In analyzing who we are and what makes up the basis of our personality, there are ‘natural’ determiners and ‘external’ determiners. Natural determiners are what we receive from birth: gender, race, ethnic background, and social class. For example, a person might have a certain personality because she is a woman, Black, half Jamaican and half Dominican, whose parents own a small restaurant and are thus middle class. Another might be a man, Hispanic, whose mother is Cuban and whose father is part Irish and part Italian, and whose family is lower middle class.
You are going to write a THREE-PARAGRAPH ESSAY. Each paragraph should be six-eight sentences long.
Paragraph I:
In the first paragraph, you will describe yourself, what ‘natural’ determiners make you who you are. Include gender, race, ethnic background, and social class. These are factors that you cannot control, that you are handed at birth.
Paragraph II:
In the second paragraph, you will analyze which of these factors are most important in the way you see yourself and identify yourself. Is the most important aspect of your personality that you are Italian, or a woman, or that you are Asian?
Paragraph III:
In the third paragraph you will answer the following question: Is it important for you to stay as close as possible to your ‘natural determiners’ when you choose a mate? That is, might you ‘cross’ race, ethnic background, social class, or gender in choosing someone to go out with or to marry.
Describe yourself physically – so that you can be picked out of a police lineup
Describe your role in the family
Gender – burden, expectations, discrimination based on gender
Describe yourself as your best friends see you
Describe the impression that you give when people meet you for the first time
Find some old photographs of yourself. Tell the following information: key dates in your life, important friends and family members, how much you have changed. In what way? Physically? Emotionally? Intellectually? Socially?
The languages that you speak: do you speak differently based on the situation and your audience? Classmates, co-workers, family members, lovers, strangers. How many languages do you speak? Write about your experiences learning English or studying foreign languages. If you are bilingual, which language do you dream in?
Religion: how important is your religion in self-identification: do you consider yourself religious? How important is another person’s religion when you think of them as potential partners?
Education: how has your education shaped the way you are. Discuss the relationship between education and your personal identity
When did you first feel that you were “old” – an adult. What experience for you signaled the line of demarcation between being a kid and being a grownup?
Job – do you define yourself by the work that you do?
Salary – related to self-worth?
