Identity and Community

September 12^th, 2012

The Conversion of the Jews-reflective essay

Mr. Menard/American Literature

11b4 111150 Ho InHee

 People oftentimes think communities nowadays are free and loose. Modern communities do seem less binding, less limiting than those hundred years ago. No religion imposes one to embrace every principles of it. Actually, no religion imposes one to believe in it. One is free to even disbelieve certain religion or be an agnostic. Similarly, in a broader view, people can solely devote themselves to a community, selectively adopt its laws, or totally go against it. So compared to the society hundred years ago, are people really freer in forming their identity? Or do they even know their identity fully?

Identity, on its surface, seems definable. I can tell I am a Korean and a Christian. But when I’m told to elaborate more on my identity, I get puzzled. I do not know where I should start, and how I should proceed. Perhaps I do not know my identity fully. But frankly, if anyone was asked same question (what is your identity) not many would be able to answer easily. In fact, most of the time in daily lives, people aren’t much aware of their identity. Then if people don’t exactly know their identity, how can they tell that they are freer in forming identity than hundred years ago? If they never can know their identity fully, are they ever allowed to make any speculation about their identity?

People become aware of their identity most when they are suddenly confronted by a new community. When an American girl moves to China, she is likely feel a great confusion of her identity. Why? Because the environment around her has drastically changed. The girl gets to meet the majority with apparently different life styles, values, and cultures. The difference, which she didn’t have to feel so much in her homeland, makes her feel excluded and isolated. There she starts to question: who am I? What am I doing here? These sudden questions flowing into her mind can be an evidence of a common image of identity existing in one community. Having shared quite a part of an identity with the members in her home community, the girl finds herself isolated in the new community. The new community, just like the home community, has its own common identity and the girl has to adapt to the new community, updating her identity. This American girl would have to learn a new language, respect elders, and keep away from boys. She might even have to dump all her slinky cloths. And yes, she would have to learn the common identity in the new community.

Then why do people think they can more freely form their identity than before? Perhaps because they have more opportunity to choose which community to be involved. They can now choose the country to live in, religion to devote in, and job to work in. But when choosing certain community, people implicitly accept to follow the common law. If a person feels he or she can never give up eating beef, that person wouldn’t probably go live in India. People choose a community that they consider is the most plausible to adapt. And once they get in the community, they emulate the common identity. Of course there are myriads of different communities around the world, and one is involved in more than one communities. The total combination of possible involved communities has significantly increased, and this may be the reason why the identities got diverse. But this doesn’t mean that individual identity is less affected by the community. Community still affects individuals just much as hundred years before. It’s just that the affects became less compulsive and less conspicuous. If one doesn’t follow the common law of the community, he or she is excluded straightaway. One is free to leave or transfer community, but in order to stay in certain community, he or she has to adapt to and emulate the majority in the community.

Childhood trauma-revision

September 1st, 2012

Childhood Trauma-1st revision 

Mr. Garrioch/English Composition

11b4 111150 Ho Inhee

“Why are you wearing just a t-shirt?”

The boy wearing a skeleton costume asks. She simply stares at the boy. Why is he wearing such weird clothing? Where did his pants go?
  She looks around. There’s one Tinkerbelle. One Snow White, one witch, and one Spiderman. There are even non-human things. One butterfly with big rainbow wings, one brown bear, one monkey with an exceptionally long tail. And a bleeding Dracula! What the hell is going on?
  She steps backward, puzzled and perplexed. She checks if she’s in the right place and returns to the hall. And yes, she is in the right place.

“Okay, kids. Knock on the door and say?...”
“Trick or treat!”

  A lady with a purple robe and a black crumpled witch hat asks, and a bunch of kids with weird, ridiculous costumes yells the answer. The hall, all dark without light, is filled with high atmosphere. Caspers - grinning nastily, riding a broomstick, waving hands, running after something, and making a spooky face - are floating all around the black colored wall. Above the wall is a white silky web that extends all the way to the ceiling. Among the uniquely dressed crowd, there is one girl with a uniquely plain clothing. Wearing a pink Gap T-shirt, white pants, and a white headband, she looks around the hall in bewilderment, nervously twirling her black hair. All the white ghosts on the wall seem to be shouting at her. The girl shrinks slightly.

