Expository free essay sample

Discuss. In exploring the themes of identity and belonging, individuals (are the individuals exploring the themes? That’s how it reads. ) will make sacrifices against certain things in order to belong in society, this usually results in the loss of identity. In life, many people will have to make very difficult decisions, which lead them to make sacrifices or compromise. The most common sacrifices and compromises are usually personal, such as against family which may lead certain people to take up another culture, against sexual orientation which may lead the person to quit something they love doing and against education which may result in the loss of family tradition. Sacrifices are made against family so individuals can belong in society and different groups (phrasing). In the story of ‘Five Ways to Disappoint Your Vietnamese Mother’, Diana, who is the main character, makes a lot of sacrifices against her family to get what she wants. Diana was ugly when she was in high school, she described herself as an â€Å"Asian bookworm with big owl-eyed glasses and a brown school uniform two sizes large† (how are her looks relevant to the essay topic? ). Her mother’s dream was for Diana to become a doctor, but Diana did not want this. The worst sacrifice she made was having a boyfriend (it was not a sacrifice to have a boyfriend), which to her mother was â€Å"a big no-no, no boyfriend until after university†. Diana’s boyfriend was Chinese and this was a problem in her mother’s rule books. This sacrifice against her family broke many family rules, and all Diana wanted was to belong in the world as she saw herself as ugly and thought having a boyfriend would solve her problem (she never says this Daniel. Make sure you are not making assertions about people without reasonable evidence for it. ). This resulted in Diana getting kicked out of her home and being seen as a slut daughter. After five years she was still with her Chinese boyfriend, but still seen as a slut in her mother’s eyes. This proves that sacrifices are made against family to take up another culture and that these sacrifices indeed change our identity and where we belong in the world. (You really needed to refer more to Diana’s lifestyle choices in career, interests and sexual freedom, which you do a little. The sacrifice she was making to obtain her identity was her traditional family. You should have made a stronger connection to this). In life, our sexual orientation makes up our identity and in order to belong, sacrifices are made against this to solve our problems. In the United Kingdom, eight football players have admitted they are gay but there is a fear coming out of them. Two primary examples are of an American football player Robbie Rogers who admitted he was a homosexual and quit playing football. The reason he quit was because he had a fear that if he continued the fans would target him for being a homosexual and start abusing him. Another example was shown in 1990 when a former Norwich and Nottingham Forrest striker Justin Fashanu admitted he was a homosexual but then committed suicide eight years later at the age of thirty-seven. Fashanu committed suicide because the fans no longer focused on his skills but his sexual orientation. He also got bullied by his team coach and team mates before he committed suicide. With these two players identity is shaped by what the fans thoughts of their sexual orientation, they had sacrificed their identities of being homosexual to commit suicide because they believed it would have solved the problem of getting targeted by fans for being gay. (Again, you haven’t quite nailed it here. I would expect you to refer more to the fact that sportsmen HIDE their sexual orientation in order to continue in their profession. They make that sacrifice of self in order to avoid potential ridicule or negative backlash. The first example you give is a great example of this. You could also refer to Jason Akermanis’ comments a few years back about how homosexual Football players should NOT come out. ) In order to belong in society, sacrifices are made against our education which can result in the loss in family tradition. In the short story ‘Chinese Lessons’ written by Ivy Tseng, Ivy has Chinese lessons to enhance her education on the spoken and written language. She struggled to learn because she did not pay attention during the lessons. Ivy regretted not paying attention and learning because at her school, there were many people from different cultural backgrounds who could speak their family’s first language and English both fluently. Ivy sacrificed her diligence to educate herself on the Chinese language and this did not benefit her in the future. If I’d be more diligent in my lessons, write on my resume: Speaks fluent Mandarin. † Although the language was difficult to learn, Ivy tried her best to understand it but could not get to understand it all. Ivy was not interested in what it was actually about, she just wanted to understand her father. â€Å"I just wanted to understand my father† (why write a sentence and then put the exact same words in a quote ). The sacrifice Ivy made against her diligence to learn affected her tradition in learning the language. This proves that sacrifices are made against our education to belong and that this shapes our identity and where we belong in the world. (I know I gave you the idea of sacrificing education, but it doesn’t really work. I feel this paragraph gave you an opportunity to talk more about compromise, rather than sacrifice. As she gets older, Ivy compromises and finds a balance between her daily life and that of her Chinese family. She feels the need to belong to her family and by learning Chinese, she achieves this to a certain degree. Ivy’s identity, therefore, has been altered to include this feature. In order to belong in society, it is proved that sacrifices are made against not only family but also our sexual orientation and our education. The sacrifices we make can cause a loss in culture, something we love and our education which can result in loss of tradition but most importantly our identity. The sacrifices we make shape our identity by how we are viewed by not only our peers but also the world, and this shows where we belong in society. By Daniel Paunkoski of 10J