Gaping, Gaping Staring By Eli Clare Analysis

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Every type of person struggles with a thing we call, identity. Personal identity come from multiple factors from our race to our own personal beliefs. Some people say we have the choice to choose our own identity, but is that always true? No, in fact other people can affect how we look and essentially identity our self’s. In the article called. “Gawking, Gaping, staring” this article is written by Eli Clare from Tim Marrows telling. In this article it is about a transgender individual who throughout their whole lives have been ridiculed by this one characteristic. The person in the story tells you about many years before today these people such as drag queens or transgender were normally put on display and called freaks, they were starred at and ridiculed. The person who is telling the story on how now we might not have “Freak Shows” we do still stare, and judge without realizing the affects that it can have on the ones being targeted. We do not know how bad our words hurt but some time they can cause …show more content…

After many years of ridicule and hearing the same untasteful mean words the author learns how to cope, but coping only last as long as they are among friends or others like them, behind closed doors it is a different story. “I spent many years shutting the staring out. ”... “In truth the door slammed hard, and I lost it all, all the appreciation, flirtation, solidarity, that can be wrapped into a gaze” (Clair p7). Even though the author became accustomed of the ridicule when alone the sadness and hurt set in. Eventually causing a person to only believe what they are told they no longer see what they want to see in the mirror but they now see how others see them, which in this case in a negative way to perceive one’s

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