How Imperialism Affects Identity
Today there are many things that can impact someone’s identity. Imperialism is the ideology of extending a country’s power and influence through military force. Consumerism is another ideology that is the belief that it is good for people to spend large amounts of money on goods and services. Consumerism affects one identity because it leads to people believing that money is everything and that it is okay to buy things without hesitation; although imperialism contributes to one's identity the most out of the others because it leads to war, and changes one's country/nation.
The book A Long Way Gone is a memoir about a boy soldier named Ishmael Beah, that lived in Sierra Leone, Africa. He lived a normal life going to school and playing soccer with his friends. In his village there was an attack from the Rebels which ended up having him and his family get split up during the attack. He then runs off into the forest and finds some kids that went to his school and they stick together to be a group. They travel for many days to only be captured by nearby Rebels that then take them in as prisoners to their camp.
They then start to become rebel warriors but do not want to be one. Therefore …show more content…
they run away from the camp. They then wander around only to be found by the rebels again. The Government army then finds them at a camp and takes them to one of their camps. The Lieutenant then brainwashes them to kill every rebel in existence. They were trained to kill and show no mercy or pain.
With all of his training, came him killing many people. They would watch war movies and try to mimic what the actors did in the movies. The soldiers were drugged also so that they wouldn't suffer with any hesitation in killing or problems while sleeping. After Ishmael’s time in the army his lieutenant chose him and a few others to go somewhere, although the kids were not happy about it and even got mad at their lieutenant. They ended up going to the city and were put in a place where they would recover mentally, physically, and emotionally. Ishmael recovered after a while but to only return to his home and back into war.
The book Persepolis is about the story of a young girl named Marjane Satrapi. She is living a normal life then all the rules came in for her people like they have to wear the veil and have segregated classes due to gender. Majority of the story is about her life during the war between Iran and Iraq. The war affected her greatly because in the beginning before the war happened she believed in god and was innocent. Then the violence and cruelty of the war corroded her mind, she gave up on god and she wanted people to suffer for what they did. She also betrayed her family and went to a protest that had potential to become deadly.
Later on in the story Marjane and her father become very nationalistic about their country. Saying that it’s government has been severely hurt and that the people should do something to fix it. The situation with the violence has become very tense more bombing were happening, and their neighbors house was bombed. There were enemy fighter jets flying close and the Marijane and her family became aware that it was becoming worse. Ultimately her parents came to the decision to send Marijane to Austria for school.
Identity is the concept that gives someone their name. Someone's identity can consist of their name, behavior, morals, and physical appearance. There are a lot of things that can influence identity such as environment and past events. An ideology that affects one's identity the most would be Imperialism. Imperialism is the process of a country gaining power through military.
An example of imperialism changing one’s identity is in the novel A Long Way Gone. When the main character Ishmael becomes a soldier his mentality for many things changed. On page 130 he says “ Now we were being taken away, just like that, without any explanation. A few soldiers gathered our weapons and guarded us, to make sure that we didn’t try to run for our guns. As we were ushered to the truck, I stared back at the verandah where the lieutenant now stood, looking in the other direction, toward the forest, his hands crossed behind his back. I still didn’t know what was going on, but I was beginning to get angry, anxious. I hadn’t parted with my gun since the day I became a soldier” (Beah 130). Ishmael has been a soldier for quite a while now, he has been with his gun since day one. The war changed him because he is now addicted to his gun which gives him comfort. Before as a child the thing that give him comfort was music or his ability to dance. Later on in the story when Ishmael is taken out of the war and into the city, he meets his nurse and then a way that the nurse comforts him and keeps him calm is through music, not through weapons or drugs.
An example in A Long Way Gone where Ishmael’s identity is changed would be when he is given the rank of junior lieutenant. “ The corporal gave the signal with a pistol shot and I grabbed the man’s head and slit his throat in one fluid motion. His Adam’s apple made way for the sharp knife, and I turned the bayonet on its zigzag edge as I brought it out… The prisoner leaned his weight on me as he gave out his last breath. I dropped him on the ground and wiped my bayonet on him. I reported to the corporal, Who was holding a timer… I was proclaimed the winner, and Kanei came second. The boys and other soldiers who were the audience clapped as if I had just fulfilled one of life's greatest achievements. I was given the rank of junior lieutenant and Kanei was given junior sergeant. We celebrated that day’s achievements with more drugs and more war movies” (Beah 125). Ishmael was given drugs at the beginning of his days as a soldier. He now takes them like it’s candy, everyday he takes Brown Brown (gunpowder mixed with cocaine) and marijuana. Ishmael also watched a lot of war movies while he was in the army. After him and his friends watched the movies they would try to recreate scenes from the movie in their raids on other camps.
