Identity Essay

Alex Case

ENG 123

Identity is a very big part of everyone’s everyday life. It creates who you are, how people will look at you and interpret how you portray yourself. Many people love and also hate their identity. Some may love the way that their identity comes off to other but also some people may hide their identity because they do not like who it makes them.

There are many things someone may try to hide from their identity. Someone may not like their religion or may think that they need to hide it because they cannot do something someone else may be able to do regularly. It says in the Yoshino article on page 480, “I recognize the value of assimilation, which often necessary to fluid social interaction, to peaceful coexistence and even to the dialogue through which difference is valued.” It also states on page 479 in the Kenji Yoshino article, “In our increasingly diverse society, all of us are outside the mainstream in some way.” This is saying that in the world that we live in today many people are different than other but to come together we all need to start treating each other the same with whatever identity that comes across with an in particular person.

Yoshino combines personal narrative and legal argument to lay out a new definition of civil rights. He then goes into talking about “covering” your identity. People will cover their identity for many different reasons. On page 480 in the article it says “covering has enjoyed such a robust and stubborn life because it is a form of assimilation.” When someone wants to cover up their identity the first thing I think of is hiding from people. There are so many different things that one person may do to hide their identity. The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of hiding an identity is someone who committed a crime or something bad where they do not want to be seen by anyone and want to stay unnoticed by everyone. When you do something you realize you probably should not have done that would be you being your false self. False self is something most people do not understand I believe. Being your true self and not trying to hide your identity should be what everyone does. I believe this because if you have to hide something from people, are you really being you? Everyone has their own identity and it is not 100% the same as anyone else’s.