Junior Identity Analysis

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Pages: 4

In order to understand and analyse Junior’s identities, the concept of identity must first be defined. This is a broad notion which is used in a wide variety of disciplines. For the purposes of this paper, the definition used in psychology is of most relevance. Oxford English dictionary defines identity as “the fact of being who or what a person or thing is” (Oxford 2011). The sociologist Zygmunt Bauman states that “humans are free to self-create. What they are is not a no-appeal-allowed verdict of providence, not the matter of predestination” (2001, p.123). The scholar Aguirre advocates “the idea of a self-realization i. e. the ability to choose one’s own identity and to form an image of that identity as one’s own, rather than one projected …show more content…
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,