Constructing Identities
Constructing and shaping one’s identity can be done through many personal experiences. One way is how you react to and interact with others. Also, turning points in your life and how they affect you can form your identity. Ponyboy Curtis, from S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, and Mark Pfetzer, from his own story, Within Reach My Everest Story, are great examples of people shaping their own identities.
Ponyboy and Mark are both very supportive, kind teenagers. I believe this because they both stood by the people they cared about. For example, Ponyboy stayed with Johnny after Johnny killed Bob, the Social. Although Ponyboy didn’t kill him, he stayed with Johnny to help him through the tough time. When Johnny went to the hospital after saving children from a burning building, Ponyboy stayed at the hospital for a long time and visited him everyday until he died. For Mark, even though he really wanted to summit Everest, when he found out that his dad’s cancer had spread to his brain Mark decided to stay home to support his father.
