Sonny's Blues: The True Identity
Christopher Bottini
Foster English 1B
December 8, 2010
The True Identity Culture and identity go hand in hand. Everyone has their own identity, but where does that come from? The main contributor to someone’s identity is the culture they grew up in. Cultures vary in many different ways. Chinese is a very factual, to the point, respect your elders and family culture, while American culture is more carpe diem, freedom of speech, bigger is better mentality. So as you could imagine someone in China will grow up with a much different identity that someone in America. Someone’s true identity comes out when you’re placed in a situation that tests your culture’s view of right or wrong. Whether you go with the flow or choose to disobey is how you know one’s true identity. Take into account the story “Sonny’s Blues.” The narrator of the story, Sonny’s brother, thinks from the time …show more content…
Hyde was his bad side and his pure side, which everyone came to know, wasn’t what Jekyll really wanted. He wanted to let Hyde out and to do so he had to take drugs, like Sonny did. Jekyll’s surface was a proper man but his true identity was what lied beneath him and what he allowed to surface when he conjured up his potion. Letting out this carnage side made Jekyll feel alive, with no remorse of what he was doing. The aliveness he felt was the disregard of his culture and their rules, and this is where he found himself happy. The disobeying Hyde was Jekyll’s true identity and how he really wanted to feel. Have you ever one day been faced with the opportunity to break cultures rules and done it? Did you feel exhilarated? Ones identity will never change. When they figure out what the true inner person is that, whether its a naughty person or a great person is what surfaces when the person is alone or set with a straining situation. The Jekyll side is what culture wanted to see, but the true identity of Jekyll was the disobeying side of
Foster English 1B
December 8, 2010
The True Identity Culture and identity go hand in hand. Everyone has their own identity, but where does that come from? The main contributor to someone’s identity is the culture they grew up in. Cultures vary in many different ways. Chinese is a very factual, to the point, respect your elders and family culture, while American culture is more carpe diem, freedom of speech, bigger is better mentality. So as you could imagine someone in China will grow up with a much different identity that someone in America. Someone’s true identity comes out when you’re placed in a situation that tests your culture’s view of right or wrong. Whether you go with the flow or choose to disobey is how you know one’s true identity. Take into account the story “Sonny’s Blues.” The narrator of the story, Sonny’s brother, thinks from the time …show more content…
Hyde was his bad side and his pure side, which everyone came to know, wasn’t what Jekyll really wanted. He wanted to let Hyde out and to do so he had to take drugs, like Sonny did. Jekyll’s surface was a proper man but his true identity was what lied beneath him and what he allowed to surface when he conjured up his potion. Letting out this carnage side made Jekyll feel alive, with no remorse of what he was doing. The aliveness he felt was the disregard of his culture and their rules, and this is where he found himself happy. The disobeying Hyde was Jekyll’s true identity and how he really wanted to feel. Have you ever one day been faced with the opportunity to break cultures rules and done it? Did you feel exhilarated? Ones identity will never change. When they figure out what the true inner person is that, whether its a naughty person or a great person is what surfaces when the person is alone or set with a straining situation. The Jekyll side is what culture wanted to see, but the true identity of Jekyll was the disobeying side of