ktmeng/mec huggingface dataset:
Topic: identity

Like the multiculturalism and diversity of the Australian society, the common ground that links our nation is that we are all equally Australian, similarily like the hundreds of eucalyptus species they each- regardless of their differences- are all equally beautifull Eucalyptus trees. The eucalyrtus trees mentioned in Bails novel represent a diverse togetherness, symbolic of our Australian multicultural identity. “A person could wonder amongst the many different species and pick up a lot of information, at the same time be enthralled by the clear examples of beauty.”
Topic: identity

The poet uses the technique tone very passionately and effectively. He conveys very clearly his feelings of anger and frustration. He creates mood and pulls a confronted response from readers, “wether you like it or not, I am one of you.” The tone aggresive, confronting and dominant. A change occurs in the tone towards the end suggesting the journey Kimninos has overcome to finally be a socially accepted Australian. The tone becomes one of relief and justification as he confidently states his identity as an Australian poet.
Topic: identity

In African-American texts, blacks are seen as struggling with the patriarchal worlds they live in order to achieve a sense of Self and Identity. The texts I have chosen illustrate the hazards of Western religion, Rape, Patriarchal Dominance and Colonial notions of white supremacy; an intend to show how the protagonists of Alice Walker’s The Color Purple as well as Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, cope with or crumble due to these issues in their struggle to find their identities.
Topic: identity

‘Humble yourself and cast your burdens to God’ they say, for ‘He will make all wrongs right’. Logically however, one must ask…what interest does the white God (who is especially portrayed in Afro-American writings such as The Color Purple and The Bluest Eye as a further extension of Patriarchal values) have in black people? Moreso, if the Christian bible is so heavily influenced by white man, what interest does the God it portrays have in black women?
Topic: identity

Celie explains that she stopped writing to God because he gave her ‘a lynched daddy, a crazy mama, a lowdown dog of a step pa and a sister [she] probably won’t ever see again.’ Celie distrusts a white male God because he does not listen to ‘poor colored women.’ Shug encourages Celie to reject ‘religious beliefs which reinforce sexist and racist domination’ and insists on ‘the primacy of a spiritual life’. If Celie looks for God in a white church or a white written Bible it is inevitable that she will encounter a white God, therefore she must look at her immediate environment for guidance. Celie then accepts and employs Shug’s ideology that ‘God is inside you and inside everyone else.’
Topic: identity

In her rejection of the Euro-central God who doesn’t listen to her prayers, Celie liberates her ‘Self’ and finds identity – evident in her signing of her letters which she now addresses to Nettie. For the first time in Celie’s life, the colour people (purple) are recognized by God and she is liberated with the belief that the colour purple/people is/are noticed as a part in God’s majestic composition, and that this God is everything and everywhere. It is thus possible to identify Celie with the color purple by realizing that she has gone unnoticed and is finally being noticed as she asserts her existence. This existentialist epiphany becomes manifest when Celie writes, “I’m pore, I’m black, I may be ugly and can’t cook, a voice say to everything listening. But I’m here.”
Topic: identity

In The Bluest Eye however, the Eurocentric images and influences of the Western God have a lasting negative effect on many of the black characters. There is colour people playing a part in this God’s composition, instead, focus is on the colour blue – that his eyes are portrayed to be. This colour suggests coldness and blindness towards people not sharing in His whiteness. Pecola Breedlove is the prime character that is influenced by these negative images of God, and the influence of the Western religion’s ‘values’ shown in the novel pushes her into an unfortunate type of lack of ‘Self’. This comes about in this novel due to the interactions with white and pseudo-white characters who have subscribed to the idealized notions of white superiority. The first instance of this is Pecola’s encounter with Mr. Yacobowski – the shopkeeper, who basically ignores her existence because she is black, his attention instead focuses on a picture of the Virgin Mary.
Topic: identity

This leaves Pecola with the view that it is the white God itself disregarding her existence through the symbolic Mr. Yacobowski, as he is said to be religious but ignores her very presence. This negative image of the Western God lends greatly to Pecola’s self hatred and her eventual destruction. If she is not even acknowledged by the white people in her community then she must have no worth. She sees this as a situation in which she cannot prosper thus beginning to hate herself and her color, as, if these supposed ‘representatives’ or followers of this white God won’t accept her, who is she to think that He will?
Topic: identity

This view is strengthened when Pecola visits the pseudo-white character Geraldine’s house, whereby she is cursed by this woman and chased from her farcical ‘Dick and Jane’ style home. Home is where the ‘heart’ is, but all Pecola sees as she flees from this place she admires is a “portrait of the [white] angelized Jesus looking down at her with sad and surprised eyes…” This white figure of Western religion is perhaps “unable to help her” as she is not of his kind, thus giving substance to Pecola’s belief that she has no worth nor hope for acceptance by this idealized white world and its ‘God’.
Topic: identity