In the book Persepolis, the main character Marjane is affected by imperialism. She is affected by imperialism because her entire identity and personality was changed due to violence and war. At the beginning of the book Marjane was very religious “ Every night I had a big discussion with God” (Satrapi 8). She talked to God every night, this is her personality, she was very religious she even said on page 6 “ I was born with religion” (Satrapi 6). But then all the situations with the government and the war came into Marjane’s life and then she changed. Page 70 of Persepolis is where the war impacted her the most. “ Everything will be alright” (Satrapi 70) Marjane said crying. “Marji, what seems to be the problem?” (Satrapi 70) God asked Marjane. Marjane responds to God like this “Shut up, you! Get out of my life!!! I never want to see you again!” (Satrapi 70). Marjane was very religious, then everything started to go downhill for her and her family when things got hairy in her country. Anoosh got murdered the same night she rejected God. Anoosh was arrested and then killed in a prison, because the authorities thought that he was a russian spy. Imperialism has affected her life so much that at the end of the book her parent’s decided to send her off to Europe because the war and violence was too much in their home country.
Imperialism can affect someone emotionally.
In the article The Emotional Effects of War on Soldiers, written by Stan Tian, he writes “The emotional effects of war on soldiers very often hinders their future achievements too as they find it impossible to imagine or plan. Veterans of war who experience PTSD without adequate counseling and care often do not marry or have children, perhaps because they have experienced near death and have severe difficulty letting go of the idea that they may die any day” (Tian). The soldiers that return are emotionally scared, they have recurring flashbacks of their time in war. They can't have kids or pets because they are afraid of losing another being, they are unable to have the same security about someone than before they were sent off to
war.
Another way that imperialism can affect you, is mentally. According to a study based off of the war in Afghanistan, “The first study (10) used a national multistage, cluster, population based survey including 799 adult household members aged 15 years and above. Sixty-two percent of respondents reported experiencing at least four trauma events during the previous ten years. Symptoms of depression were found in 67.7% of respondents, symptoms of anxiety in 72.2%, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in 42%” (Srinivasa and Lakshminarayana). The Afghanistan war lasted for about two decades and many many people suffer from mental injuries that can last a lifetime. Depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are very harmful mentally and sometimes physically. These symptoms often come from war or violence in one’s life. Also this data is based off of people with at least 4 traumatic events. Soldiers can experience way more in their time as a soldier resulting in longer effect of symptoms such as PTSD and depression. Therefore imperialism can affect one’s identity greatly.
However, some might disagree on the theory that imperialism is the ideology that affects one’s identity the most. Some might say that the ideology that affects someone’s identity the most would be consumerism. It is consumerism because it is the belief that it is good to spend large amounts of money on goods. Now, goods and services such as jewelry, weapons, resources and stores can make someone or a group of people who want to get these things or make profit from it can have the potential to change into a greedy person or a selfish one, thus giving them an identity that they are known for.
Consumerism is not only for goods, it can also be about money. Money is a huge factor in identity, someone with a lot of money is probably well known, while someone with little money is not well known. In How Money Can Change People And Affect Their Behavior it states in the 18th paragraph “It’s true that being considered ‘wealthy’ may change the way you think,” (Curtis). Money can turn someone into a very bad person, making them do anything for money. For example the book A Long Way Gone is about consumerism. The rebels in the story are actually rebels in real life. They want diamonds that then the way they get diamonds is though miners in the country. According to the article Sierra Leone by Anup Shah “ While the RUF may have started from respectable aims, they themselves have been corrupted and attracted others who see the RUF as a way to get at the diamonds and profit from it” (Shah). The rebels see that they can get huge profit from the diamonds, which then leads them to controlling the mines and stopping whoever gets in their way of making money. Since there is a lot of work that needs to go into the mining and overwatching, they start to take kids and turn them into prisoners. If they get in the way of the process of the rebels making money, the rebels would kill the kids.
