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Identity In My Last Duchess, Big Eight In Rodeo By Jane Martin

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Identity is something each person uniquely has. As a person matures and experiences new parts of life, their identity also grows and develops along with them. However, a person’s identity is comprised of all of their experiences. The way someone views themselves may also be very different than the way others view them as well. In dramatic literature, the way a character’s identity is portrayed is essential to the events in the play. Four characters in three works of drama convey how vastly different each person’s identity can be from others as well as how their own sense of identity differs from others views about them. These characters include the Duke in My Last Duchess by Robert Browning, Big Eight in Rodeo by Jane Martin, and Benjamin Wong …show more content…

Her sense of identity comes mainly from being a part of the rodeo. She even declares that her name, Big Eight, comes from her ability to stay on a bronc for eight seconds. She considers the rodeo to be an essential part of her life and thus one of the main aspects of her identity. The type of rodeo she associates with is one that “Used to be fer the cowboys”, “Used to be a family thing”, and “Used to be people [who] has a horse of their own back home” (Martin 849). These descriptions show that the rodeo Big Eight considers a part of herself is an event that the people did for themselves not for others. However, when the rodeo compromised, Big Eight’s sense of identity is not. Her reaction and refusal to conform to the new capitalistic rodeo exhibits that Big Eight is confident in who she is. Her bitterness towards the changing of the rodeo indicates that she is not likely to change her morals or lifestyle. When Big Eight says, “Rodeo used to be people ridin’ horses for the pleasure of people who rode horses – made you feel good about what you could do”, the emphasis that rodeo “used” to be this way shows that she still treasures this part of the rodeo even though she knows it is gone. This also goes to show that she is not willing to give up this part of her and give into the newly made rodeo thus showing her reassurance in herself. Each character has their own sense of identity and as each story progresses, so does the development of their identities. It is evident that each character is confident in their own way of themselves which moves each story farther

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