This Euro-influenced religion with its patriarchal God may thus be found guilty of a discursive rape of the values of black people, and to a greater extent – black women. This is another critical aspect in these examples of Afro-American literature, as rape is no stranger to the black women in these texts – guilty of undermining their sense of self as well leading to a loss of identity, whether the rape is discursive, or actual. Bell Hooks holds that rape is portrayed as a positive force in The Color Purple because Celie ‘accedes to the violation of her body in order to protect her sister Nettie from the sexual advances of their stepfather’.
Topic: identity

Squeak also uses her body to help free Sofia from jail, sacrificing her body in efforts to aid Sofia’s circumstances although Sofia knocked her teeth out. This rape in particular – of a black woman by a white man is depicted, according to Hooks, as a positive force because ‘even though it acts to reinforce sexist domination of females and racist exploitation’, it is also ‘a catalyst for positive change’. Not only does the act free Sofia; it also empowers Squeak, as, when Harpo says “I love you, Squeak” (84) she stands up for her own identity by replying “My name Mary Agnes” (84).
Topic: identity

In the case of The Bluest Eye, Pecola’s rape by her father leads to her becoming “the town’s scapegoat and places her in company with the books other outcasts; the prostitute Miss Marie and the quack mystic Elihue Whitcomb, dubbed ‘Soaphead Church’. It is through the whispers about Pecola and the spurning of her that the town ‘justifies’ the image of good and beautiful. It is because Pecola becomes pregnant with her father’s child that she no longer has the ability, if such ever even bore a remote chance of existing, to be beautiful in the eyes of society. The pregnancy has also destroyed any chances of her ever receiving her mother’s love and approval forever, as she is now even dirtier than before in her community’s eyes.
Topic: identity

The rape by her father is the final evidence Pecola needs to completely believe that she is an ugly, unlovable girl. While in most modern cases a father figure is one to whom little girls should be able to look to for guidance and approval, Cholly is the exact opposite. He hurts Pecola in a physical way that in one attempt measures up to the years of hurtful mockery. He took away from her the one thing that was utterly and completely hers. After the rape, Pecola was never even remotely the same: her appearance was met with utmost disgust. Adults looked away; children, those of which who were not frightened by her, “laughed outright” (204). The damage done was immense and she spent her days, walking up and down her head jerking to the beat of a drummer so distant only she could hear. Elbows bent, hands on shoulders, she flailed her arms like a bird in an eternal, grotesquely futile effort to fly. Beating the air, a winged but grounded bird intent on the blue void it could not reach – could not even see – but which filled the valleys of the mind (204).
Topic: identity

In short, after the rape, Pecola went insane. Her ‘discursive rape’ was delivered at the hands of the society in which she lived, where her blackness was met with disgust. This rape made her wish to be white – to possess blue eyes, as this was the accepted quality of ‘beauty’ in her society, the physical rape only serves to further push her completely over the edge. Pecola’s society is in turn ‘raped’ by Colonialism and concepts of white supremacy, leading them to act with ‘insane’ disgust towards their own blackness and to aspire for their own ‘bluest eyes’ i.e. Geraldine and her house/way of living.
Topic: identity

Martha J. Cutter, in her article Philomela Speaks: Alice Walker’s Revisioning of Rape Archetypes in The Color Purple, argues that Like Pecola Breedlove, who ends the novel “flail[ing] her arms like a bird in an eternal, grotesquely futile effort to fly” (204), Celie also appears to have been “driven into semiotic collapse by the rape.” She notes that The Color Purple also uses bird imagery imagery to “connect Celie with her mythic prototype, Philomela as well as to revise the mythic prototext.” Cutter is of the view that the ancient Greek story of Philomela has resonated in the imaginations of women writers for several thousand years … mark[ing] the persistence of a powerful archetypal narrative explicitly connecting rape (a violent inscription of the female body), silencing, and the complete erasure of feminine subjectivity.
Topic: identity

Cutter concludes, “Unlike the archetypal narrative, then, Walker’s novel uses bird … imagery to suggest Celie’s metamorphosis not from human to subhuman, but from victim to artist-heroine.” Thus the novel differs from the myth as well as from Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, as it commences rather than ends with the incident[s] of rape and that “the rape becomes not an instrument of silencing, but the catalyst to Celie’s search for voice.” By writing about her rape, Celie externalizes her experiences thus escaping destruction whereas Pecola internalizes (in the form of a dialogue with an imaginary ‘friend’) them and is thus inadvertibly destroyed. Thereby Walker “revises the archetypal paradigm [which] depict[s] rape as an event that encapsulates women in patriarchal plots as the site of silence, absence, and madness” thus giving her back her sense of agency and voice.
Topic: identity