Soon the loud, bustling crowd leaves the hall. Now the girl is left alone. No one’s in the hall. Wiggling her fingers, the girl nervously gazes at the door the crowd just passed through. She takes her step forward, but soon stops. She does not know where to go.
  She bursts into tears. Alone in the dark hall, she cries loudly until the witch-looking lady runs in.
  “What’s wrong, dear?” The lady asks nicely.
  The girl doesn’t answer. Still shedding tears, she holds her lips tight. The lady wipes the girl’s tears.
  “Honey, are you all right?”
  The girl shakes her head.
  “Do you feel sick?”
  The girl shakes her head again.
  “Do you want to go home?”
  This time, the girl nods.
  “Why, because you don’t have any costumes?” The lady asks in a soft voice, trying to soothe the crying little girl.
  The girl looks up with dark staring eyes, and after a while, she questions.
  “Costumes?”
  “Yes, dear. Do you know what Halloween is?”
  “Yes,” the girl mutters, her voice so muted the lady hardly hears her reply.

  Yes, the girl knows what Halloween is. She knows Halloween has something to do with orange pumpkins. She saw it in a cartoon. But costumes, she’s never heard about them. If ‘costumes’ are weird clothing, then she had seen plenty of them during New Years Day back in Korea. She and her mom wore long dresses with breast ties, and her father wore rubber pants and a vest. But those clothing look totally different from all the weird clothing people wear here. So what are costumes?

“We wear costumes on Halloween. You saw your friends wearing beautiful princess clothing? Those are all costumes.”
  Understanding less than half of the lady’s words, the girl merely nods.
  “Do you want to wear a costume, too?”
  This time, the girl understands the lady’s words fully. She nods strongly.
  “Great. Let’s make your costume."

  The lady gets the girl papers, color pencils, and a bunch of arts&crafts stuff. Costumes with papers, the idea simply puzzles the girl. She picks up a red pencil, puts it down. She then picks up scissors, and puts it down again. She repeats this simple action again and again until a great spark of idea hits her.
  “Ah!”
  She exclaims, holds a pink pencil, and dashes the pink color on a blank sheet of paper.

The girl puts her white headband back on. A paper-made rabbit ear sticking to the headband gleams white against her jetblack hair. The girl then sticks a cotton ball on her pants. She also puts the red clown nose she borrowed from the Tin man-like robot.
  “Do I look like a rabbit?” The girl asks diffidently.
  “Sure!” The lady answers with a big smile.
  Elated, the rabbit-eared girl runs out of the hall, joining the crowd. And later that day, a girl, with a rabbit headband and a white plumpy rabbit tail, vigorously bursts into her house. Both her hands full with overflowing Halloween sweets. And she yells out,
  "Mom, I'm home!"

Dialogue Situation

September 20th, 2012
Dialogue Situation
Mr. Garrioch/Creative Writing
11b4 111150 Ho InHee

           Elisa had never shared her room with anybody as long as she remembered. But as she attended university far from her house, it became inevitable for her to stay in a dorm with a roommate. Her first roommate in her life was Samantha, who always held a nice smile on her face. (This can be the reason so many guys feel affection towards her, and also the reason Elisa felt more betrayed by her friend Sam.) But with her adorable appearance, Sam started to bring her boyfriends into her room very frequently. It was the first semester of Elisa’s university life, and she decided lump Sam and wait one semester for a new roommate. However, it soon turned out that freshmen were to stay in the same room for a year unless under special occasions. So Elisa went up to the Dean describing her situation, but the Dean simply insisted that a roommate’s love life was not a very unique problem and that Elisa had to handle it herself. Elisa came to stay with Sam for one more semester. But when Sam brought a new guy named Samuel only a day after the semester had started, Elisa found it hard to tolerate any longer. She went out the room, contemplating hard the best resolution.

Elisa waited Samuel to come out of her room. When he came out, Elisa greeted Samuel naturally. After a few talk, Samuel tried to say goodbye by saying “Again, Sorry for interrupting you. You must have been uncomfortable to leave the room.” However, Elisa intentionally elongated the conversation by saying “That’s okay. It’s not the first time for me to do it.” Then, in a continued conversation, Elisa implicitly revealed how her roommate Samantha is a flirt. And in accordance with Elisa’s derogatory comments about Samantha, Samuel got upset and disappointed at Samantha. However, soon, Samuel found out that there were some contradictions in Elisa’s comments. (we didn’t decide what the contradictions are) Because of that, Samuel and Elisa fought with each other. The dialogue part would start from the part where Samuel apologized Elisa to the part where Samuel and Elisa argued with each other.

A very very rough outline of our dialogue situation..  with Soho Shim ;D