The Identity is a Combination of Self and the Influence of Other People

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The Identity Is a Combination of Self and the Influence of Other People
Identify among humanity inclines towards the unique character or personality that an individual harbors throughout their lifespan. In Jacque Lacan's insights, it is evident that the he majorly explores the subject of identity in humans and discovers that the identity of an individual is created both personally and socially. In support of his argument, differed authored texts use characters especially the protagonists to portray the dual nature of a person’s identity. Herein, I explore how James Welch's "Winter in the Blood" and Adrienne Rich’s essay “Split at the Root” support Jacque Lacan's dual nature of human identity (influence by both the (personal and social spheres).
In the novel, “Winter in the Blood", by James Welch, the narrator is one of the characters that is depicted as suffering from an identity crisis. In the novel, the author indicates that the narrator's identity is fragmented. One significant revelation that supports Jacques Lacan's argument that the identity of an individual is insufficient without other people shaping it is the fact that after all the incidents and experiences in his life, it was evident that his realization about how disconnected he was with his family that led to his change to the need to value family. Welch seeks to indicate the total disconnection of the narrator with his family because these are the first people in someone's life that are attributed to the formation of the identity of an individual (Welch n.p). Considering that Welch decided to use narrator to indicate the way his identify was not complete because of relieving the old memories that he had with his family, it is an indication that he fully supports Jacques Lacan's argument that a desirable identity in society is highly associated with the decisions that an individual makes alongside the influence family, workers and members of a community have on the individual.
It is apparent that the narrator is disturbed by his brother's death because he keeps relieving the memories when they used to do tasks together. In fact, the Welch indicates how the narrator feels guilty of the death because he failed to prevent the demise of his brother while they were herding cattle. As noted from the novel, “Its shelves held mementos of a childhood, two childhoods, two brothers, one now dead, the other servant to a memory of death," (Welch n.p). The quote indicates the state of mind of the narrator in regards to the memory of his bother who died under his watch. Reliving this kind of memories is on...