Also evident in the texts is the theme of migration, whereby characters emigrate to the North from the South in order to escape, or better themselves – thus further finding or losing their sense of identity and self. According to Elena Shakhovtseva in her article «The Heart of Darkness» in a Multicolored World, “Walker retells a mythic story of the movement from the South to the North as an ideal embodiment of freedom, and back to the South for reconciliation.” Shakhovtseva argues that Celie’s eventual move to Memphis symbolically marks the black community’s twentieth century migration to the North with the emphasis both on the economic liberation the North provides (Celie’s “folkpants” business) as well as the threat it presents to black cultural identity (attempts to change Celie’s dialect, etc.).
Topic: identity

Celie’s migration to the North represents both liberation and potential loss of identity. This is seen when her employee, Darlene, makes an effort to ‘improve’ Celie’s dialect, to make a more ‘refined’ (different – once again views tainted by white supremacy) person out of her. However, Celie is mostly disinterested and maintains her creole way of speech, suggesting comfort in her sense of identity. When she returns to the South, Celie accomplishes a ‘wholeness’ of her physical and spiritual existence, and reclaims the family home, farm and store in Georgia, which she rightfully claims after her stepfather’s death. In essence, Celie migrates from oppressed ‘slave’ to her husband, to strong, independent, black woman – land and store-owner nonetheless, Walker’s obvious inversion of race and gender.
Topic: identity

Walker is accused by many of subverting realist concepts, her novel’s ending… lacking verisimilitude. It can be argued that she appears to have been influenced by Shakespeare’s romances, possessing a like Utopian and somewhat unrealistic vision. The opposite is seen in Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, where when Pecola’s parents – Cholly and Pauline, moved North everything changed. The colours went out of Pauline’s life. She states “I missed my people. I weren’t used to so much white folks…Northern colored folk was different too.”
Topic: identity

Additionally, she continues by saying that their marriage became “shredded with quarrels” as she developed a desire for new clothes which Cholly disapproved of, money becoming the “focus of all their discussions, hers for clothes, his for drinks” (118). To make up for the neglect and her own insecurities, Pauline sought comfort through movies as she sat and watched the perfect “white” world of Hollywood. Here she attempted to re-find her colours on the “silver screen” (124). However, the colours she does find and have a longing for end up having a negative effect on her life and the lives of her family until it destroys them, especially Pecola.
Topic: identity

In conclusion, using the two texts studied, with emphasis placed on their respective protagonists, this essay has attempted to illustrate the treatment of Self and Identity in African-American works, showing the similarities as well as profound differences between the two writers used to illustrate the hazards to, and responses to black self and identity – namely that of the black woman whose struggle is most critical. Morrison holds strong to the Afro-American pattern of destruction of black female by Patriarchal society and the white supremacy ‘values’ it holds dear, thus denying their self and losing their identity. Walker on the other hand, a little too fantastically, provides an inversion of these patterns in the form of an almost unbelievably (Utopian) happy ending for her black female protagonist, who overcomes all the hazards she undergoes, finding her ‘Self’ and strong sense of identity – coming out on top in a brutal, patriarchal society. The Epistolary form Walker uses provides an “instruction” to her readers as well as to her protagonist Celie, seen also in the epigraph by Stevie Wonder provided
Topic: identity

Whereas Morrison utilizes the Eurocentric primer of a white nuclear family that is burned into the minds of black children, as she distorts and fragments it to illustrate the confusion white ideology causes in the minds of blacks as it contrasts sharply with their own lives. Removing the punctuation, then applying this primer to the story of blacks and namely Pecola’s lives, proves that the story is far from the truth and gibberish. In a sense, by speeding up the machinery of the Dick and Jane story to show how it does not work, Walker proves that it degenerates into meaninglessness under any kind of scrutiny. But in the descent into senselessness, it also parallels Pecola’s descent into madness – a sharp contrast to the similarly Euro-influenced and patriarchal epistolary form used by Walker – a sharp contrast because, Walker’s protagonist uses this… the only form available for her, the voiceless, to overcome the patriarchal oppression and gradually find her ‘Self’.
Topic: identity

Q. In what ways is A Midsummer Night’s Dream a Shakespearean comedy? A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a classic Shakespearean romantic comedy. A genre, that attempts to catch the viewer’s heart with the combination of love and humor. It is light-hearted and usually places the protagonists in a humorous situation. It is one of the many kinds of comedy which dates back to the 16th century stage in England and it has an identifiable formula.
Topic: identity

It has a main plot and a subplot. In the main plot an eligible man and woman fall in love with each other but cannot marry for some reason. Then some external agency like the disclosure of a secret or a trick by others brings the lovers together. While many romantic comedies are chided for their predictable plotlines, it was William Shakespeare who first created these well-known story arcs. His comedies are known to strike a balance between expectation (the formula) and yearning (the fantasy).
Topic: identity

