This reading was incredibly hard for me to read and I had to re-read each paragraph at least twice to get a general understanding of what was being discussed. However, I did not mind putting in the work because I was interested in the topic. In order to keep track of important vocabulary and questions I created a mind map in my commonplace book. This ended up being incredibly helpful because it allowed me to revisit topics I found confusing so that I could try and better understand them. At first, I was confused about what self-fashioning was so I watched a video that explained it which helped me throughout the rest of the reading.
The general idea of someone crafting their own personality interested me. It brought me to the question of whether or not someone can change their entire personality. I think that it is possible for individuals to slowly integrate new habits into their lives. However, if someone were to wake up one day and decide to change their entire personality, I do not think that the change would be sustainable. A drastic change such as this would not last because people are accustomed to their set habits. I agree with Augustine’s declaration, “try to build up yourself, and you build a ruin.” It is incredibly toxic to live by a set of ideals that determines what personalities people should have and maintain in order to be considered “elite.” The video I watched that spoke about the topic of self-fashioning discussed how the ideals formed in the sixteenth century led towards gender stereotypes. In the sixteenth century men “fashioned” themselves to fit into the ideals of toxic masculinity while women found their worth in their beauty. As I read on I learned more about how self fashioning gained popularity in the 17th century but existed prior to the time period. I also learned about the connection between self-fashioning and literature. This connection is present because a piece of literature reflects the style and personality of the author. If you analyze literature you can gain insight into the lives of the people who lived during the time period when the writing piece was published. For example, when you read texts from the sixteenth century you will find traces of “profound mobility” because it is what writers embodied during that time period as they discussed the construction of identity. I believe reading this passage will allow me to better understand the literature that I will be reading through my year in AP literature because rather than simply reading the words on the page, I will have the skills to further analyze the writing in order to extract information about the time period in which it was written as well as personality traits of author.
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