What Is Avram's Identity

A baby is born, from the moment that child is given a name it is brought into the world being identified in less than an hour, it’s a boy. Family visits the boy and they say that he has his father’s eyes and his mother’s smile. As the boy grows he develops his own thoughts and personality. But small quirks and habits resemble those of his parents. Certain aspects of the boy’s life alter his way of thinking, personality, mannerisms, and other traits. They all relate to people he is around the most. In the end a person is a product of whatever may be around them. The environment and culture has an impact on him. But as the boy gets older he becomes more self-aware, and begins to question his surroundings and himself. Questions like, do we choose
our identity or is it chosen for us? Can an identity be changed over time, or is it something that is set in stone? The idea of identity can be changed and modified throughout time, it is dynamic but often treated as static. In the novel He, She, and It, the character Yod goes through a series of moments in which he questions his existence and identity.
Yod was a cyborg who was created by Avram. From the moment he was activated he began to experience the world around him. Taking in all the information instantly. He was created with a purpose and a chosen identity. Avram had designed every single aspect of his being. Ultimately Yod became someone completely different than what Avram had planned for. Similar situations are already occurring in the world today. Artificial insemination for example, you can choose the sex of your baby and in some occasions you can even choose some appearance traits. In the film Gattaca. A new sense of discrimination arises which is based on genetics. Vincent who is the main character in the movie was born the “natural way” which in his world means that his parents did not choose to genetically modify him. But in the long run that changes his quality of life, he has to endure different obstacles that cause him to completely change his identity in order to follow his dreams. When Vincent changes his identity he feels a sense of achievement almost as if it was what he was supposed to do all along. Finding happiness is something that humans long for. The extremes people will go to, to find happiness are endless. Although there is a possibility that society may become something similar to the society in Gattaca. As of now the lengths people will go to, to become closer
to what they believe is their true sense of identity is remarkable. A person can go through a variety of modifications, ranging wide from tattoos, to gender reassignments. The way that technology is advancing is allowing these possibilities that were once ideas to become a reality. The first gender reassignment surgery was performed on Laurence Michael in 1945. (Gender Center 2) The process of gender reassignment has evolved dramatically throughout time. Gender reassignment isn’t the only drastic modification, there are many others that aren’t as extreme. Sometimes the smallest modifications can boost a person’s confidence and make them feel more positive about themselves. In a recent study in which several employees were surveyed about different things that relate back to confidence, positive self-perception, and corporate identity. Throughout the series of tests and surveys researchers found different elements that were common throughout the employees that had a higher level of confidence, and positive self-perception. Those elements were trust among family and friends, educational levels, the amount of time that they were working at their job, as well as their levels of communication. The results showed higher levels of those factors, which resulted in a higher sense of positive self-perception among the other things. Employees who had less of those factors had a lower sense of positive self-perception. (Ghadiri 1, 3) This study shows that modification isn’t always what is needed to achieve positive self-perception and a better sense of identity.
The people who surround us have a high impact on how we perceive ourselves.
You are who you hang out with is a common saying. When actually given some thought it, we can point out certain characteristics that we have gained from others and realize that it’s true. Different aspects of people who spend more time together typically have some similarities, whether they were preexisting or developed throughout. Family is also a huge impact on how people evolve throughout life, whether family is involved or isn’t can be a huge difference in someone’s personality. For example, in He, She, and It, Shira was given the task of teaching Yod interpersonal skills. Throughout the novel Yod learned to be a person simply by spending time with Shira and experiencing different emotions and feelings. He had all the knowledge on interpersonal skills and he was extremely capable of giving the specifics on the matter but it didn’t mean anything until he actually experienced all of the things he was preprogrammed to know. If Shira hadn’t spent time with Yod or given him the experiences that evoked emotion and feeling Yod wouldn’t have developed the sense of identity that he had. Yod and Shiras relationship shows how truly important it is to be aware of the people surrounding us, because they are factors that can change or modify our own identities
subconsciously.
Nurture vs. Nature is something that relates closely to identity. The idea that identity is formed by genetic, hormonal, and neurochemical explanations of behavior, which would be classified as nature. Nurture would be the idea that all behavior is learned from the environment through conditioning. (McLeod 1) Going back to He, She, and It, Yod experiences both nurture and nature. Although he was programmed by Avram and Malkah to have all of the personality characteristics and information on human behavior, he didn’t know how to apply it until he experienced some of those things with Shira. Those experiences shaped his personality and who he became. Throughout that process his self-awareness became stronger. As his emotions and feelings grew stronger he began self-identifying as more of a person than a cyborg. He reached a level of self-acceptance throughout the process of becoming self-aware, which caused him to feel strongly about who he was. He was confident that he should be considered a person and have rights.