Identity and Ambiguity

What is the theme, concern, hope and/or issue that holds together Alsultany, Clare and Martin?


One of the major themes that I noticed in all three readings deals with the idea of ambiguity within our identities. What am I? How do people really see me at first glance? Am I different?


Martin discussed the idea that there is, "more than what meets the eye," in the sense that when people first see or meet you, they come up with ideas about you based on preconceived notions about the way a person looks or acts. In Alsultany's article, this is evident in the way that a variety of people in different settings looked at her and picked out one of her ethnicities and either attempted to identify with or separate her. Eli Clare discusses dealing with the "gawkers" that don't bother to get to know him before classifying him as a freak. They all touch on the idea that we cannot all be read by what one sees at first glance. We all have parts of ourselves that are unknown at first, which is why we should inquire rather than assume.


Many people don’t know that I am ¼ Japanese. Of course, when I mention it to them, they say that they can see it in my eyes. I don’t get offended by Asian driving jokes or the ridicule of my friends for having rice with almost every meal, and it doesn’t bother me that people don’t notice my ethnicity right away. It always makes me wonder if they see me in a different way just because I am part Asian, or how they see me when they first meet me. Like Lauren Martin says, “If you know me in one way, will it be difficult for you to view me in another?” (10). She brings up a valid point. We may think that we know so much about the people around us, when in reality, they could be completely different. Through our past experiences, we develop ideas of how people of certain genders, races, classes, etc. should act and look, and we can often be caught off guard when someone does not fit our preconceived mold. Martin goes on to later say, “Depending on who you see at this precise moment, I can be the safe Lauren, the dangerous Lauren, or some combination of the two” (13). Even those that we feel we know so much about can be different depending on the setting or the time of day. It is not necessarily changing identities, but rather exploring the varying parts of ourselves.


I think that all of the ideas are very interesting and bring up valid points about how we identify ourselves. It really got me thinking about how I see myself, as well as those around me. Like Lauren Martin stated, there is so much more to people than we can see through just looking with our eyes. Simple questions and a genuine interest in people can take us far beyond skin tone and physical appearance. One quote in Alsultany's writing really stuck out to me. She concluded her piece by saying, "Recasting our moving selves begins with an openness and a willingness to listen, which leads to dialogue" (295). If instead of coming to our own conclusions about people, why don't we keep open minds and inquire? Curiosity is a natural human instinct, but as Alsultany demonstrated in her piece, there are right and wrong ways to go about analyzing people.

I have included a youtube clip of Susan Boyle's first audition on Britain's Got Talent. You can see the faces of the judges and audience members who are judging her based on her appearance and her manner and not believing that she could really sing...she sure showed them. It can relate to Eli Clare's situation, in which he has been gawked at and privately ridiculed for most of his life for being disabled, but he is a brilliant writer and an insightful person. It just goes to show that you should not judge a book by its cover.

(it won't let me embed, but here is the link)

Works Cited:

Alsultany, E. 2002. Los Intersticios: Recasting Moving Selves. 295.

Martin, L. n.d. Through Strangers' Eyes. 10, 13.