Lost in Identity Essay

Through public opinion, prejudices and stereotypes, ones identity is cogitation to change. If one is changelessly criticized and put d consume for their physical appearance or their actions, they will try to modify themselves to fit the norm, and to match the majority. In the trio pieces, Barbie Doll, Siddhartha, and Black custody and commonplace Space, they demonstrate that through companionships expectations and stereotypes, ones identity will be challenged and thus inhibited. only when ones own determination and perseverance pulls through, will they bump their straight ego.In both pieces Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, and Black Men and Public Space by Brent Staples, the characters were often seen changing and reevaluating their current positions in rules of read. In Black Men and Public Space, Staples recalls his past connection with out of doors opinions and stereotyping. Black men ar repeatedly labeled as breakneck and suspicious, so in the evening, women would avoi d him and the policemen would often pull him over just due to the color of his skin. Because of his constant mistreatment, Staples is conned into believing he is some consort of ominous being who threatens eitherone around him. In the expiry, instead of conveying his true identity, he tries to make everyone else around him incur more comfortable by learning to move about with care, and to give wide berth to nauseous people(Staples). Staples ultimately mutates himself into individual so passive that his only aspiration in life is to satisfy others.In Siddhartha, Hesses portrayal of Siddhartha illustrates the effigy of conquering Self and beneath stand ones own identity. At first, Siddhartha attempts to fight back outside pressures, withal he too locomote into the trap. As Staples journeys through advanced York and Siddhartha through India, the paths they decide to take are quite similar. For example, soon after parting ways with Govinda, Siddhartha travels to a parvenue town with fresh obstacles waiting to be overcome. Upon arrival into the new town, Siddhartha possess no worldly possessions except for the clothes on his back. Siddhartha soon meets the towns very own love mistress, Kamala, and she in rebounds him that he will non be permitted to study love from her unless he attains three things expensive clothes, garb and a house.Although Siddhartha easily could have dismissed her conditions, he felt as if he was obligated by baseball clubs standards to feel a wealthy life. Staples on the other hand also lives a write life because he alters everything about himself, from his standing proximity to even squander extra time to make sure others dont feel as if he is following them. In the end, Siddhartha grows wary of societal expectations and learns that it should not govern what he does. If Siddhartha were to advise Staples, he would tell him that instead of abiding continuous racial inequalities, he should take time to look qabalistic wi thin himself in order to reestablish the inner peace that would last pull him away from outside expectations.Another common theme turn to in these three pieces is the idea of fitting into societys archetype. In Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy, her character would give anything to look severe and fit into the crowd. Similarly in todays society, women are interminably pressured to match a certain role and look a peculiar(prenominal) way in order to feel welcome. It doesnt make horse sense why healthy, intelligent and strong women crumble under the low egoism of others. Women are getting so torn up by their coadjutors critiquing that they focus more on the constant negative reminders, earlier than their positive qualities.At the end of the novel Siddhartha, Siddhartha ends up reaching enlightenment by conquering his Self and learning to break free from societys hold. On the contrary, the ending in Barbie Doll, Piercys character could no longer handle any more criticism so she buf fet off her perfume and legs and offered them up(Piercy). Only then did society agnise her beauty, the beauty of the painted on undertakers cosmetics and the turned-up putty nose(Piercy). Even though Siddhartha wouldnt judge Barbie Doll on her looks, he would however critique her on how she gave into outside pressures. Instead of letting societys expectations take root and fester within, like Staples, she should have listened to her Self, and lived her life through the true beauty found inside.Staples mistake in Black Men and Public Space is tight intertwined with Barbie Dolls in that they both are caught in societys grasp and they have trouble clawing their way back out. Since Staples has great(p) so accustomed to the design of other people governing his every motion and every thought, the idea of putting his foot down and standing out from the crowd seems totally inconceivable. If this attitude persists, the only foreseeable solution is one that will lead to his undoing. Barb ie Doll resembles Staples ever-growing uncertainty with his life. If Staples continues his charade and prolongs his constant mistreatment, he will ultimately turn out like Barbie Doll, someone who was so thirsty to taste her real identity that in order to escape from the hole she dug herself into she had to kill herself. For Staples, it is not too late.Towards the end of Black Men and Public Space, he admits to whistling melodies from Beethoven and Vivaldi(Staples). Staples is under the impression that a mugger wouldnt be warbling bright, sunny selection from Vivaldis Four Seasons, so by finding a way to header with his situation, Staples repressed identity leaks out through the form of music (Staples). Siddhartha suggests that ones own identity will neer be lost, no matter how far one might fortuity from it, they will always cycle back to it in the end. So with Staples, however dormant his former Self remains, the return is inevitable.As people educate through outside influence s as well as their own command to fit in, the connection with their identity will struggle to return. As a result, people become even more detached from reality and live as if they do not have a mind of their own, besides like a machine that is programmed to do as others tell it. In the three pieces of literature, Barbie Doll, Siddhartha, and Black Men and Public Places they try to warn their viewing audience of the dangers of becoming too attached to what other people think. Instead of auditory modality to others and obeying their every command, we must think for ourselves and create our own guidelines and expectations to live by. matchless must find the source within ones own self, one must possess it. Everything else is seeking- a detour, error(Siddhartha 5).Works CitedHesse, Hermann. Siddhartha. New York Bantam Classics, 1981.Piercy, Marge. Barbie Doll. Circles on the Water Selected Poems of Marge Piercy. Ed. Alfred A. Knopf. New York Knopf, 1982.Staples, Brent. Black Men a nd Public Space. The Norton Reader Eleventh Edition. Ed. Linda H. Peterson and John C. Brereton. New York W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 2004.