This gives us freedom of doing what we want to do. Peck (1997) claims that, “for psychologists, identity represents a set of behaviours, emotions, and thought patterns that are unique to an individual and is usually established by late adolescence or early adulthood”. Identity develops through life, especially in childhood and adolescence when the person is building. “Dramatic changes to identity are rare thereafter. Identity is shaped by childhood experience, ethnicity, culture, sexual preferences, religious beliefs and biology” (Peck 1997). In literature, identity is important in two ways. First, “writers have a personal identity, which influences the perspective from which they write. Second, writers develop characters who may or may not express their creator’s worldview” (Peck 1997). Psychiatrists and psychologists such as Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson developed theories that influenced how literature is judged. Peck …show more content…
Two Erikson’s concepts are “identity crisis” and “midlife crisis”. The identity crisis occurs in adolescence and is correlated with people’s search for “who they are” and “how they fit in the world”. Our main character is in his adolescence and he experiences an identity crisis for nor being accepted in the group where he lives.
Ramírez (2016) explains that “Psychology defines two types of identities. Social identity defines the person in terms of belonging groups and personal identity defines the individual”. We have so many social identities as groups we belong. These groups also determine our self-esteem. If we define ourselves in relation to groups of high social status, we will have a high self-esteem. However, those who belong to groups with poor status will need other strategies to cope with their low assessment. Personal identity defines the self in terms of social relationships and idiosyncratic features (I am different to other people) (Ramírez 2016). Here our characteristics, attitudes, and skills that we think we have play an important role. Those who define themselves by good feelings like sympathy or solidarity have a bigger personal identity than the social identity. This can happen because “their belonging groups leave them with a low self-esteem,