Chapin 1

Cassidy Chapin

Ms. Bellhouse

ENG3U

29 July 2020

The Theme of Identity

An Annotated Bibliography

Gottfriedson, Garry. An Identity Crisis. Vancouver: Ronsdale Press, 2006.

The poem that Garry Gottfriedson wrote talks about the many names people can

call him and how being part of First Nations’ gives him special privileges. He lists many

names including cowboy, native, and aboriginal but is quite adamant that people can

never call him Indian, but he can call himself that. Clearly, Gottfriedson has been called

Indian before and does not enjoy being referred to as Indian from others. There is a

politically correct term to call people of his race, however, just because he calls himself

a certain word, that does not make it correct for other people to call him that and

identify him as an Indian. Just because people are comfortable in their race and

heritage, this poem shows that it is not okay to identify someone without their consent

and make them feel uncertain about their identity.

Marshall, Tabitha. The Canadian Encyclopedia. 26 May 2008. 29 July 2020.

In the biography written about Terry Fox we learn a lot about his story and

identity. He was a young kid that loved sports, he was carefree and enjoying his life.
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However, that all changed when he got diagnosed with cancer. His life quickly changed

and he became a different person; one that was extremely caring, determined and

passionate about making a huge impact on the world. He could have just decided to do

nothing and patiently wait for his life to come to an end, but instead he created the

Marathon of Hope and raised millions of dollars for cancer research. The story of Terry

Fox proves just how quickly your identity can change when one thing happens in your

life. He became someone that the entire world looked up to, not just Canada, and he

created such a positive identity which continues to live on to this day. This source is

useful because it shows that instead of becoming a negative person and changing your

identity for the worse, you can change it for the better.

O’Connell, Kim. Mother Tongue. Essay. Arlinton, Virginia, 2015.

This piece of text is an essay about a woman, Kim O’Connell, that was born and

raised in the United States. Her mother is Vietnamese, and her father is American.

However, since she was born in the U.S., she was forced to speak only English as her

mother insisted that she was “Americanized.” Now that she is older, she strongly

believes she should learn her mother’s language as a way to connect with the other side

of her heritage. Although she was raised American, she knows that a big part of her

identity is Vietnamese and wants to be involved in that side of her family. This essay is a

perfect example of how someone can influence your identity because her mother held

her back from exploring her true self. We should never want to hide our identity or be

ashamed of what makes us who we are.

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Rowling, J.K. Philosopher's Stone. London: Bloomsbury, 1997.

The Philosopher’s Stone is a novel about Harry Potter; a boy that learns he

possesses magical powers. On his eleventh birthday he finds out he is an orphan of two

powerful wizards which is who he gets his powers from. He gets a letter sent in the mail

telling him to attend Hogwarts, which is an English boarding school for wizards. He

meets plenty of friends who help him discover what really happened to his parents. This

novel shows that your identity can change so quickly. Harry Potter was just a young

ordinary boy--so he thought, and one random day got told he was a wizard. His identity

changed in an instant, he was not an average eleven-year-old, he was a wizard who was

about to attend a special school. It shows how he adapts to his new identity and that

one’s identity can be influenced by their surroundings.

The Lightning Thief. Dir. Rick Riordan. Perf. Logan Lerman. 2010. Movie.

Percy Jackson is a dyslexic and, for the most part, a normal teenager who had his

life turned upside down. After he finds out that he is the son of Poseidon, his identity

changes from a normal teenage boy to the son of an Olympian God. Jackson is sent on a

mission to retrieve a weapon and return it to its owner: Zeus. The story focuses on his

adventure as he becomes a hero and accepts who his real identity is. The film supports

the idea that one’s identity can be changed and influenced by their surroundings and

circumstances. Not only did he find out that he is the son of an Olympian God, but also

becomes a hero in the story that causes him to take on a different identity multiple
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times throughout his life. One’s identity is always changing and many things affect how

and why it changes.