Emily Dickenson

The search for ones identity is a life long search for many people. Who am I? What am I doing here? Those are questions most everyone has asked at one time or another. Humans have for millenniums searched for their place in the world and society. One of the most frequently asked questions in philosophy, religion and society is what is the meaning of life? This is articulated in the need to be "somebody". It is almost a clichй to see a movie where a character says I am going to be 'somebody'. Society is defined by its hierarchy of "nobodies" at the bottom progressing all the way to the top with celebrities. When people feel like nobodies it exacerbates this feeling of inferiority but only because large majority of people wants to be recognized. It is the world that tells these people unless they are noticed they are not important. Those who are unacknowledged people make up segment of society. There are also many people who become anonymous people because they fear people and greater society. They retreat into their private world due to their aloof and shy persona. Many of them want to be invisible and thus remove themselves from society. There low self-esteem might be what makes them want to become a "nobody" because they fear being open to greater society. They also may have an intrinsic dislike of being defined by others. This strict feeling of independence and not wanting to be part of the public is what defines them they do not want to blend in with the public of some bodies because then they have to submit to the greater expectations of what it means to be a person in society. They choose their nobody status because they want to be self defined and as a defense mechanism the poem displays this dichotomy of identity and interpersonal relationships.

Emily Dickinson was one of these self-imposed nobodies who wished to bring no more attention to herself then needed and define herself on these terms. She takes the persona of the narrator to display these feelings. This is articulated by her poem.

I'm Nobody! Who are you?

Are you--Nobody--Too?

Then there's a pair of us?

Don't tell! they'd advertise--you know!

How dreary--to be--Somebody!

How public--like a Frog--

To tell one's name--the livelong June--

To an admiring Bog!

The first part of the poem basically is a kind of shy, inscure conversation on the nature of identity and society. The narrator is saying I am nothing special and what is special about you. If we allow people to realize we are unremarkable they will exploit the fact we exist but make no big difference to greater society. The first stanza tells how the speaker meets a fellow "nobody", a companion with their being a nobody tying them to each other. As a couple the two nobodies can enjoy the company and also their shared anonymity. She continues, as since there are now two of them they are no longer nobodies but a group, a noticeable group lacking their previous anonymity. She fears being pushed out of the obscurity of her current identity of a nobody. This would thus pull her into the larger society of some bodies, which is a scary aspect being subjected to the scrutiny of civilization. So she makes her new friend aware of keeping secret their personality as a nobody, the essence of being an insignificant person. If they retain being no one they avoid the trappings of society by avoiding false admiration, jealously, or disapprove. She is free to be whomever she wishes if she remains a nobody. She does not have to but on an act or play games to retain her status, if she remains anonymous. Once she realizes not only is she a nobody but there is a small society of nobodies, who keep to themselves and retain meaningful relationships based in real emotion. Opposed to the large society of popular people, who have to put on airs just to keep content the people who give them status. It is the nobodies who are really somebody, because they are truly free. Also once more she is not only comfortable with who she is but there is a person who is also comfortable as nobody so she