Identity Article

YOU ARE YOU

Identities can be lost and found, despite their importance and significance. ANGIE SHUM reports on the changes that many people may experience and a guide to help prevent it.

"Crиme brыlee can never be jello, YOU can never be jello." When Julia Roberts stated this line to the vulnerable Cameron Diaz, in "My Best Friend's Wedding", she wasn't criticising the pros and cons of food, she was conveying her opinion on being yourself.

Crиme brыlee - a rich dessert containing chilled, custard with a caramelised topping, creating a delicious flavour as the smooth, creamy texture melts in your mouth.

Jello - clear, bright, floppy and sweet or better known as jelly.

How can crиme brыlee even be compared to jello? Crиme brыlee is crиme brыlee and jello is jello. Just like these desserts, humans should stick to being who they are.

In spite of this many humans tend to be persuaded into the unfortunate direction of changing themselves to suit the needs and interests of others.

Princess Fiona, from Shrek strived to be the perfect princess that any knight in shining armour would dream of.

However, she was hiding a deep, dark secret - an ogre. Princess Fiona was in fact an ogre and she was hiding this side of her because she thought others would think she was ugly and repulsive.

Nevertheless, Shrek, another ogre, discovered her inner beauty. Beauty that was far beyond appearances.

As Helen Keller once said: "The best and most beautiful things in

the world cannot be seen, nor touched...but are felt in the heart."

Changing yourself to impress others cannot only lead you to embarrassment, but it can also be a simple approach for flushing your own personality down the toilet.

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762) once stated, "I despise the pleasure of pleasing people that I despise."

Most reasons people transform themselves are due to lack of self-esteem and yes, the big "J" word. JEALOUSY. This emotion may also lead to despising others and even hatred.

So, in order to claim back your esteem, you attempt to be better than them. That is in terms of, looks, intelligence and personality, which then leads to competition with others.

It's very important for people to recognise their own identity and to grasp the importance of it.

A perfect example of this is in the poem "Portrait" by Judith Wright.

This poem gives a brief insight into a stereotypical woman's► identity through a third person. "Portrait" helps draw out two sides of her identity, almost making it a double portrait.

At the commence of the poem, the woman is portrayed as a happy housewife, who is content with what she does. This is evident in the line 'and merely living kept the blood alive,' which shows her passion for doing housework.

However, almost immediately we recognise that something has changed: 'it was a heartful game, when it began.'

In verse 2, a change of tone takes place, and we instantly realise that she is unhappy and is 'fed up' with her work. She no longer enjoys her work but finds it long and tedious.

Wright conveys this with the use of accumulation. This technique is used to ensure that we, as the responders feel for her as she performs these long and repetitive tasks.

Wright has also used past tense in verse 1 and the present tense in verse 2, to show us the type of change that is taking place. In this case, it is from a positive to a negative tone or from contentment to discontentment.

Overtime, the woman in the poem has lost her identity because she is always trying to please her family. She has given an impression of a "housewife" which she now has to live up to and dress for.

The woman has accustomed her life into putting on an act and continually pleasing her family.

She hungers for love, life and her own sense of identity.

"Portrait" advises us that we can easily fall into the trap of impressing others.

Furthermore, we are also advised that once we've lost our identity, it is very difficult to discover it again as we are so use to pleasing others and living