My first post will not be about the book; however it will be about another medium with the same theme – identity crisis. I have chosen to analyze the poem “Identity Crisis: A Poem” by Vatche, which is provided at the bottom of this post, because it is about a person who realizes that he is relying on society to shape who he is and is losing his own true identity. I chose this poem because I can relate to how the narrator is feeling. I have been in a situation like this before and have let society dictate who I once was.
The poem starts out by saying that the narrator looked at himself in the mirror and saw his many personalities. He says “Many faces, / Many ears and noses, / Many eyes” to say that he puts on a different personality for each group he’s with. It is then implied that the narrator punches the mirror but still feels the same emptiness inside when he writes “Broken mirror… / Fists that bleed / Knuckles are numb.” The speaker then describes himself and his many personalities. He starts out saying “I am the cocky one, / The confident and brave… / I am the artist, / The sensitive soul.” He describes what he sees in himself whether it be what he truly is or what others have made him. At this point in the poem, the speaker recognizes that he constantly changes his character to fit in with society. The reader can know this because the author writes, “One minute you’re this, / The next minute that, / A second later / On the social clock / And you’re something completely different.” The narrator gets emotional when he says “I am the man with the bleeding fist, / Who couldn’t handle any of it… / Couldn’t stay clear / From the path that was chosen by someone else.” In the next stanza, he talks about how he “heals” from his identity crisis. When the author writes “The real me. / Fractured, broken, and needing time, / Piece by piece,” the reader can know that he is in the healing process. The speaker goes on to say that even though he coped with his crisis, he still feels and sees all the “cracks in the mirror” symbolizing his broken soul. Next, “hands” tore the mirror away, leaving just one piece behind – the true him. The speaker describes this piece as “The only piece not affected by society, / By everyone I knew and loved, / Tabula rasa / Once again.” Saying that he is finally whole again – tabula rasa – meaning a clean slate, he makes a promise to himself to be ready to change but for the
better, not for another bad influence.
So far my book, Will Grayson, Will Grayson is about two boys with two different personalities with the same name. They both travel through life in their own separate worlds struggling with identifying who they are meant to be.
This poem relates to the theme identity crisis and my book, Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan, because they both have a character going through life relying on society to shape them, and in the end, realizing that who they thought they were wasn’t who they were meant to be. In both works, the character goes through a period of uncertainty and confusion before finding their true identity through different social situations and internal conflict.