Shakespeare reserves some of the best dialogues for his warring lovers, especially Oberon and Titania, and even the “rude mechanicals” manage to wow us with their clever banter. Deception and disguise: Hermia and Lysander try to sneak away from Athens to elope (behind Egeus’s back). Also, Titania and the young lovers have no idea they’ve been drugged by Oberon and his magic love juice. Mistaken identity: Titania mistakes Bottom for a creature who is worthy of her love and affection. The same can be said of the other lovers who are dosed with Oberon’s magic love potion. Multiple plots with twists and turns: There are several lines of action in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Shakespeare invites us to sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. The first plot involves Theseus and Hippolyta’s upcoming wedding. The second plot line involves the young Athenian lovers who run around the wood in confusion. The third plot follows Oberon’s tiff with his wife, Titania.
Topic: identity

As a fourth plot line, Shakespeare works in a bunch of craftsmens (the Mechanicals), who plan to perform a play at Theseus’s big fancy wedding. Love overcomes obstacles: From the play’s very beginning, Shakespeare beats us over the head with this idea. The only reason Theseus is even engaged to Hippolyta is because he conquered her people (the Amazons) and basically won her in battle. Just a few moments after we hear about Theseus and Hippolyta, we learn that Hermia and Lysander must also overcome a major obstacle if they want to be together because Hermia’s dad wants her to marry someone else. Never mind the fact that we’ve got a bunch of mischievous fairies running around the wood sloshing magic love juice into the eyes of hapless humans, causing them to fall in and out of love with the first creature that comes into view. In the end, though, love wins out and Theseus and each of the four young lovers hooks up with a steady partner.
Topic: identity

Marriage: No matter what else happens, Shakespeare’s comedies ALWAYS end with one or more marriages (or the promise of marriage). This is Shakespeare’s way of restoring social order to the world of his plays (after turning order on its head for a few hours). At the end of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Theseus finally gets to marry Hippolyta and spend the night with her (which he’s been talking about since the play’s opening lines). As for the four humans who have been chasing each other around the forest and falling in and out of love, they finally settle down and hook up with a steady partner: Hermia weds Lysander and Demetrius gets hitched to Helena.
Topic: identity

Family drama: Hermia and her dad Egeus go toe-to-toe about who she should and shouldn’t marry. Egeus is so worked up about his daughter’s disobedience that he wants Duke Theseus to uphold the Athenian law that says daughters have to do what their fathers’ say or else they get sentenced to death. It’s a good thing A Midsummer Night’s Dream isn’t a tragedy, otherwise, this ugly little domestic dispute would end badly. (Re)unification of families: Egeus would rather see his daughter dead than witness Hermia marry Lysander. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comedy so Egeus eventually backs down and gives in to the idea that Hermia is going to marry for love. We should point out that Egeus only changes his mind after Duke Theseus orders him to back off but still, Egeus sticks around for his daughter’s wedding so we’re counting that as a family reunion.
Topic: identity

Q. In what ways is A Midsummer Night’s Dream a Shakespearean comedy? A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a classic Shakespearean romantic comedy. A genre, that attempts to catch the viewer’s heart with the combination of love and humor. It is light-hearted and usually places the protagonists in a humorous situation. It is one of the many kinds of comedy which dates back to the 16th century stage in England and it has an identifiable formula. It has a main plot and a subplot. In the main plot an eligible man and woman fall in love with each other but cannot marry for some reason. Then some external agency like the disclosure of a secret or a trick by others brings the lovers together. While many romantic comedies are chided for their predictable plotlines, it was William Shakespeare who first created these well-known story arcs. His comedies are known to strike a balance between expectation (the formula) and yearning (the fantasy). The following characteristics will summarise the reasons of this play being treated as a romantic comedy: Light, humorous tone: The play features fairy magic (like Oberon’s love potion), silly pranks (like the transformation of a guy’s head into that of a jackass), and the botched performance of a play-within-the-play by a bunch of wannabe actors.
Topic: identity

Desperate lovers, mischievous fairies, bad actors, and a flower which causes love upon first sight-these are just some of the components that add to the comedic flavour of Shakespeare’s work _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_. The main elements of a classic Shakespearean comedy are clearly portrayed in this play. An identity mix-up of Lysander and Demetrius, continuous references to music and dance to signify happy events and finally a happy ending all help to prove that _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_ is indeed a comedy.
Topic: identity

The plot of a Shakespearean comedy often includes a mix up of identity. In _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_ Puck mistakes Lysander for Demetrius and rubs the love potion on his eyes. As a result, Lysander stops loving Hermia and instead falls in love with Helena. When Puck and Oberon find Lysander wooing Helena, Puck realizes his mistake and admits to Oberon, “This is the woman, but not the man.” (3.2.42). Puck’s mistake helps to develop the plot as well as bring out several comedic situations throughout the play, such as the quarrel between Hermia and Helena. This mistaken identity helps to make this Shakespearean work a comedy.
Topic: identity

