Larque on the Wing and identity construction

[heresluck]

A couple of months ago, truepenny lent me Nancy Springer's Larque on the Wing. I'd spent the holidays with my parents; my mom, who gets points for good intentions but perpetually low scores in execution, gave me a couple of xmas presents that prompted renenet to remark, "I think I've figured it out. Your mother lives in a parallel dimension and has never actually

Comments

I pick b) so what if I am.

[ivorychopsticks]

Maybe I'm placing too much importance on the relatively recent and culturally-specific and already-has-too-much-pinned-on-it construct of "the teenager."

I don't know if you are. Mostly because it's a case of the chicken or the egg--if the "teenager" is the construct, and you "grew up" and played with your identity under that construct, than your personal examination of your self definition are legitimately worth looking at within that frame. It would almost be more inauthentic to set the idea aside, because then you don't have the full picture.

If that makes any sense.

If I might add, I also think maybe the teen/twenties years are when we do our most tumultuous identity tests, but it never really stops. It's easier to ignore challenges once one is more settled into a job or career or house, but any change puts us right back on the precipice of who am I, what do I mean, why do I do what I do. Luckily we can face the challenges and fun with a little more experience, because, as you say "we can't make [our past behaviors] not

[heresluck]

...maybe the teen/twenties years are when we do our most tumultuous identity tests, but it never really stops.

Agreed. My dad's retired recently, so I've been witnessing his struggles to figure out who he is without his job. So, yeah, certain events certainly prompt that kind of self-assessment: the beginnings and endings of significant relationships, births, deaths, moves, major career changes, etc. As teenagers, though, I think that we do that stuff all the time -- not least because everything *feels* major. Heh.

The book is very much worth checking out. My post doesn't even touch of some of the most interesting ways in which it takes apart conventional notions of identity...