to identify the historical power of particular identities around the world. He believes that identity is the key factor for achieving a true citizenship. ... Black Americans were not true citizens because they were unaware of their true identity. ...

• Word Count: 2792
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The central theme of the novel is the search for identity. ... He is also concerned with communal effort of African-American to define cultural identity. ... Invisible Man sees education as a pathway to a sense of pride and dignity along with identity. ... In relation with the overall theme of the novel which is the search for self-identity rather than societal-identity. ... At the conclusion of the novel, he finds himself coming to grips with his own identity as an individual despite the myth of black conformity. ...

• Word Count: 567
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Numerous dualities pervade throughout Ralph Ellison's classic novel, "Invisible Man": sight and blindness, unity and separation, identity and invisibility, and abandonment and gain. ... IM ironically obtains opportunities that would guide him to the answer of the troubled quest for identity through his abandonment of his pride and dignity as a human. ... With such strong determinations burning in his mind, IM starts to grasp what he wants, or his true self and his identity in the world. ... Only in this freedom, reached by abandoning the previous identity as a visible man, is the narrat...

• Word Count: 894
• Approx Pages: 4

"Everyday use" - by Alice Walker Identity is something that concerns everyone of us whether we like it or not. ... Together these small bits create not only an identity, but your personality. ... In a way you can say she loses her identity in the search for her self. ... We never know how the story ends, if Wangero really has found her identity or if Maggie ever will find hers. But as identity is something that never stops evolving, I guess Dee and Maggie have many years ahead of them, collecting new pieces to fit in their "identity-quilt", and hopefully this incident will be a smal...

• Word Count: 1135
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

"Battle Royal," by Ralph Ellison, tells the story of a young black man during segregation who struggles to discover his identity. ... In the story the narrator is in search for his identity during a period where black men were still look down upon. Battle Royal, is mainly a description of the African American struggle for equality and identity. ... The narrator is a major character who is lost and is in search of his identity. ... " The thing is, the narrator doesn't know either, because for the longest time his identity has been dictated by white-dominated society. ...

• Word Count: 769
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The narrator, decides to pass for white after numerous variations between assuming his status as a black man who wants to stand for the rights of black people and adopting the identity of a white man. In fact, identity, for this character, was never stable, since he lived the first years of his life not knowing he was classified as black, then he lived as a black man for a period of time, and after some years he decided to adopt a white identity, which may seem a new identity at first, but is a return to the beginning of his life, when he used to believe he was a white boy. ... However, h...

• Word Count: 977
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The principal theme in the novel is the identity of race. ... Because he "passes" and denies his heritage, he is therefore unable to find his identity. ... This is the inner battle and identity crisis he struggles with. ... It creates a man without an identity. ... He will have to leave his black heritage in the past and continue moving forward thus realizing that his identity is missing, and his children will never know their true 6 identity. ...

• Word Count: 1633
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

None of these parts of individual identity are directly tied to race. Not even ethnicity and culture are predetermined by race, much less other parts of our identity. ... All of these other aspects of identity are changeable, not immutable. ... They won the culture clash, and forced the Native culture to lose most of their own racial identity. But what about those assumptions regarding racial identity that is made with "good intent?" ...

• Word Count: 1717
• Approx Pages: 7

The main character Bigger Thomas, a black man, has been robbed of his dignity, his pride, and his identity. ... This new identity he does not want to let go of. Although this new identity was born out of the acts of violence he wants to keep it to himself and savor it. ... He had become a murderer but a least he had an identity. ... Bigger's life was only a search for his own identity. ...

• Word Count: 959
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

" The main character is searching for his identity while fighting through racial bias and discrimination. The narrator, who is not valued enough to be named, struggles for his individualism and identity. ... The grandfather shared with the narrator the importance of living two identities. ... By joining the Brotherhood, the narrator was forced to take on a new identity, break from the past as well as take on a new name. ... This form of propaganda continues to force the narrator to question his identity. ...