In conclusion, imperialism is more effective in changing one's identity than consumerism. The wars change the soldiers and the treatments they receive changed their mentality on things. While money and other things such as services or goods can also change or affect someone's identity, the concept of imperialism can change someone much more.
The book A Long Way Gone is a memoir about a boy soldier named Ishmael Beah, that lived in Sierra Leone, Africa. He lived a normal life going to school and playing soccer with his friends. In his village there was an attack from the Rebels which ended up having him and his family get split up during the attack. He then runs off into the forest and finds some kids that went to his school and they stick together to be a group. They travel for many days to only be captured by nearby Rebels that then take them in as prisoners to their camp.
They then start to become rebel warriors but do not want to be one. Therefore …show more content…
they run away from the camp. They then wander around only to be found by the rebels again. The Government army then finds them at a camp and takes them to one of their camps. The Lieutenant then brainwashes them to kill every rebel in existence. They were trained to kill and show no mercy or pain.
With all of his training, came him killing many people. They would watch war movies and try to mimic what the actors did in the movies. The soldiers were drugged also so that they wouldn't suffer with any hesitation in killing or problems while sleeping. After Ishmael’s time in the army his lieutenant chose him and a few others to go somewhere, although the kids were not happy about it and even got mad at their lieutenant. They ended up going to the city and were put in a place where they would recover mentally, physically, and emotionally. Ishmael recovered after a while but to only return to his home and back into war.
The book Persepolis is about the story of a young girl named Marjane Satrapi. She is living a normal life then all the rules came in for her people like they have to wear the veil and have segregated classes due to gender. Majority of the story is about her life during the war between Iran and Iraq. The war affected her greatly because in the beginning before the war happened she believed in god and was innocent. Then the violence and cruelty of the war corroded her mind, she gave up on god and she wanted people to suffer for what they did. She also betrayed her family and went to a protest that had potential to become deadly.
Later on in the story Marjane and her father become very nationalistic about their country. Saying that it’s government has been severely hurt and that the people should do something to fix it. The situation with the violence has become very tense more bombing were happening, and their neighbors house was bombed. There were enemy fighter jets flying close and the Marijane and her family became aware that it was becoming worse. Ultimately her parents came to the decision to send Marijane to Austria for school.
Identity is the concept that gives someone their name. Someone's identity can consist of their name, behavior, morals, and physical appearance. There are a lot of things that can influence identity such as environment and past events. An ideology that affects one's identity the most would be Imperialism. Imperialism is the process of a country gaining power through military.
An example of imperialism changing one’s identity is in the novel A Long Way Gone. When the main character Ishmael becomes a soldier his mentality for many things changed. On page 130 he says “ Now we were being taken away, just like that, without any explanation. A few soldiers gathered our weapons and guarded us, to make sure that we didn’t try to run for our guns. As we were ushered to the truck, I stared back at the verandah where the lieutenant now stood, looking in the other direction, toward the forest, his hands crossed behind his back. I still didn’t know what was going on, but I was beginning to get angry, anxious. I hadn’t parted with my gun since the day I became a soldier” (Beah 130). Ishmael has been a soldier for quite a while now, he has been with his gun since day one. The war changed him because he is now addicted to his gun which gives him comfort. Before as a child the thing that give him comfort was music or his ability to dance. Later on in the story when Ishmael is taken out of the war and into the city, he meets his nurse and then a way that the nurse comforts him and keeps him calm is through music, not through weapons or drugs.
An example in A Long Way Gone where Ishmael’s identity is changed would be when he is given the rank of junior lieutenant. “ The corporal gave the signal with a pistol shot and I grabbed the man’s head and slit his throat in one fluid motion. His Adam’s apple made way for the sharp knife, and I turned the bayonet on its zigzag edge as I brought it out… The prisoner leaned his weight on me as he gave out his last breath. I dropped him on the ground and wiped my bayonet on him. I reported to the corporal, Who was holding a timer… I was proclaimed the winner, and Kanei came second. The boys and other soldiers who were the audience clapped as if I had just fulfilled one of life's greatest achievements. I was given the rank of junior lieutenant and Kanei was given junior sergeant. We celebrated that day’s achievements with more drugs and more war movies” (Beah 125). Ishmael was given drugs at the beginning of his days as a soldier. He now takes them like it’s candy, everyday he takes Brown Brown (gunpowder mixed with cocaine) and marijuana. Ishmael also watched a lot of war movies while he was in the army. After him and his friends watched the movies they would try to recreate scenes from the movie in their raids on other camps.
