The Ideas of Beverly Thompson Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Ideas of Beverly Thompson - Essay Example This means that the conception of identity is a political issue. In as much as Thompson may deny the existence of an established order of identities, the society will otherwise place her in a given ethnic disposition that makes it easy for her to receive treatment according to her defined identity. In a case of a marriage between a white and an Asian, the American society is highly likely to define Thompson as an Asian. This is because the dominant white culture may be less willing to accept a different identity other than the established one that places them at the highest level. On the other hand, the Asian community, in spite of mild rejection, may accept her because such an ethnic group has limited power over the aligning of sociopolitical identities. Such an analysis means that the conception and formation of an identity is a complex factor that may supersede the individual because the society sets the same. The author performs a useful task of self-identity analysis. This issue is illustrated in the memoirs of the US president, Barack Obama, who was born of a biracial heritage. Self-identity formation is a painstaking and intensely emotional process that involves choosing a single identity from particular options. Thompson declares that she has to live her life as an Asian American because that is the only thing that she truly is. Such a decision ignores the individual’s limited power at choosing one’s identity. This occurs as the society makes social prescriptions within which individuals are grouped.