The Flame Resistant Pieces of Human Identity

It is in the essence of human nature to be flawed. As human beings, we all have our habits and unique personality traits. But sometimes these characteristics seem to be detrimental yet impossible to change. Indeed, it is extremely difficult to get rid of the fundamental parts of one’s identity.
People would most like to reinvent their identity under harsh criticism, extreme monotony, or when faced with difficult decisions. Because it is the most habitual traits that are the most ingrained and thus become almost instinctual, it takes criticism from others to bring the characteristic to light for you. We live in a highly social society in which everyone is striving to be perfect, but everyone is fundamentally flawed. It is no secret that those visible flaws of one’s character get called out by others at some point. In the case of Spiderman in James Hall’s poem “Maybe dats your pwoblem too,” it is sheer monotony that drives the super hero to the point of wanting to give it all up for a new identity. Hall is essentially demonstrating that even super heroes, who are supposed to be perfect, possess flaws detrimental enough to warrant a reinvention of identity. When life stops being meaningful, as being a super hero becomes for Spiderman, we start to question our own identities. In reality, monotony in the workplace or monotony in personality may cause this effect. In other words, one may become bored of seeing life through the same lens everyday, especially if the lens does not work right. This is why reading and movies are such popular activities for our society: it is truly a novel experience to see life through the viewpoint of someone with a completely different personality.
If I could reinvent myself and take on a new identity, I would become more talkative and less introverted. I am tired of not knowing what to say and remaining quiet in a group of people I have never met before. I am tired of being afraid of what people will think of my every word instead of just expressing my thoughts. However, it would be extremely hard to simply become an extrovert because introversion has become an integral part of my identity and my personality. I may be able to become more talkative, but it will still be my instinct to be hesitant until I have something important to say because I have lived with that personality characteristic my whole life. Even if I wanted to change, it would take years of practice to completely change just one aspect of my personality. Just because I think being an extrovert would make life more interesting doesn’t mean I can just become one at will. Indeed, introversion has become so much a part of me as Spiderman’s suit that both are completely “fwame wesistant.” Try as I might to get rid of the introvert in me, I will never be able to completely burn it out of me, just as Spiderman is never able to destroy his suit (505).