In the book Persepolis, the main character Marjane is affected by imperialism. She is affected by imperialism because her entire identity and personality was changed due to violence and war. At the beginning of the book Marjane was very religious “ Every night I had a big discussion with God” (Satrapi 8). She talked to God every night, this is her personality, she was very religious she even said on page 6 “ I was born with religion” (Satrapi 6). But then all the situations with the government and the war came into Marjane’s life and then she changed. Page 70 of Persepolis is where the war impacted her the most. “ Everything will be alright” (Satrapi 70) Marjane said crying. “Marji, what seems to be the problem?” (Satrapi 70) God asked Marjane. Marjane responds to God like this “Shut up, you! Get out of my life!!! I never want to see you again!” (Satrapi 70). Marjane was very religious, then everything started to go downhill for her and her family when things got hairy in her country. Anoosh got murdered the same night she rejected God. Anoosh was arrested and then killed in a prison, because the authorities thought that he was a russian spy. Imperialism has affected her life so much that at the end of the book her parent’s decided to send her off to Europe because the war and violence was too much in their home country.
Imperialism can affect someone emotionally.
In the article The Emotional Effects of War on Soldiers, written by Stan Tian, he writes “The emotional effects of war on soldiers very often hinders their future achievements too as they find it impossible to imagine or plan. Veterans of war who experience PTSD without adequate counseling and care often do not marry or have children, perhaps because they have experienced near death and have severe difficulty letting go of the idea that they may die any day” (Tian). The soldiers that return are emotionally scared, they have recurring flashbacks of their time in war. They can't have kids or pets because they are afraid of losing another being, they are unable to have the same security about someone than before they were sent off to
war.
Another way that imperialism can affect you, is mentally. According to a study based off of the war in Afghanistan, “The first study (10) used a national multistage, cluster, population based survey including 799 adult household members aged 15 years and above. Sixty-two percent of respondents reported experiencing at least four trauma events during the previous ten years. Symptoms of depression were found in 67.7% of respondents, symptoms of anxiety in 72.2%, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in 42%” (Srinivasa and Lakshminarayana). The Afghanistan war lasted for about two decades and many many people suffer from mental injuries that can last a lifetime. Depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are very harmful mentally and sometimes physically. These symptoms often come from war or violence in one’s life. Also this data is based off of people with at least 4 traumatic events. Soldiers can experience way more in their time as a soldier resulting in longer effect of symptoms such as PTSD and depression. Therefore imperialism can affect one’s identity greatly.
However, some might disagree on the theory that imperialism is the ideology that affects one’s identity the most. Some might say that the ideology that affects someone’s identity the most would be consumerism. It is consumerism because it is the belief that it is good to spend large amounts of money on goods. Now, goods and services such as jewelry, weapons, resources and stores can make someone or a group of people who want to get these things or make profit from it can have the potential to change into a greedy person or a selfish one, thus giving them an identity that they are known for.
Consumerism is not only for goods, it can also be about money. Money is a huge factor in identity, someone with a lot of money is probably well known, while someone with little money is not well known. In How Money Can Change People And Affect Their Behavior it states in the 18th paragraph “It’s true that being considered ‘wealthy’ may change the way you think,” (Curtis). Money can turn someone into a very bad person, making them do anything for money. For example the book A Long Way Gone is about consumerism. The rebels in the story are actually rebels in real life. They want diamonds that then the way they get diamonds is though miners in the country. According to the article Sierra Leone by Anup Shah “ While the RUF may have started from respectable aims, they themselves have been corrupted and attracted others who see the RUF as a way to get at the diamonds and profit from it” (Shah). The rebels see that they can get huge profit from the diamonds, which then leads them to controlling the mines and stopping whoever gets in their way of making money. Since there is a lot of work that needs to go into the mining and overwatching, they start to take kids and turn them into prisoners. If they get in the way of the process of the rebels making money, the rebels would kill the kids.
In conclusion, imperialism is more effective in changing one's identity than consumerism. The wars change the soldiers and the treatments they receive changed their mentality on things. While money and other things such as services or goods can also change or affect someone's identity, the concept of imperialism can change someone much more.