We Can Lose Our Identity When Our Environment Changes free essay sample

A change in environment could cause us to lose our identity to some extent. Everyones identity is different to a certain extent due to our upbringing and physical appearance. A persons name for example would tell a lot about themselves. The culture and language they have been using and even the meaning to the name is also part of a persons identity. The little details and characteristics of a person influences a persons identity to a certain extent. Thus, how does one lose their identity when their environment changes? This intriguing question has no simple and definite answer. Furthermore, even though we are encouraged to be different and to be proud of who we are as individuals, society still has a whole list of social norms to abide to in order to be classified as normal. There is a large grey area on how different we can be in order to behave socially appropriately and yet be able to display our uniqueness as an individual. Therefore, it is easy to lose our original identity and conform to a new identity when our environment changes. In this essay, I would like to address this issue and also discuss some opposing thoughts on it. Some food for thought would be, is it always a negative effect to losing our identity? Perhaps if we thought about our identity as a piece of soft clay being moulded through a series of events and even a change of environment, it could be thought as a positive situation. A change in environment can definitely cause us to lose part of our identity. There are several instances in the study text Growing up Asian in Australia that shows us that it is easy to forget our roots. In one of the personal recounts, sticks and stones and such-like was accounted by Sunil Badami who clearly emotes that being a minority allows others to feel more superior compared to them. Thus, Sunil experiences severe physical and verbal bullying . As he was one in three Indian students in school, he was often called names such as curry muncher, towel-head, abo. etc. All Sunil ever wanted was to fit in and be popular in school instead of always being targeted at for having a hard name to pronounce. I couldnt stand it: it was hard enough not being able to catch, let alone being a darkie. If I couldnt be less black, surely I could get a name that made me feel less black? Being forced by his environment to make a change of his identity, Sunil decided to change his name to Neil, which helped him to become more liked by his peers. By changing his name, Sunil has modified his identity. Even though Neil was just a reference to how his friends were calling him, it made Sunil feel differ ent about himself. He could relate to himself being less black by a new name. A name that allowed everyone to view Sunil as if he had the same skin colour as everyone else and could be seen as having the same effect as Sunil scrubbing his right arm with the floor brush to make his skin colour less different from the rest. A name is important to our identity as it shows our background and our culture which separates us from everyone else. In the end, Sunil finally decided to revert to his original name after hearing how meaningful his name was thought to be. Despite the pressure to choose a name that would have been beneficial to him and to a name that was meaningful to his mother, Sunil decided to respect his mothers wishes of using his birth name. Secondly, we can lose our identity in a different type of change in environment. An article that was published recently about the growing number of young South Korean teenagers going through plastic surgery expresses the thought that our identity is being compromised due to an uprising adolescent trend where teenagers are looking up to Korean artists who have gone under the knife . Having plastic surgery can be considered as modifying a persons identity as their appearances does differentiate a persons identity. However as stated in the article, Its not uncommon for middle schoolers to get double eyelid surgery before going to high school, its also common to get surgery as a high school graduation gift from their parents. We can therefore lose our identity because of society and peer pressure which is part of the environment factor. However, identity is not always being lost when our environment changes. Instead, it could be thought of as a modification of identity when there is a change of our surroundings. In a very popular animation called Despicable Me, it shows a gradual transformation of the main characters identity as he invites 3 orphan girls to stay with him to help him complete his mission. Even though the protagonist was being portrayed as a self centred, arrogant evil villain at the beginning, a gradual change was being seen as he started to have feelings for the 3 girls in a fatherly manner. Identities should not be confined as a fixed structure, but instead a lump of soft clay that has yet to set. Every episode of life that we go through would be how our identity is moulded into. It can be said that it is only through multiple exposures to different environments that we can define our identity. Even though, Despicable Me is only an animation, it shows us that our identity can be improved when there is a change of environment and be related to in real life. In conclusion, I would like to state that it is possible to lose our identity due to a different environment, including peer pressure and expectations from the society a person lives in. Furthermore, a change in environment might not necessarily cause a negative impact on identity, instead it could be modifying the persons identity as identity can be seen as ever changing instead of being confined in a fixed idea. Year 12 English Identity amp; Belonging SAC Written Explanation Using the guidelines below, explain the decisions you made in writing your Context response. My audience for this piece is specifically written to students who have had to leave their home country in order to pursue a higher standard of education. My purpose in writing this piece is to show that a change in environment does not always result in losing in a persons identity and to let the students know that a change in environment could always turn out as a positive experience. The language I have used is appropriate for my audience because a mixture of informal and formal language because it is a hybrid of persuasive writing and a formal article. Some specific examples of these language choices are where I referenced Sunil in him telling the audience what the kids in school used to bully him with. For example he was being called curry muncher, towel-head, abo. etc My language choices help my audience relate to my ideas by the informal writing style that i have used in this essay. Through this form of writing, it would allow my audience to connect better to the essay and therefore agree to the points I stated in the essay that a persons identity would not be lost through an environment. I have structured this piece in this way because it is important to hear both sides of the argument. For the first paragraph, I have started off by agreeing to the topic sentence and giving an example from growing up Asian in Australia. And from the second and third paragraph onwards, I decided to introduce new opposing viewpoints which might help the readers have an all rounded perspective on this topic. My piece draws on the relevant ideas of the Context by relevant examples from the study text which is from Growing up Asian in Australia and the name of the story is Sticks and stones and such-like that was accounted by Sunil Badami. Another example that I used is from a popular animation called Despicable Me, it represents the possibility that a change of environment could do someones identity good. Lastly, I also referenced an article on Korean teenagers where there has been an uprising trend to do plastic surgery to improve their looks. It shows that the loss and modification in identity is not due solely to the change in environment.