Although Shakespearean plays often have tragic endings, his comedies end on optimistic notes, which are often signified through several marriages. _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_ ends with the grand marriages of Duke Theseus and the lovers Hermia and Lysander as well as Helena and Demetrius. Upon finding the lovers in the forest, Theseus decides to ignore Egeus’s will, “Egeus I will overbear your will” (4.1.177). and chooses to marry the lovers. He declares, “For in the temple, by and by, with us / These couples shall eternally be knit” (4.1.178-180). The lovers are elated and everyone at the court watches the mechanicals’ hilarious performance of “Pyramus and Thisbe” as a way to happily wait for their nuptial hour. This happy ending helps to keep the comedic air alive in the play.
Topic: identity

Clever dialogue and witty banter: Shakespeare is a huge fan of puns and snappy word play, so naturally, his characters know how to get their witty repartee on. Shakespeare reserves some of the best dialogues for his warring lovers, especially Oberon and Titania, and even the “rude mechanicals” manage to wow us with their clever banter. Deception and disguise: Hermia and Lysander try to sneak away from Athens to elope (behind Egeus’s back). Also, Titania and the young lovers have no idea they’ve been drugged by Oberon and his magic love juice. Mistaken identity: Titania mistakes Bottom for a creature who is worthy of her love and affection. The same can be said of the other lovers who are dosed with Oberon’s magic love potion. Multiple plots with twists and turns: There are several lines of action in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Shakespeare invites us to sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. The first plot involves Theseus and Hippolyta’s upcoming wedding. The second plot line involves the young Athenian lovers who run around the wood in confusion. The third plot follows Oberon’s tiff with his wife, Titania.
Topic: identity

Throughout the play, several references are made to reveling through dance and song as a way to signify and bless happy events. This is shown when Titania asks Oberon to join her in blessing the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. She asks, “If you will patiently dance in our round, / And see our moonlight revels, go with us.” (2.1.140-141). Through this quote, Titania refers to dance as a way to bring happiness to the marriage of the Royals. The dance and song throughout the play lighten the mood of the play, helping it become a comedy.
Topic: identity

The Marxist theory of class shows that the class a person belongs to is a fundamental part of their identity. For Marx, society generated two main classes, a capital-owning class and a property less class. They called these the ruling class and the working class or the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Class is rooted in the economic organization of production i.e. those groups who own factories, farms, coal mines or raw materials. These groups look after their own interests, live in similar surroundings and send their children to similar schools.
Topic: identity

Max Webers theory saw class as important when forming an identity. Weber saw class as a group of individuals who have certain interests in common; this is known as market position, for example having similar opportunities for earning income through work or trade. Weber recognised that status is also important within social groups. Status is the different amounts of prestige, honour or social standing that is attached to different social groups. So where we live, manner of speech, our schooling and leisure habits decide our social class. This would suggest maybe status could have as much influence on identity as class. Webers theories would suggest that although, like Marx, agreed that different classes exist, Status was the key factor in deciding our identities and which group we belong to.
Topic: identity

Class is becoming more diverse with wider reference points within the structures. Some sociologists have gone as far as to say class is dead; (Pakulski and Waters, 1996), although a survey in 1996 showed that two thirds of those interviewed felt that there is one law for the rich and one for the poor (Adonis and Pollard, 1998, p.11)Sociologists and political scientists have argued that there has been a shift from collective to individual identities and also a shift from occupation to consumption patterns. It was argued that well paid working class were adopting middle class values, therefore eroding class identity.
Topic: identity

To conclude, social class can provide us with a sense of belonging and how we can relate to the world around us. Who we are and what we do and have, change over time and economic structures such as inequality have an effect on our ideas of who we are and can be. However, although societies exist and function within class structures it does not mean that all members of that society identify with a class. It seems as class is becoming more diverse, it is becoming less important within identity as individuality becomes more valued and encouraged.
Topic: identity

That being said to answer the question of “To what Extent Should…” I don’t think it should be the foundation of our identity to any extent. A nation that we are born into is not one that we should allow to have much influence in our lives and who we are as human beings. I believe that we should all be left to make our own devices to explore as much as we can about the world around us and make our own decisions as to what we view as right and wrong.
Topic: identity

One of the most powerful examples of unity was in a letter from Richard Lee to Arthur lee 24 February, 1774. “…all N. America is now most firmly united and as firmly resolved to defend their liberties ad infinitum against every power on Earth that may attempt to take them away…” (Lee,1). Richard Lee is sure that the colonies will fight to the end. He talks about the extraordinary unity of the colonists. The drawing in the Pennsylvania Gazette By Benjamin Franklin in 1754 also show unity in action. Franklin’s drawing told the colonists that they must come together as one to defeat the British. This cartoon was an influence in the colonies. After 1754, it is proven that the colonies do come together and that this cartoon was a real influence on the colonies. Another example of influence was in a letter from Mather Byles. He wrote:
Topic: identity