• Word Count: 958
• Approx Pages: 4

Throughout the years one can see that the construction of black identity has changed due to white political and social conditions. It is true that white racism has had great influence on the identity of blacks through especially through segregation. Blacks have used this development of identity to resist, defend, and adapt to the ways of the white political and social conditions. Malcolm X is great example of a person who has helped educate blacks of this identity. ... One can see the black identity being used as a form of resistance and self-defense from integrating into a white society. ...

• Word Count: 2034
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

Roediger's, "The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class," Roediger reveals a complex connection between nineteenth century white race identity and the development of the American working class. ... He fervently argues that white workers self conceptions were profoundly impacted by a language composed from not only racism, but also a great degree from the growing white workers construction of their own identity (primarily due to the fear of dependency on wage labor). ... This provided the foundation for the, "whiteness," identity formed out of the ...

• Word Count: 1029
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Light in August In the novel Light in August, by William Faulkner, Joe Christmas" lack of identity helps to shape his life. ... Joe Christmas" racial identity and surroundings, relationships with women, and religion affect his actions and behavior throughout his life. ... He never truly has the opportunity to develop his own identity. ... His ignorance of his racial identity, and his early childhood as an orphan, influence his behavior and beliefs as an adult. ...

• Word Count: 683
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

Our sense of identity, our values, our beliefs, our learning styles, our dialects, our modes of social interaction, our ways of being in the world -- these are important components of our culture. ... In Kesaya Noda's article, "Growing Up Asian in America" the dialogue, reveals that Noda's identity is more American than Asian. ... To being with, everything Noda writes about in this essay supports her identity. ... In conclusion, Noda's identity reveals that she is more American than Asian. ... Awareness of how your cultural identity has been shaped and developed will put you in ...

• Word Count: 1348
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

It was this institution which prevented Bigger Thomas from having a sense of identity or acquire individualism. ... Bigger found a sense of freedom and identity in his acts of violence and it was through them that he forced the white race to take notice and recognize him as an individual. ... It is this fear that blocked the growth of Bigger's individual identity. ... He desires an identity that is his alone. Both the white and the black communities have robbed him of dignity, identity, and individuality. ...

• Word Count: 1690
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

1) The main purpose The main purpose of this novel is James McBride's search of his identity, instantaneously is race, as it involves a person's skin color. ... McBride always thought his mother was odd, and this symbol of the bicycle helps prove it. 4) The main conclusion The Color of Water concludes with McBride closing the last chapter in his search for his identity and his mother's uninformable past/life. ...

• Word Count: 364
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

In the book "Passing", Nella Larsen illustrates certain themes such as identity crisis, race, lies, betrayal, sexuality and jealousy. ... This part of the book gives us a clear understanding of identity crisis. ... Irene will only sometimes try to pass as a white woman, but she has never had the courage to leave her identity. ...

• Word Count: 849
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

How does the book deal with issues of identity? ... These questions eventually brought about the issue of identity. ... Eventually, realizing her children should better understand where they came from, Ruth decided to answer all the unanswered questions about her and her children's identity. ...

• Word Count: 744
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

The crisis throughout the novel centers on the ex-colored man discovering his identity, and this uncertainty is the central idea of the novel. ... In order to do so he had to abandon his black identity and become white. ... I think not because he still struggled with his identity. ...

• Word Count: 856
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

The Color of Water The Color of Water: A Black man's tribute to his white mother by James McBride is the story of a young black man trying to reveal his mothers past and his own identity. Set in the 1960's in New York City, James tries to figure out his mothers past while struggling with his own racial identity. ...

• Word Count: 512
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

Walker and Marshall write about an identity they have found with these women because of their exposure to the African culture. ... Delia, the main character, has an identity that is found through her hard work and spirituality. ... It is essential to first analyze Walker's and Marshall's essays through each of the themes of identity, independence, and inspiration, respectively. ... Walker and Marshall write about an identity that they have found with African-American women of the past. ...

• Word Count: 3271
• Approx Pages: 13
• Grade Level: High School