Identities was a very interesting concept for me to read, as it was something we all believe is true but we are not sure why. The first paragraph of S. During’s article states that “Identities are conceptually more complex then they may first appear. From one point of view, they define who somebody is in terms of a trait, which might be anything from, for instance, a physical feature of the body, a belief, a genealogy or a cultural preference”. This is an interesting concept as one would believe it would be harder to describe identity than in a handful of words. More interestingly so, one’s personal describable identity should be stronger than that of others ideas about your identity. However, this is not so.

Take for example me, the selection of traits I use to describe myself should be more appropriate and believe than that say of my best friends. I would describe myself as a nice, solid, care-free, open person whom strongest physical attribute is being short. When I rang my best friend Pete and asked for his description of me – my identity, he said “ummm you’re short and always there when I need you”.  Obviously there is not much of a difference in my opinion of myself and my best friend, as his my best friend and hopefully sees the best in me. But what happens if I asked someone who disliked me, I am sure there opinion would differ quiet dramatically. So my question is this. Why do we try so hard to get everyone to like us, and care so much about what other people think about us? Why does self- identity rank so much lower than other peoples perceived identities of us.

Secondly, if identity is so complex, like S During says, why do people only use a handful of words to describe it? An example is how I described myself previous – I used the words nice, open and care-free.  Since everyone is unique and an individual, how come the whole word uses common words to describe themselves? Words such as “nice” or “happy”, these are words that EVERYONE uses to describe themselves. Leaving everyone seemingly similar and taking out the uniqueness and individuality from life.

A. Hearn also brings up an interesting point in his article. That is the concept of self-branding, identity and advertising. A. Hearn describes the relationship between self-branding, identity and advertising as “The face or identity of a brand works to establish a relationship with the consumer”. Branding in advertising is not something unknown or shocking to us. Examples such as Myer branding their logo to Jennifer Hawkins, David Jones to Miranda Kerr, Elephants with Optus, as well as associations such as purple and Cadbury.

 Many concepts about identity were discussed in the articles. However these three i believe are the most important. I believe that no longer is identity and individual, unique thing. But rather an association of concepts fabricated together to create a “norm”, a norm which drive society to act, interpret and analyse in exactly the same way.

Hope it makes sense,

Love Natasha Boustani xx

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