Aphra Behn, the first female playwright to earn a living through her writing, was also one of the wittiest and entertaining as evidenced through her most well known play, The Rover. Set in 17th century Italy while under the colonial reign of Spain, a large cast of characters becomes embroiled in scenes of infidelity, seduction, misrepresentation, and elaborate swordplay, which create tension and confusion in addition to many comedic episodes.
Topic: identity

During carnival times class barriers came down with the rich mingling with the poor. The tradition of wearing masks at carnival time became necessary in order to protect the identities of the rich (2). This also gave opportunities to act out in a manner far removed from their habitual one. By having her female characters hidden behind masks, Behn is able to remove them from their traditional roles as women and give them empowerment. In effect, they can assume new personalities and remove their inhibitions or the otherwise usual yokes that have been cast on them by a male-dominated society.
Topic: identity

Hellena is the perfect example of one throwing off inhibitions and revealing her inner self behind the guise of a mask. Slated for the convent in an effort by her father to consolidate the family finances, she decides that this carnival will be the time she finds a man – and she sets her sights on one as daring and quick-witted as herself. She is able to track him in different disguises and at one point sets out to “vex” him for his keeping with Angellica. She shows herself to be a strong, independent-thinking woman in an age when women had few personal rights. The carnival setting is the vehicle that gives her the freedom to behave in the manner she does.
Topic: identity

The carnival setting is also the cause of mistaken identities. Because of this confusion Behn is able to further the comedic and suspense elements. For example, Don Pedro is denied his opportunity with the lovely Angellica when his friend (and his intended brother-in-law) Don Antonio pays his offering to be with her. Don Pedro is further incensed by the fact that this is a slight against his sister, Florinda, which ultimately leads to the setting of a time and place for a duel. Of course, Don Antonio believes he is confronting Belvile from his verbal exchange with Don Pedro. Ironically, when Belvile comes to the aid of Don Antonio later, he is charged with actually doing the crime of injuring him.
Topic: identity

Since all of the action occurs during Carnival (especially Venetian), the audience naturally expects some kind of confusion and mayhem to occur. This chaotic environment keeps the pace quickened making the carnival setting a natural choice for a swift paced play. Traditionally, carnivals of this kind “would take place in the various Venetian piazzas and would involve meals of imported delicacies, dancing and entertainment by jugglers, acrobats, etc. as well a feats of strength or daring, performed by young men, and usually resulting in being plunged into the freezing waters of the canal.”(2). With the goings-on throughout the city during Carnival, the play (as the spectators expect) would naturally exhibit the same impulsive atmosphere of gaiety and rapidity of movement that occur during carnivals.
Topic: identity

The play is also making a forward statement for its time and can because of the particular nature of the carnival. Through Hellena, Behn is speaking for women’s equality. Hellena while disguised is as courageous and outspoken as any man of the period. She is able to act as men do – choosing a mate as one would livestock. Another unspoken assertion Behn makes is of the treatment of women who were not privileged. Repeated attempts at raping Florinda because the men thought she was of a lower station don’t put men in a good light.
Topic: identity

The attitudes of these men are that this is accepted practice and tolerated in 17th century society. Undeniably, it would seem as if they saw it as their right. Finally, while most men would look at Willmore’s cavalier attitude and behavior with what one might call reverence (who wouldn’t want to be a swashbuckler?), his lying, deceitfulness, and womanizing ways are not qualities that cause one to shine. These things along with the women’s sexual audaciousness would cause this play to be denigrated in the next era.
Topic: identity

In conclusion, Behn’s choice to place the action of the play in Venice during a carnival was appropriate to the theme. Indeed, one could argue that without the carnival as a backdrop, Behn could not have as effectively pulled off the character’s relationships and the myriad encounters nearly as well. The characters actions speak as much if not more than their words do and the speed of the play is determined by these actions. This could only have been achieved by the confusion and spontaneity inherent in the nature of carnivals. Thus, the importance of Carnival in Aphra Behn’s The Rover was paramount to the success of the play.
Topic: identity

Erving Goffman’s The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life provides a detailed description and analysis of process and meaning in everyday interaction. Goffman writes from a symbolic interactionist perspective, emphasizing a qualitative analysis of the components of the interactive process. Through a sociological analysis he explores the details of individual identity, group relations, and the movement and interactive meaning of information. Goffman’s perspective provides insight into the nature of social interaction and the psychology of the individual.
Topic: identity

