English 2230F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: E. E. Cummings, Everyman

• School: Western University
• Department: English
• Course: English 2230F/G
• Professor: Allan Pero

Document Summary

We aren"t just split between i and me, but also between i/you (the other) We are used to thinking of ourselves as having a ixed idenity (gender, naionality, race, family), but idenity doesn"t just mean that which makes you diferent. The word idenity" comes from the lain idenitas, which comes from idem", a condiion of absolute sameness. There is a paradox we are separate and unique, but what produces those unique things are based on noions of sameness (what our relaion is to diferent groups) Our ideniies are not completely our own. The second we are born, we are already being classiied (by gender, as a canadian ciizen, by ethnic background ) We claim idenity on condiion of absolute sameness, but we are also not absolutely same it is based on the tension between i and you. The condiion of absolute sameness is a necessary illusion: without it we wouldn"t have access to paricular rights and privileges.