In Beloved, there are several different main characters, and the author Toni Morrison has each character shape their identities differently. Beloved, the ghost, shapes her identity by tormenting those who live in the house and making her presence known. When she returns as a human, she makes her presence known by returning to a childlike personality and relying on others. As Denver and Sethe are attempting to make Beloved comfortable and happy, she begins to torment the house as she did when she was a ghost. In the beginning of the story, Sethe's identity is shaped around her past and the murder of her child. Although she does not choose her identity, she is outcast from society and left with Denver in 124. Towards the end of the novel, Sethe is no longer worried about what others think or worried about her own well being. By failing to report to her job on time, she is fired and stays home with Beloved, permanently. Sethe's identity changes from the strong adult to a weak child as she relies on Beloved for her happiness. While Sethe is becoming weaker, Denver's personality is becoming stronger as she does not rely on her mother and learns to take care of herself. Not only does Denver have to take care of herself, she also has to provide for her mother and Beloved. Denver's identity changes in the end of the book because she realizes she must leave 124 in order to live a better life. This drastic change in her mentality shows strength and knowledge in her character. In Beloved, Morrison shows how easy it is to create ones identity based on the identities of those who we rely on and who rely on us.

In The Stranger, Meursault strays away from common ways to create an identity for ones self. Although he is obviously an outcast from society, he has a better sense of himself more than others do. He does not care what other people think about him or his ways and does not conform to the normality others. This lack of conformity bothers other people and makes them uncomfortable when they see the way Meursault handles the situations he encounters. He is perfectly content when he does not cry at his mother's funeral because he does not feel the need to express his emotions in a normal way. This different reaction allows other people to assume Meursault does not care about his mother and he is psychologically troubled. Meursault has already shaped his own identity but not in a way that other people choose to. Rather than basing his personality on other people's perceptions, he does what feels right to him, whether people are comfortable with it or not.

In The Metamorphosis, Gregor is unable to find his own identity due to the lack of compassion and recognition from his parents, as well as the dislike of his job and the path his future is heading in. With this constant unrest from his lack of purpose, Gregor mentally (or physically, depending on your view of the story) transforms himself into a whole new creature. Gregor attempts to form and shape his identity by changing his entire physical self. As Gregor changes he realizes how much more of an outcast he becomes by becoming a bug, because he has now disgusted his family and made them despise the thought of a beetle within their house.
Gregor tries to create a new identity because he hates who he is becoming, however when he changes, he is hated even more than before and becomes completely useless to his family. Tragically, Gregor's attempt to create his own identity makes him an outcast within society as well as his family.

In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, from a young age, Stephen realizes he is different than the other children and has a higher lever of thinking than his peers. Through this advance in his maturity, he has created his own identity without having to rely on other children. Although Stephen realizes he is different from other children, he does not mind being alone and having thoughts different from everyone else. When he begins to realize his is alone in the world, he turns to the church to attempt to reinforce the identity he has already created for himself, however in the end, this lifestyle is not correct for him and does not aid him in being an individual. At the end of his youth, and the end of the story, he realizes he needs to take charge in creating his own life in becoming an artist. Without the crutch of other people and organizations, he becomes an artist and realizes who he truly is.

In Playboy of the Western World, Christy struggles to create his own identity because the identity he creates for himself is based on lies, though he believes they are true. Christy appears to create an identity that he believes the women, particularly Pegeen, will approve of and be impressed by. Though his father has said he is afraid of women, when Christy meets Pegeen he knows exactly how to impress her and makes her believe he is someone who he really is not. Christy obviously shapes his identity based off of what will impress other people, to ensure he will be welcome into their society, rather than staying true to himself and his old way of life.

In King Lear this identity crisis affects Lear's daughters because Regan and Goneril conform with each other to plot against their father while Cordelia acts as an individual and expresses the true love for her father. Similarly to other aspects of life, when one is an individual, they are outcast in society while those who have the same thoughts bond and unite. In the play, the daughters that unite are given power although their motives are not about pleasing their father, rather taking all of his power and eventually breaking his heart. In the end, Cordelia is appreciated by her father when he finally realizes she is the only one that loved him and he is heartbroken to learn he has been wrong in disowning her.

Liz's Big Question

Throughout our lives as young students, we are told to be individuals and create our own identities. However, we seem to do this by conforming and creating cliques and ultimately blending together with our friends, classes, high school and entire teen scene all together. Yet when senior year rolls around and the time for college applications in upon us, we actually need to differ ourselves from our peers and do what we can to stand out. We end up looking to the world and ask the big question, "How do we form and shape our identities?"

In literature, from the oldest to the most modern, the identity crisis arises. Oedipus struggles to discover who he truly is after learning he has unfortunately killed his father and slept with his mother while attempting to avoid such fate and realizes his whole life he has been someone else, rather than who he truly is.

Recently I watched Mr. and Mrs. Smith and noticed the characters in this comedy/action/romance attempt to fool their spouse with a false identity, although by the end of the story the couple seems to know the truth about their spouse even more than before. By attempting to hide their identities they end up learning who they really are. In some cases, we form our identities with the help of our closest friends.