'The Declaration' and Identity
“An individual’s sense of identity emerges from the connections made with people, places and the community they interact with”
The question of whether or not connections made with people, places and the surrounding community, does in fact shape our identities and in turn helps them emerge is a very complex one. Identities are what give people their own characteristics and uniqueness. Emerge means to become prominent or obvious, and in this case, an emerging identity simply means the development a character goes through as the story progresses, as a result of influences made on them by external entities. Thus, the text ‘The Declaration’, written by Gemma Malley, is brought in, as it demonstrates this notion that a person or characters identity is created through the connections they make with other people, places and their community. The main character Anna Covey, and supporting character Margaret Pincent, are key to this notion, as they both demonstrate how external influences, which in this instance are: the connections made with other people, places and their community, are able to create and allow one’s personality to manifest into one’s own unique identity.
The main character of the book, Anna Covey, is a prime example in showing how one’s identity can be shaped, and manifests through external influences. The first point regarding this is influence by other characters in the novel. Anna in the novel is surrounded by two kinds of people, Legals and other surpluses. At first in the book, Anna’s primary influence was from the legals that controlled ‘Grange Hall’, the place where Anna was being kept. She was ‘nurtured’ by Mrs Pincent and other superiors (Legals) to be shaped into the brainwashed, two-dimensional, and obedient Anna that is given to the audience in the first part of the book. However, Anna’s own and true identity, does manage to emerge in two instances. One in her diary, which was written in first person (pg. 7-15) to convey her own
The question of whether or not connections made with people, places and the surrounding community, does in fact shape our identities and in turn helps them emerge is a very complex one. Identities are what give people their own characteristics and uniqueness. Emerge means to become prominent or obvious, and in this case, an emerging identity simply means the development a character goes through as the story progresses, as a result of influences made on them by external entities. Thus, the text ‘The Declaration’, written by Gemma Malley, is brought in, as it demonstrates this notion that a person or characters identity is created through the connections they make with other people, places and their community. The main character Anna Covey, and supporting character Margaret Pincent, are key to this notion, as they both demonstrate how external influences, which in this instance are: the connections made with other people, places and their community, are able to create and allow one’s personality to manifest into one’s own unique identity.
The main character of the book, Anna Covey, is a prime example in showing how one’s identity can be shaped, and manifests through external influences. The first point regarding this is influence by other characters in the novel. Anna in the novel is surrounded by two kinds of people, Legals and other surpluses. At first in the book, Anna’s primary influence was from the legals that controlled ‘Grange Hall’, the place where Anna was being kept. She was ‘nurtured’ by Mrs Pincent and other superiors (Legals) to be shaped into the brainwashed, two-dimensional, and obedient Anna that is given to the audience in the first part of the book. However, Anna’s own and true identity, does manage to emerge in two instances. One in her diary, which was written in first person (pg. 7-15) to convey her own