1. I think the author's intention of writing the memoir "By Any Other Name" was to demonstrate the fact that a name is very important, and to support the idea of dual personas. This was made obvious in the last sentence of her memoir, “But I put it happily away, because it had all happened to a girl called Cynthia, and I never was really particularly interested in her.” In other words, the author meant that the protagonist, Santha, had a dual personality because she was given another name. Because she was discriminated while she was “called Cynthia,” Santha was able to let go of that incident very easily.
2. A person can have dual identities, however, the basic personalities and character traits of a person remain the same. For example, when children play, they often pretend that they are somebody else. Even though they are being someone else at that moment in time, they are still themselves. Another example of this could be the use of nicknames. Nicknames are often used as an abbreviation of a name. If someone’s full name is Christopher, his nickname could be Chris. At school, his friends would call him Chris and he would behave in a certain way. However, at home, his mother might call him Christopher. He would probably behave in a much different way at home than how he behaves at school as “Chris.” In this case, this boy would have dual identities: Chris and Christopher. The last example of dual identities is when people of a certain country immigrate to a different country. If, for example, their home country was Mexico, then the person would speak Spanish and live a typical Mexican lifestyle while they are at home or in their home country. However, if their new country was America, they would try to become as “Americanized” as possible by learning English, wearing American clothes, eating American food, and etc.
I think Hanna is trying to explain how names act as a label. A label can change a person without them knowing. It's some kind of instinct that people just naturally behave to. In high school, we all have labels whether we like it or not. Some people "follow" their "label." I remember one classmate I talked to had a pile of Harry Potter books on his desk. and i said, "OH you read Harry -" "Yeah it's because I'm not that cool." He didn't even let me finish, and I guess he somehow thought that since their was a label it's who he had to be. Labels can change a person and it's sometimes sad when someone thinks that they have to act a certain way since they're given a name.
ReplyDeleteI like how you explained about the last quote being the words that represent the discrimination of Santha while she was being called Cynthia. I also liked how you used "Chris" for your example and explained about the dual identities. I agree with you that the basic personalities and character traits of a person remain the same for people with dual personalities. One can have a dual identity but then the most important thing they would have to do is being responsible for keeping up their identity and not letting their self down. But I think sticking with one identity would be the best option so that others won't feel the need to trust both identities at once.
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