Self Identity Through Narrrative

Self Identity Through Narrative

Geovanni Garcia
California State University Chico

Self Identity Through Narrrative

Part One
Identity is a human tool, developed through experience, and permitting
individuals and groups to have a sense of their place(s), preferences, values, abilities and
roles in relationships, work and broader social contexts. (Wolf, 2014). This is an
interesting quote because it defines identity in a way we dont usually think of and the
reason why we create a sense of self. We subconsciously dont see identity as a tool but it
helps us everyday to interact with other people and show them who we are.
Narrative identity is the process by which we tell stories about others, or ourselves
in our unique way conveying an identity or what we are like through our storytelling.
Many things can go into a story like the selection of information that you chose to tell,
the certain images or words that you chose to depict the story, or maybe when telling
your story you considered what kind of audience you were in front of and changed some
of the wording or content. All this goes through our minds subconsciously and thats
when a storyteller shows an audience what kind of person they are.
Part Two
The reason I wasnt in class the first week of school was because I was in Mexico
for my uncles funeral. When we got to my aunts house, we stepped inside and his whole
family was sitting down awaiting us. I was the first one to walk through the door and so
when I knelt down to my aunt who was waiting on the couch, the only thing I could say
was Hi Aunt Veronica because after that it was almost as if her eyes were telling me
exactly how she was feeling and the clutch of her hands as they gripped my back and
pulled me closer, told me the rest. We were there to comfort our family and let them

Self Identity Through Narrrative

know that even though we live over 600 miles away, we are still family and nothing can
break that.
The atmosphere that surrounded my family was one of great grief. My uncle was
very good at talking to people, so when he would work at his successful clothes store, he
would meet new people everyday and so he had many acquaintances and friendships.
When we arrived at his viewing, the feeling was surreal. The feeling that he was gone,
had not yet started to sink in. Walking up to my uncles casket and seeing his face just
like I had remembered it only a few months ago, brought a small smile to my face just
before my eyes let out a small stream of tears. It made me truly sad to think that I would
never see my uncles face smile with joy as we came to visit. I loved my uncle very much
and after seeing the room fill and watching other people cry and sob so much, I felt really
bad because I felt like I wasnt grieving as much as I should have. These people who
werent even his family were mourning more than me. It wasnt until the next day that I
realized what his death meant to my aunt and my cousins.
Watching his casket lower into the 12-foot grave and seeing his family scream and
cry uncontrollably with agony, made me realize that they would never have another
family dinner together, my cousins wouldnt be able to introduce their children to their
grandpa and my aunt would never see him come through the door and have the chance to
ask him how his day or fix his collar and give him a kiss goodbye as he left for work.
Thinking about all this as the casket hit the looming darkness, released so many
emotions that I grew shaky with all these thoughts. The moment that I wondered was ever
going to come had arrived at the exact time I came to realize how much my uncle meant

Self Identity Through Narrrative

not only to myself but my entire family. The tears poured out and I found myself not able
to hold them back any longer.
Part Three
Selection of information: I chose information about the second we met with our
family members, the viewing of my uncle and the funeral. I put this information in
because it was the most critical scenes of how hard this was for not only myself but also
his family. I could have included more information about how the rest of my family
handled the whole situation like my aunt who was yelling and crying at the sight of
seeing the men lower the casket and how much she also loved my uncle. The scene of the
funeral and the descriptions of his family is meant to be the most important because this
is suppose to impact myself and the reader the most. Its suppose to leave them thinking
that if that happened to them they would feel the same way.
Versions of your self: In this story I am a family member traveling to see my
uncle for the last time and comfort my family. I am also trying to find the grief inside to
show myself how much ill miss my uncle. Hopefully people will see by my story that I
care about my family very much and that for me, sometimes it takes a little while for a
hard situation like this one to really hit me. Something important about me that is in the
story, is the last paragraph where I talk about the sadness finally getting to me. I feel like
its important to myself because I usually dont show people that side of me or show
others such a vulnerable side of me. Something important about me that I didnt include
in my story would be talking about how this all affected my mom. Seeing my mother cry
is one of the worst feelings in the world, so seeing her go through that whole event was
definitely another heartache in itself.

Self Identity Through Narrrative

Identity Work: An identity my story reflects on is the selection of information I

chose to present. I like to give other people an image of what it must have been like for
me or just describe how it happened in whatever kind of story in telling. Writing/telling is
an identity formation work because you have to be very individualistic when writing a
story. So many factors come into effect when you are writing or telling a story to
someone. Someones past experiences could influence the way they view things now or
maybe their view of their audience is what changes their story content. For younger
individuals, the concepts of adulthood (Wolf, 2012) start to give someone a certain
identity, although they might be changing identities, and be in conflict with what kind of
person they chose to be so they will show many different qualities and possibly find it
hard to express themselves.
Part Four
It is hard to define identity because all of us at this point in our lives are trying to
figure out what kind of person we want to be or hope to be. Your identity is, to me, ever
changing. As you progress in life, your views, relationships and goals change. The person
I am right now wants to have fun and succeed in college but the person I will be in ten
years will have much different goals. Identity includes so many factors but it is largely
influenced by our preferences, our experiences with others and reflection upon those
experiences, and our social selves to decide where that place of belonging is and where
we feel most at comfort.