Emily Dickinson On Identity

There exist one question that every human being will ask numerous times over their life. The question is simple, consisting of three words, yet is almost always guaranteed a complex answer-who am I? The answer to this vital question molds an individual’s being, their life, consumes them with pride and vanity or depression and worthlessness. The individual pines for approval, they want to know that who they are is accepted and praiseworthy, so they ask this question to any person willing to spout out a response. The answers they receive are often inadequate or belittling; they are never concrete (as one’s identity should be), because feelings inevitably change. If an individual builds their identity upon the opinions of others, they will grow
One must be cautious to prevent others from determining what or how valuable their character is. Everyone’s character is made of unique qualities; the world will always poison uniqueness. The world hypocritically celebrates differences, but only the ones it's comfortable with, which fluctuates depending upon time; the ones they deem unsafe are shunned or annihilated. Emily Dickinson points out the frustration in presenting one’s distinct identity in I’m Nobody! Who are You?, a poem in which she identifies as a “Nobody” and tells a fellow “Nobody” not to reveal their nature to the world, because she would become “Somebody”. Perfectly content being a Nobody, Dickinson does not want to change for a society who only sees her character as an abnormality, something to advertise. Letting the world advertise her identity would only make her feel “dreary”, because every person truly loves they feel makes them different. They only doubt those qualities when society tells them those qualities are wrong or
One should feel proud of his accomplishments in life, but one must recognize that they do not hold all their personal value. John Milton is an example of a man who put too much significance in his work; once he could no longer write, he stoops into gloom. His poem When I Consider How My Light is Spent displays his feelings of despair, his writing, his “..one talent” is “..lodged with me useless…” because he can no longer serve the Lord. Milton’s life had become a performance, a show for the Lord, and when he could no longer perform, he lost himself. Milton’s issues lies in the fact that his personal value relied on the insight of someone else (the fuck is this sentence). Ultimately, the opinions of others, positive or negative, will never be completely satisfactory. An author may believe a newly published book is his best work, yet it may majorly receive terrible criticism. This doesn’t mean the author should never pick up a pencil again-he simply had expectations his audience could never meet, and a differing opinion. If a person deems their accomplishments as great, they should not expect the world to do the