Speech_on_Identity

Do you remember when you were a 5th grader' You might have loved drawing & running, loathed having to do your chores & felt hassled by your siblings like Jesse (Jess) Aarons but unlike Jess you may not have been dealing with several family, school, and gender issues. The novel ‘Bridge to Terabitha’, 1977, by Katherine Patterson, deals Jess’ search for an identity in his transition from youth to maturity. Before Jess met his best friend Leslie Burke, at home he received little attention from his parents and in school bullying left him lonely, insecure and frustrated that no one understood him. Jess & Leslie’s strong bond is bound by the imaginary world of Terabithia that they create & govern together. It is a place where Jess is able to be the person he is struggling to grow into. Leslie’s friendship transforms Jess, giving him purpose, enjoyment of life, and allowing him to overcome his fears and be free from the pressures of conformity. Contrast is used throughout the novel. Mr. Aaron is neglectful & un-accepting of Jess while Mr. Burke makes time for Leslie and gives her the freedom to be who she wants. This demonstrates the pressure on Jess to conform and become fully accepted by his father. The contrast between Terabithia and the real world highlight the similarities between both, the monsters Jess and Leslie have to fight in Terabithia are like the bullies at school, which they learn to confront. The two characters don’t fit their gender stereotypes, Leslie a girl that is brave, athletic and has short hair and Jess a boy who is sensitive, shy, afraid and artistic. Jess’ sensitivity and fears are demonstrated by the use of figurative language, Jess feels like his life is as fragile as a dandelion. “One little puff from any direction, and it is blown to bits.” Towards the end of the novel this becomes as reality as Jess learns of the death of Leslie who fell and drowned in crossing the river to Terabithia. Jess is devastated, but since he has gained enough strength and sense of self through his friendship with Leslie he is able to carry on and face life’s problems. He becomes a man by retaining the best parts of childhood and attaining a new maturity he is ultimately able to cope with hardship and stand proud as his own person. So we see how growing up with hardship can affect one’s identity, but what if you have no Terabithia to retreat to maybe instead your only way out is your skill with the ball. The film ‘Goal’, 2005, directed by Danny Cannon, follows the journey of a football player Santiago “Santi” Munez (Kuno Becker), who overcomes the expectations of his father and achieves his dream to play in the major league. At the start of the film flashback is used to show Santi’s background, he is a Mexican, also demonstrated by language, whose family escaped illegally to America. As the film progresses dialogue and use of tone in “You work, feed your family & die, your foolish to think otherwise” and ‘That’s your life not mine!”, demonstrate that Santi’s self-belief has been taken away by his father and that Santi wishes to be his own man by breaking free of the life his father has chosen for him. A montage of games and goals in the reserve grade sounding to inspirational music is climaxed with the scene in which Santi is chosen for first grade. In contrast bad news is then delivered in the dim lit corridor as the thunder is heard outside when Santi is told of the death of his father. At the end of the movie a slow motion up close shot of Santi accompanied by a loud heartbeat sound effect before Santi scores and wins the match against Liverpool builds to the overwhelming news that a week earlier Santi‘s father watched his first game on TV, the first and only game he ever saw his son play and was proud as hell, tears flow as the camera circles around Santi looking up at him symbolic that Santi has found peace with his father and in turn with himself and his background. Overall these 2 texts demonstrate our internal Identity is greatly affected by external factors such as culture, family, gender and status.