The front acts as a vehicle of standardization, allowing for others to understand the individual on the basis of projected character traits that have normative meanings. As a “collective representation,” the front establishes proper “setting,” “appearance,” and “manner” for the social role assumed by the actor, uniting interactive behavior with the personal front (27). The actor, in order to present a realistic front, is forced to fill the duties of the social role to communicate activities and the characteristics of the role to other people in a consistent manner. In constructing a front, information about the actor is given off through a variety of communicative sources, all of which must be controlled to convince the audience of the appropriateness of behavior. Believability, as a result, is constructed in terms of verbal signification, which is used by the actor to establish intent, is used by the audience to verify the honesty of statements made by the individual.
Topic: identity

Attempts are made to present an “idealized” version of the front, more consistent with the norms and laws of society than the behavior of the actor when not before an audience (35). Information dealing with aberrant behavior and belief is concealed from the audience in a process of “mystification,” making prominent those characteristics that are socially approved. This legitimatizes both the social role of the individual and the framework to which the role belongs (67). Goffman also explores nature of group dynamics through a discussion of “teams” and the relationship between performance and audience. He uses the concept of the team to illustrate the work of a group of individuals who “co-operate” in performance, attempting to achieve goals sanctioned by the group (79). Co-operation may manifest in the assumption of differing roles for each individual, determined by the intent of the performance. Goffman refers to the “shill,” a member of the team who “provides a visible model for the audience of the kind of response the performers are seeking,” promoting excitement for the realization of a goal, as an example of a “discrepant role” in the team (146). In each circumstance, the individual assumes a front that is perceived to enhance the group’s performance.
Topic: identity

As a result, disagreement can be carried out in the absence of an audience, where the performance changes and may be made without the threat of damaging the goals of the team or individual. This creates a division between the team and audience. Goffman describes the division between team performance and audience in terms of “region,” describing the role of setting in the differentiation of actions taken by individuals (107). Goffman divides region into “front,” “back,” and “outside” the stage, based upon the relationship of the audience to the performance. While the “official stance” of the team is visible in their front stage presentation, in the backstage, “the impression fostered by the presentation is knowingly contradicted as a matter of course,” indicating a more “truthful” type of performance (112). To be outside the stage involves the inability to gain access to the performance of the team, described as an “audience segregation” in which specific performances are given to specific audiences. Thus allows the team to create the appropriate front for the demands of each audience (137).
Topic: identity

This routine allows the team, individual actor, and audience to preserve proper relationships in interaction and the establishments to which the interactions belong. Though detailed and very well portrayed, Goffman’s study does not provide a complete description of interactive processes. In exploring the construction of presentation among individual and teams, Goffman does not fully explore the nature of marginalized individuals. This is significant due to the notion that these individuals and the groups could assume somewhat different roles of interaction among members due to their placement outside of major groups. The methodological approach used by Goffman was also somewhat inconsistent and the approaches to testing to gather data seemed random at times.
Topic: identity

By limiting his work Goffman also eliminates the possibility of applying the activities of the everyday to the larger social world.Goffman’s The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life overall provides insight into the nature of interpersonal interaction and the institutions to which interaction applies. Despite methodology, Goffman’s work displays an analytical thoroughness in dealing with an interesting area of social thought. Through an inquiry into the everyday life of humanity, Goffman’s work provides an effective foundation for understanding the nature of social  interaction and the development of the individual.
Topic: identity

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” this ever so famous line quoted from Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs sticks to the back of our minds more often than expected. Modern day witches gradually start to emerge in our world with the same intention, or shall we say insecurity, as the witch in the fairy tale – to have the satisfaction of being on top. Nowadays, more and more people, especially teenagers, begin to look in the mirror to see if they are satisfied with themselves.
Topic: identity

When one feels that he is not worthy, he seeks the attention of others and he feels that he needs their approval. What happens after this? Then, he tries doubly hard to fit in the “cool crowd” by wearing the trendiest clothes, saying the coolest lines, and doing the meanest things. This may make him one of the “cool people,” but this evidently doesn’t’ make him commendable. Another common thing for trying-hard-to-fit-in teenagers to do is start the hazardous habit of smoking. Their very own peers may well become their very own adversaries because they are the ones who pressure them in taking up smoking.
Topic: identity

Being a teenager is indeed a very difficult part in the cycle of life. It can ruin your self-esteem and self-confidence in a second. For example, cool kids pick on the insecure ones for the fun of it. These kids laugh at nerdy-looking teens and snicker at try-hard-to-fit-in ones. Usually, the ones being laughed at and looked down upon are the ones having problems with vanity. Their sense of futility plus the kind of attention they get from others decreases their self-esteem to zero, thus, causing their self-confidence to drop. This shouldn’t be the case. The vainer a person is, the more he should do something about it, and the more he has to believe in himself.
Topic: identity

