Self-Ownership In 'No Name Woman'

Concept of Self- Ownership “What does it mean to own something?” is the question being asked of many of us. The literal meaning is to have ownership of something or to have some that belongs to you. The next question we should ask ourselves is does that mean we technically own ourselves? In other words, do we have ownership to ourselves, and how can we own ourselves?. We own our own identity if that makes sense. We claim what we say is our identity. Whether it’s being a part of a certain ethnicity, cultural backgrounds, or religions. Part of our identity is where we come from, our heritage. It’s who we are. In “No Name Woman”, the author Kingston tells of one of her families most hidden secrets. She never knew she had an aunt until her mother told her after several years. Her aunt, had gotten pregnant at a young age and committed suicide because her family disowned her and she felt unloved. The author’s aunt let her mistakes she made in life identify who she was.
Most teenagers in today’s society experience the issue of finding who they truly are. Many choose to identify by social class, race, or even sexual preference. The measure of how much we know we are capable of is our self-esteem. Finding your identity coincides with our personal traits also such as what we eat, where we live, what we love and it is also defined by how others treat us. This ties with ownership because in the end we are all owing up to who we truly are and that is our self-identity. In conclusion let me ask again, do we own ourselves? After reading this essay, you should have a clear and concise feeling of what self-identity is and what is means to own something. The concept of self-ownership comes down to knowing who you are and knowing what you can do and owning that part of yourself. So the answer is yes. To finalize I challenge all of you reading this, “find out who you are and do it on purpose”