Michael Zarrillo Identity Essay

Michael Zarrillo

10 September 2014

Professor Young

English 1100

Identity Essay

The Importance of Having Your Own Identity

Every person no matter who they are should have an identity and something that defines who they are as a person. Having your own identity is emphasized in the reading, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldua, because Anzaldua identifies who she is with her language. For Gloria her language means everything to her and she is proud of it, so this shows that she is proud of who she is. “We became aware of our reality and acquired a name and a language that reflected that reality.” This is Anzaldua’s thesis and this is where she realized her identity. I agree with this thesis because after searching for a while, Anzaldua finally found her identity and I think that her nothing could better identify Anzaldua than her language. In my case, my identity is my family. My family means everything to me and I would not be the same person that I am now without my family behind me. My family is my identity because they taught me, and made me the person I am today. It is important that everyone has their own identity because your identity makes and defines who you are as a person. 

There are many different ways to describe me, but the one true thing that identifies me is my family. I am, and always will be 100% devoted and grateful to my family. My family describes me because they are the ones that shaped me into the person that I am today. The importance of having your own identity is to show who you are to everyone around you whether you know them or not. Identity expresses your inner self, just like Anzaldua expresses her language by using it combined with English to speak a sort of Spanglish throughout her story and even in real life. Family to me is like language to Anzaldua. My family is who I am and this is the importance of identity because it shows other people who I am.

Without identity, you may not know who you really are. How can someone go through life not knowing who they really are? My family reflects me because they made me who I am. I know that my identity is my family so I know who I am, where people without an identity may not know who they are. For Anzaldua, at first she didn't know her identity because she loved her language, but was afraid to express it because it was discriminated against by so many people. Later on, Anzaldua began to take pride in her language and realized that was her identity. Everyone needs some form of identity no matter what it is, so that you know who you are.

A lot of people go through life, not knowing who they really are because they don't have a real identity. In the case of Anzaldua, when she was growing up she had no identity, and she was very shy and quiet because she was unsure of herself. She loved her language but also was not proud of it at the time because it was discriminated against by so many people. As Anzaldua got older she became proud of her language no matter how much people hated it, and she realized that her language is her identity. When I was younger, I never really thought of identity showing who I really am, but now that I know, there is nothing that shows me than my family. Everyone needs to have an identity to know who they are, when you are little, you don't need it as much because you don't really understand it, but as you get older, you need something that shows you. 

The importance of having your your own identity is to show yourself and everyone around you who you are. Everyone needs and identity to show everyone around them, their personality and their inner self. Without an identity, you yourself may not know who you real are because you don't have anything that defines you. Whether it is your language like Anzaldua, your family like me, your background, your religion, whatever it might be, there needs to be something that identifies who you are. Identity can be anything, but it cannot be everything. There is one thing in every person’s life that identifies them and shows who they are. If they don't know what it is, they just have to take the time to look for it.