In extreme cases, adolescents alter their very own persona just to please others. An evident example of this would be teens who steal so that their peers won’t think of them as inadequate. They would rather be called “conyo” than be of the standard class. The question here is why do they have to steal? People who steal aren’t contented with what they have that’s why they make use of other people’s belongings and mark them as their own. By doing this, they would gain attention because their peers would commend them on the objects that they stole, which usually are expensive and classy ones. This is one of the persona alterations that vanity can cause. These common Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde type of teens are pretenders. They live their lives superficially, pretending to be somebody that they’re truly not.
Topic: identity

This is a real problem among adolescents. Since they are on the stage where they are able to intellectually contrast themselves with others, they feel that they should show another personality aside from their own so that they wouldn’t have to worry about people’s reactions to their true personality. They cover their faces with masks to keep others from finding out their true identity and to protect themselves from rejection. Because of their insecurity, they may never be able to find their true selves. They should take out their masks and show the world their true selves so that people may accept them for who they are, and not for who they are trying to be.
Topic: identity

To all those teenagers with problems regarding vanity and insecurity, you should be able to face your own fear of rejection so that you wouldn’t be living in a superficial world. Be brave enough to bring out your true identity because you should always give yourself a chance to prove that you are indeed “worth it.” They say that it is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult. So dare to face your fears and dare to be true to yourself for it is only then that you would find inner peace and self-confidence.
Topic: identity

Another pro os DNA profiling is paternity testing, usually to determine fatherhood of a child when this is disputed. It may also be used in helping to identify whether objects have been handled by, or belonged to, a missing person. Also in rape cases, there is no need for a victim to testify about whether a sexual act took place. There’s no question, typically, about mistaken identity being the problem, because DNA from a semen sample can be used to link a suspect to that semen sample.
Topic: identity

DNA in it’s current state doesn’t offer foolproof identification because, people that process it can make mistakes, it can become contaminated, controversy that has arisen is about how to interpret a match. What frequency should you put on it? How rare is a pattern? How odd is a match? And for this, the controversy is a technical one and a complex one, but it has to do with the fact that the frequency of the different DNA patterns of different genes vary across the population.
Topic: identity

For new standards of statistical calculations most importantly to my mind, it called for a mandatory proficiency test – that the laboratories that are doing this work should be subjected regularly to blind proficiency testing, to insure that they did the work well on a regular basis. It is in some sense appalling that there are no mandatory standards for something as important as forensic testing. There are higher standards, indeed for the laboratory practices of someone who will diagnose strep throat than for the laboratory practice of someone who will create a DNA fingerprint that could be used to send someone to Death Row.
Topic: identity

I feel that incarcerated criminals should have samples of DNa taken and stored because our whole criminal justice system is built on keeping contact with people who have had contact with criminal justice and just like your mug shot and fingerprints are kept on file so should your DNA if you are a convicted criminal. I also feel the same for convicted juveniles, if you commit a crime and are convicted you should have DNA samples taken , because who’s to say that as a child you did something wrong but as an adult you won’t commit crime again.
Topic: identity

As far as the general public goes I am stuck in the middle on this, it would be great for everyone to be in a DNA database, as it would deter crime and solve crimes much faster, but on the downside, giving that kind of information to the government without knowing for sure what they might use it for, other than criminal cases, missing persons or things in that nature, would be an invasion of privacy, and also if the system databases are not secure enough, then people could get tremendous information about you just from your DNA, as in medically, and basically information that’s in your DNA is in your whole family history, sisters, brothers, mother, father, DNA can trace your family history way back to see who you are related to. I think it should be the publics choice whether or not to give samples of DNA.
Topic: identity

This was called the Albany Plan. The Albany Plan called for an intercolonial government with the right to tax, pass laws, and supervise military defense. Seven of thirteen colonies were represented. To further his cause, Franklin published a cartoon in the Pennsylvania Gazette. The cartoon showed eight disjointed pieces of a snake, each labeled with a colony. The phrase “Join, or Die” was written at the bottom, illustrating the fate of the colonies if they failed to unite against the French and Indian threat.
Topic: identity

After the failure of the Stamp Act, Parliament debated how America should be governed. Edmund Burke, who often supported America, scoffed at the proposal of governing America “like an English town which happens not to be represented in Parliament.” He goes on to say that nature will not allow America to be lumped into the “Mass” of Great Britain. Here, he indicates that the Americans have gained an identity all their own, and are no longer identified as British subjects.
Topic: identity

Prior to the First Continental Congress, Richard Henry Lee wrote a letter to Arthur Lee stating that the colonies were almost completely unified against the oppression of the British “Ministry.” He goes on to say that the colonies are “most firmly united and as firmly resolved to defend their liberties.” He was incorrect in his assumption. Statistics would later show that, at the time of the Revolution, only a third of Americans were patriots, while a third was neutral, and the other third remained loyal to Britain.