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True Identity In Robin D. G. Kelly's The People In Me

Decent Essays

Thomas Merton once said, “true identity is something people must create for themselves by making choices that are significant." Identity is nothing simple, it is not as clear cut as black and white. Identity is at the core of all human beings. Beliefs, background, and aspirations all create a personal definition of someone. People, no matter who they are, cannot be born with an identity, they must create one for themselves throughout their entire life. Identity is the collection of characteristics that a person has and how they choose to present themselves to the world. In Robin D. G. Kelly's, "The People in Me" the narrator, Kelly himself, discusses how growing up him and his family didn't fit the "media image" (Kelly 447). Kelly eloquently …show more content…

When Graham discovers he's "not good enough" (Greene 59) to live out his childhood dream, he quickly learns that success in his life would come from his own abilities and "not someone else's perception" (Greene 59). The use of repetition of the phrase "not good enough" several times throughout the story allows the reader to sympathize with the sense of disappointment Graham felt after being cut from his high school baseball team. Graham, an overachiever in nature, does not let anyone stop him. Later in life, Bob Graham becomes a partner with a successful law firm, proving that his identity was what he created, not what someone else made for …show more content…

This identity is constantly being personally refined and reshaped. By having the understanding of where they come from, trying new things and being told that they aren’t good enough, and admittedly sometimes making the wrong choices, people must create their identity from scratch. All of the pieces of literature mentioned each show a different way identity can be made by someone. This proves that it is impossible to be born with life already planned out and that there is a journey to finding a true identity. And with the words of Thomas Merton, “identity is much more than the name or features one is born with… Identity means having ideas and values one lives by.” Therefore, identity is something people must create for

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