In correlation with concepts in Sociology in the CAP: Global Citizens program, the works read in ASTU such as I am Malala, Diary of Anne Frank, Cockeyed, I Rigoberta Menchu, and Equiano, all share a common concept with the article “Self” by George Herbert Mead. I will be discussing the general relevance of the article in contrast to how autobiographies are shaped as well as a summary of the article. Mainly I will concentrate on Cockeyed by Ryan Knighton to demonstrate what Mead relays in his article about self-perception. This discussion will display, the questionable “authenticity” of autobiographies.
The “Self” concentrates on the idea that the individual is shaped into who he/she is through the eyes of another. Mead argues “The self is something which has a development; it is not initially there, at birth, but arises in the process of social experience and activity, that is, develops in the given individual as a result of his relations to that process as a whole and to other individuals within that process” (Mead 311). When we ask ourselves “who am I?” The answers to this question are not devoid of your own perception about yourself, but those of the “others” you encounter (i.e. teachers, parents, friends). “In abstract thought the individual takes the attitude of the generalized other” toward himself, without reference to its expression in any particular other individuals: and in concrete thought he takes that attitude in so far as it is expressed in the attitudes toward his behavior of those other individuals with whom he is involved in the given social situation or act” (Mead 317). When two people encounter each other, a lie is exchanged, we tell a story that will impress the “other,” that will interest them and strike the individual as appealing (Mead). Consequently, a life narrative is an example to what Mead conveys. As a result of its audience, how much of what an author conveys is himself through the rhetoric of his perspective? According to Mead, we structure ourselves as how we want to appear to others, as well as what others see in us. Therefor life narratives are written in a format that would appeal to society.
Ryan Knighton in Cockeyed, discusses his inability to share his disability with society because “[he’d] grown so accustomed to the secrecy, the privacy, of [his] condition, that [he] wasn’t prepared to be seen” (70) in the early stages. What people expect, even those whom are unknown by the individual, influence “the self.” The format of Knighton’s text is filled with gothic humor. His dark humor serves as a coping mechanism for him to interact with readers to pull off an air of ease to not derive sympathy, although his struggle is detectable. This further proves the concept of Mead discussed in sociology, as Mead stated that often the deception is detectable by the “other.” A prevalent quality in Cockeyed is Knighton’s incapacity to allow his audience to see who he really is, is so greatly conceived by how he wishes to appear. His struggle to be someone who he is not even with the characters in the writing. Often autobiographies are influenced by how they wish to appear to relate to certain audiences in order to convey their stories. Hence Mead’s observation of the “self” helps explain the struggle as individuals to determine a self-identity when so much of who we are is perceived through others perceptions of us.
Works Cited
Mead, George Herbert. “Self (1934).” Classical and Contemporary Sociological Theory:Text and Readings. By Scott Appelrouth and Laura Desfor. Edles. 1st ed. Los Angeles, CA: Pine Forge, 2008. 311-21. Print.
Knighton, Ryan. Cockeyed: A Memoir. Toronto: Penguin Canada, 2006. Print.
