Identity and Community in All Quiet at the Western Front and Things Fall Apart

Consider the relationship between identity and community. Further consider how meaning and values are central to this relationship.

Character is ‘’the historically and socioculturally constructed content embodied in ideals, ambitions and attachments’’ (Shay, 157). Character ‘’must have energy. It must be passionate. It must connect with other people and have an active commitment to right and wrong in the world, however right and wrong are locally constructed’’ (Shay, 158). Identity is defined as what makes an individual who he is in term of what qualities he possesses that separate him from the rest. The relationship between an individual and his community is crucial in the development of his identity. It is within his community that he develops his character, what makes up his self. The basic concept of his self comes from the community’s social construct, what makes up their tradition: cultural origins, customs, laws, beliefs, behavioral guidelines. Through socialization and education, the individual learns, experiences, feels, reflects and interprets like one more ‘’of the clan’’; he learns to identify with his peers and what is expected from him. He also learns to trust his community, for he is given by it a sense of security. Upon his successful learning and practice, he is taken as a part of the community. Throughout his life, recognition within his community for his actions will provide him a sense of value, self-worth and self-respect. It is only through community, that a healthy identity can take place.

However, another important part of an individual’s identity is agency. Agency refers to the ability to make choices and enforce them on the community. Human agency entitles an individual to question, reflect and give opinions that may go against the community’s social constructs and adapt them in a way that his personal expectations are met. In other words, it enables an individual to express the community’s same values in a personal ,...