Growing up: A Journey of One’s Identity

It is inevitable that nation age. Every human being, and all(prenominal) being for that matter, grows old. Age is a natural phenomenon that cannot be avoided. Part of exploitation up is discovering ones identity. As people age, they constantly undergo a process whither they honk themselves into unique several(prenominal)s.Every carry out that a person goes through influences his personality, his character, and his identity. It is through such experiences that people take on to see who they really are. Triumphs and failures in life are vital for they help strengthence the character of the person. In a way, when an individual goes through an experience, he is shaping his character regardless of the outcome of his endeavor.From childhood to adulthood, every experience brings forth a certain lesson that is inculcated in the individuals being. These lessons are what define the individual for they directly affect the person that they are.The development of the person and the journey of self-discovery as a person grows up are discussed not merely in the various fields of science. Literature too has its share of kit and boodle of art that provide an input of how growing up involves the molding and shaping of the persons identity. Although not directly discussed, literature highlights how the journey of aging is in parallel with an individuals journey towards delimit an identity of his own.In Mary E. Wilkins short base, Mistaken Charity, the journey of two women through age and metre is told. Moreover, it shows how their aging coincides with their realization of who they really are. Harriet and Charlotte are two sisters who never marry. Their life is built on their bat and on their struggle to survive. However, as age catches up with them, and their aged bodies can no longer brave their own lines of work, they begin to realize that they are not all about their work.When given a happen to move out of their tattered augury and into a better life, they disco ver that it is their experiences living in that house that defines who they are. They are not used to the life in the Home for it does not feel like kinfolk to them. This is what drove Charlotte to say,O Lord, Harrit let us go home. I cant stay here no ways in this world. I dont like their vittles, an I dont like to wear a cap I want to go home and do different. The currants will be ripe, Harrit. O Lord, thar was almost a chink, cerebration about em. I want some of em an the Porter apples will be gittin ripe, an we could have some apple-pie. This here aint good. (Wilkins, 148)This shows how no matter how much better another life seems to be, people will always go back to their old way of life for the life they have gotten used to defines who they really are.Another story that show how growing up means defining who you really are is told in Nathaniel Hawthornes upstart Goodman Brown. The story tells of how one experiences that Goodman Brown went through in his young days completel y changed his outlook on life. His journey through the forest wherein he met the mysterious figure which many associate with the devil whitethorn indeed be a dream. However, that experience opened his eyes to the reality that people may not be what they perceive him to be. The good Christians that he thought they were may actually simply be a cover-up of their real selves. Although it could be a dream, the experience was enlightening for Goodman Brown. More importantly, it was very influential in molding the personality of Brown and his outlook on life.After the experience, Goodman Brown ended up bonnie a cynic. He was always wondering whether the people around him were who they really were. In fact, Goodman Brown level(p) began to doubt the wickednesscerity of his wife, whom he used to love and trust dearly. After the said event, he move into a cynic, wary and pessimistic of his wife and his faithfulness and fidelity.The last paragraph of the story explains the effect that the experience in the forest had on him. In the said paragraph it was statedA stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man did he become from the night of that shocking dream. On the Sabbath day, when the congregation were singing a holy psalm, he could not listen because an anthem of sin rushed loudly upon his ear and drowned all the blessed strain. When the minister spoke from the pulpit with power and ardent eloquence, and, with his hand on the open Bible, of the sacred truths of our religion, and of saint-like lives and triumphant deaths, and of future bliss or misery unutterable, then did Goodman Brown turn pale, dreading lest the roof should thunder down upon the gray blasphemer and his hearers (Hawthorne, 127)The stories provide evidence of how experiences mold and mannikin the identity and personality of the individual. Both Goodman Brown and the sisters demonstrated how they are made by their experiences. Thus, it can be said that growing up and a ging is a process of defining ones self. It is a process of discovery brought about by life experiences where lessons are learned and imbedded in ones way of life.Works CitedHawthorne, Nathaniel. Young Goodman Brown. Literature and society An introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, nonfiction. 4th ed. Eds. Pamela Annas, Robert Rossen. Upper Saddle River, N.J. scholar Hall, 2007, pp 117-127.Wilkins, Mary. Mistaken Charity. Literature and society An introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, nonfiction. 4th ed. Eds. Pamela Annas, Robert Rossen. Upper Saddle River, N.J. Prentice Hall, 2007, pp 140-150.