Representing Ourselves

Isadora Patrizi

English 102

Professor Legters

Character Study

November 11, 2014

Representing Ourselves

        We often represent ourselves in ways just to be accepted. Identity is a state of mind in which someone identifies their character traits that leads to finding out who they are. In other words, it is basically who you are and what you truly define yourself as being. We identify ourselves in two ways. One is who we really are and the other is what others believe we are. Pretending to be someone we are not is us wearing a mask. David Ives gave an example of this through Bill in Sure Thing. Another author who shows this is Lynn Nottage in Intimate Apparel through George. They both represented their selves in ways just to be accepted by someone else. The difference about both of them is simply that one was more successful than the other. These stories show that many times we have to lie just to get what we want but at some point our true identity will come out and our masks will fall off.

        In the play, Sure Thing, Bill is a guy who is trying to talk to a woman, Betty, who is in a café but she is ignoring him. He first tries to sit next to Betty; “‘Excuse me, is this taken?’ Betty replies, ‘Yes it is’” (Ives 1). With every exchange of conversation, a bell that is not visible rings which gives the ability to regain a fresh start by getting a second chance to make a good impression. They keep doing this repeatedly until he finally says the right thing and she allows him to sit next to her. With every exchange of conversation there is the ability to regain a fresh start by getting a second chance to make a good impression. After many tries, Betty finally starts to give Bill attention. To everyone’s surprise, Betty asks him to go to the movies with her, “To tell you the truth, I was headed to the movies after I finished this section. Would you like to come along?” (5). But of course, Bill says many things wrong after her invitation; however this does not prevent them from having a happy ending. The bell gave Bill many chances in presenting himself in ways that Betty accepted him. This resulted in them saying that they loved each other at the very end of the play. Bill is wearing mask the whole time in this play; pretending to be someone else just to get to Betty.

        In Intimate Apparel, George is one of the many other characters who put on a mask to get what he wanted. George Armstrong is an immigrant who worked on the Panama Canal. He wanted someone who would get him to the city and have a comfortable life. He was determinate to do whatever he could to get Esther’s attention. Esther is an African- American woman who taught herself how to sew beautiful and delicate lingerie for her uptown and downtown clientele.  They exchanged love letters back and forth for months, until he finally came to meet her. George’s identity is not revealed until their wedding night. Soon after, George started to show his true colors. He became extremely aggressive, did not want to get to know Esther as much as she wants to get to know him. Here is a dialog from their first night together: