The Breakfast Club Identity Analysis

A sport, a church, a memory, a group, a job, a journey; these are all forms of an identity. People can identify with anything, their friends, interests, achievements, and anything can influence one’s identity. This could be family, setting, race, mentors, peers, music, or social media. Identity changes over time as certain things about an individual also change. An individual’s identity is formed by two main factors; one being out of their control, a person’s background, and the other being who a person chooses to be, what choices they make. The first and most prominent factor of one’s identity during adolescence is the background of the individual. In The Breakfast Club, John Bender is seen as a delinquent, “a criminal.” Although many of his choices are not exemplary, he did not select his abusive father and broken household. Bender is still in high school, a teenager, and his background is very influencing over his identity as he has had no one to guide him to the right decisions.
To, “understand how a person derives their sense of identity… watch for ‘I’ statements.” People say “I can…” identify with a certain skill, “I have…” identifies with possession, “I like…” goes along with interests and so on. People identify with possessions, interests, statuses, to give themselves a sense of belonging; and what people identify with changes sporadically as the social standard changes and people need something new to be. “A positive self-identity is correlated with positive self-esteem.” !@#$% In the long run, people who make good choices and associate with good people, have more confidence. People who associate themselves with bad people and bad things have less to feel good about. The decisions an individual ultimately define who they are as life progresses onward, regardless of their history or