Definition Essay Example: Identity
Definition Essay
The Encarta Dictionary: English (North America) defines identity as “the name or essential character that identifies somebody or something” (def.1). We all have sets of characteristics that we recognize as belonging uniquely to ourselves. This constitutes his or her individual personality for life. Finding out what makes our identity.
The concept of identity in “Always Living in Spanish” by Marjorie Agosin is shown best when she states “Daily, I felt the need to translate myself for the strangers living all around me, to tell them why we were in Georgia, why we are different, why we had fled, why my accent was so thick, and why I did not look Hispanic. Only at night, writing poems in Spanish, could I return to my senses, and soothe my own sorrow over what I had left behind.” (pg. For a while Marjorie was at a loss, loss of family, and most importantly a loss of her identity. She found a way to reconnect herself with her identity by doing something that reminds her of her culture and history. Bringing all of her characteristics together in a consolidated place where she can let go and just remember herself as she is, her identity.
Identity is what you are made up of whether it’s your language, where you were born, who is in your family, just everything that develops you as a person. It is possible that your identity can change as you develop, but you always have an identity within you. Word count: 250
Agosin, Marjorie. "Always Living in Spanish." The Arlington Reader: Contexts and Connections. By Lynn Z. Bloom and Louise Z. Smith. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2008. P.44-47. Print.
Dictionary - MSN Encarta. Ed. Microsoft Corp. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., 2009. Web. 5 Jan. 2011.
The Encarta Dictionary: English (North America) defines identity as “the name or essential character that identifies somebody or something” (def.1). We all have sets of characteristics that we recognize as belonging uniquely to ourselves. This constitutes his or her individual personality for life. Finding out what makes our identity.
The concept of identity in “Always Living in Spanish” by Marjorie Agosin is shown best when she states “Daily, I felt the need to translate myself for the strangers living all around me, to tell them why we were in Georgia, why we are different, why we had fled, why my accent was so thick, and why I did not look Hispanic. Only at night, writing poems in Spanish, could I return to my senses, and soothe my own sorrow over what I had left behind.” (pg. For a while Marjorie was at a loss, loss of family, and most importantly a loss of her identity. She found a way to reconnect herself with her identity by doing something that reminds her of her culture and history. Bringing all of her characteristics together in a consolidated place where she can let go and just remember herself as she is, her identity.
Identity is what you are made up of whether it’s your language, where you were born, who is in your family, just everything that develops you as a person. It is possible that your identity can change as you develop, but you always have an identity within you. Word count: 250
Agosin, Marjorie. "Always Living in Spanish." The Arlington Reader: Contexts and Connections. By Lynn Z. Bloom and Louise Z. Smith. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2008. P.44-47. Print.
Dictionary - MSN Encarta. Ed. Microsoft Corp. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., 2009. Web. 5 Jan. 2011.