Search For Identity In Patricia Leavy's Blue

In 2013 the number of student veterans doubled, and has since been growing at a rate of 20% per year. The flood of veterans seeking higher education has left many schools playing catch up in order to understand their growing demographic. In 2009, Penn State published a video on their website entitled “The Worrisome Veteran”. The short video was meant as a training guide to show teachers how to manage student veterans. The video depicts student veterans as intimidating, dangerous, entitled and unintelligent. Penn State has since apologized for the video, but it mirrors how out of touch many schools are in regards to student veterans. In Whistling Vivaldi, Claude Steele explains how stereotype threat can negatively affect confidence and thus,

The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson is the tale of Hayley Kincain, a seventeen year old girl, and her incredibly unstable life with Andy, her father. Andy is a war veteran who suffers from Post-traumatic stress disorder, and is constantly assaulted by horrific memories of the past. Hayley’s mother perished in a car accident soon after Hayley was born, while Andy was still deployed in Iraq. Hayley was raised by her grandmother Barbara until Hayley was seven, at which point Barbara died and Andy returned home to care for Hayley. However, Andy’s past war experiences and the horrifying events that he had seen on the battlefield haunted him endlessly. Rather than living a traditional life in an ordinary home,

Today movies are one of the prime sources of entertainment. Whether it’s spending time with a significant other, hanging out with friends, or anything else, movies are one of the most versatile forms of entertainment that can satisfy everyone’s unique preferences. Amongst movies, the most popular genres include comedy, action, dramas, and countless more. In 1957, Mike Nichols released The Graduate, a romantic comedy that would remain popular even fifty years after its release. Although the movie is renowned for its engaging plot and distinctive comedic elements, The Graduate tells a story about college graduate Benjamin Braddock’s affair with Mrs. Robinson, a close family friend and the prevalent theme of discovering one’s identity.

The identity a person holds is one of the most important aspects of their lives. Identity is what distinguishes people from others, although it leaves a negative stereotype upon people. In the short story Identities by W.D Valgardson, a middle-aged wealthy man finds himself lost in a rough neighborhood while attempting to look for something new. The author employs many elements in the story, some of the more important ones being stereotype and foreshadow.

In the works of Literature an epiphany is “a moment of profound insight or revelation by which a character’s life is greatly altered” (24). In the short story “Cathedral” Raymond Carver uses epiphany to draw on the theme, blinded views can alter someone’s behavior. On the realistic level, epiphany advances the plot and character development because they are the basis for the story’s central action. They also help define the narrator and play a vital part in revealing the story’s theme. The following changes in the character’s views have shown an evident development.

William Shakespeare once said, "To thine own self be true, and it must follow as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man." Dating back to Elizabethan Literature, self-identity has always been deemed as essential. Fast forward to modern times, the authors of more contemporary works have taken the same concept of identity but have revealed the way actions taken can influence an individual 's understanding of themselves. For example, in John Howard Griffin 's memoir, Black Like Me and Wes Moore 's memoir, The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates were both authors encounter lifestyles of similar individuals. Through both comparable lifestyles, Griffin and Moore display the way work can affect the personal and social identities of individuals who would otherwise appear to be the "same man."

In the book More God Less Crime the author focuses on a central topic of how faith based institution and individuals can aid in reducing crime in society. The book stresses that these new faith based policies can implement a life long lifestyle change. In our society today, there are many dangerous problems we face from false imprisonment to youth violence. Within the book in providing solutions such as rehabilitation that can eventually eradicate these problems that plague our society. By having a strong foundation of religion set in place it can help resolve unjust matters with the belief that morality is superior. By incorporating morality in inmates life 's and other members within the system, it enables them to lead a better life, by leaving their old ways behind. Furthermore, the book is divided into three sections which contain specific chapters catered to reducing crime and or explaining how it can be resolved.

Research shows that up to 70% of people who have gone through something traumatic, have shown positive psychological growth in their lives (Gregoire). Life after trauma can be hard to regain due to the instability we experience throughout that hard time in our lives. But having a strong, and satisfying relationship or relationships can help to bring people to peace in a slightly more uncomplicated way. This example of dealing with grief is brought to attention in Amy Tan’s novel, The Joy Luck Club. Due to the turbulent times in Shanghai, China, and then coming together in San Francisco, California, these four women and their daughters rely on each other to get through it all. Each conflict the characters go through, relates back to how they

In life, one will experience many hardships, but family will always be there to support one throughout the hardships. In the short story “Sonny’s Blue” by James Baldwin, the narrator, who is unnamed, struggles to help his brother, Sonny, with his hardships. Sonny, a recovering drug addict, struggles himself about his place and his purpose. Often times our family is there for us through the hard times, but the narrator’s subjective view may blur his perceptions of situations involving his brother, Sonny.

In James Baldwin’s Sonny’s Blues, the narrator has a major conflict where he chooses to distance himself from his brother, Sonny, who is an aspiring musician and drug addict. As the story progresses, this conflict is resolved as the narrator’s attitude changes which allows him to overcome this need for emotional detachment. In Sonny’s Blues, the narrator transitions from being judgmental and emotionally detached towards his brother to embracing his brother’s decisions and accepting him for whom he truly is.

Even in the world today, racial tensions remain high as the color of a person’s skin can easily affect their opportunities, but authors such as James Baldwin have created stories that make the reader think about such issues in a new light. Or more specifically, James Baldwin has given a glimpse of the light that is possible in the darkness of cities such as Harlem by giving the reader a glimpse into the impossibly blackness that surrounds a sinkhole, one that many African Americans at the time found themselves in. Within the story, “Sonny’s Blues” Baldwin both directly and indirectly shares how the roots of one’s childhood is a large motivating factor while he also pleads to constantly pursue passion, as it could eventually lead to change,

As the book, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, progresses from start to finish, the actions of the characters really help the reader to understand how each character acts in certain uncomfortable situations that are experienced during the book. In these situations, the characters start to show how they feel around others. It shows how they feel comfortable or completely uncomfortable around other people. Each character has their own little twist to how they feel about things that are happening in school and in their own personal lives. The development of these characters help us realize the fears they face on a daily basis.

Life is a show. We are the actors in our own lives’, and we are constantly in the spotlight putting on our best performance. Erving Goffman published the ‘Presentation of Self in 1959 (Crossman, 2015). In this book, it is here he describes his theory about how we as people operate in our everyday lives and how we work to achieve a certain perception of ourselves. Goffman used the metaphor of the theatre to illustrate how we as social actors change our behaviour according to the audience that is present (Vogt Isaksen, 2015). Elements of the theatre can be used to demonstrate how we play our roles and how we change character in certain social situations. Also how we use various ‘props’ to

We are all sold the American dream. We are told that if we pick ourselves up by the bootstraps, we can make our dreams happen. Not to say that is not possible, but no one mentions that broader sociological concepts will shape many, if not every, aspect of our lives along the way. No one explains that there will be people who cross the street when they see you, no one teaches you how to deal with the added pressure of being the only person that looks like you do in your classroom or office, and no one explains to you that you will live in a different world and receive vastly different treatment depending on what you look like. Fortunately, because of Claude Steele’s work in Whistling Vivaldi, we are introduced to concepts such as identity