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September: Identity Crisis
In Graceling, Katsa feels stuck in an identity that isn't really hers - that someone else has imposed on her. She despises being the king's killer. Have you ever been boxed into an identity through another person's imposition?
11 comments:
I remember feeling boxed in by my own decisions to dance. When you do something for ten years, you might finally look around and ask, "Is this who I really am?"
Yearly evaluation is so helpful!
I agree with Lorie, I too felt boxed in by dance for a time. I'd been dancing for 12 years, and I finally stopped. I miss it and sometimes cotemplate going back, but now i'ts too late.
Also sometimes I feel that people expect me to be the 'angry black chick'. The girl who always brings race into class discussions, and in my all-white classes I feel like people expect me to represent the enitre African American and Latina race. I'm not their spokesperson, I'm just me. I'll stick up for my people, but we all think differently and there isn't just one 'spokeperson' or representative for a culture.
MissAttitude, that sounds like it could be frustrating and exhausting!
I always felt a bit trapped in the "smart girl" identity when I was younger. Yeah, I got good grades... but I was more than that, you know? Of course, that changed when I went to college and was surrounded by people who were way smarter than me :o)
it was/is frustrating, sounds like being stuck in the 'smart girl' sterotype could be exhausting and irritating! I try not to make assumptions about people because more often than not you're wrong(case in point, a kid with glasses looks like a 'dork' but really fast and good all around athlete).
I want to read Graceling! I'm going to check for it at my library :)
Kristin, I too felt boxed in by the "smart girl" label. It didn't bug me so much until I got to high school. I wanted people to notice other things about me that I was proud of, but it didn't always happen. As you said, things got better after high school when you meet lots of others smarter than you are!
I felt boxed in as a teen by a rleationship with an older guy who wanted me to be more practical and world aware. He was outraged that I didn't know all about the Viet Nam War when I was only 16. He thought my aspiration to be a writer was stupid and wanted me to go into something more business-oriented. It was not a good time in my life.
I've never felt trapped. I've known from day one who I was, and what I wanted to do with my life. I know this isn't typical.
Like Kristin, I've been catalogued as the "smart one" during my entire childhood, and it still clings on to me. I'm also seen as the "shy and discreet" girl, and people are always flabagasted (ooh, nice word for your recent post Kristin !) when they see me on stage (I'm an actress), because that's where my real crazyness comes out. And what's funny (well, not really but there you go...) is that people that have known me since I was a child think I followed the wrong path by chosing to be an actress : I was a perfect student, therefore I should now be a doctor or a teacher instead of trying to earn a living doing something that isn't "serious enough". But I'm trying to overcome these open prejudices and live my life the way I want to.
Two words: Middle School.
What a horrible time.
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