There’s No Such Thing as a True Self

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Foucault implies that even when we write a letter for ourselves, we are only showing one side of ourselves and it’s not our true self. It is only one side that comes through for our audience, even if the letter never gets to the recipient. Even if there is no recipient, we never show our true self in what we write. This is similar to Judith Butler in the way that she believes gender is a performative act. Gender to Butler is a social construct and so are the different identities we create for ourselves. We bring out a different version of ourselves depending on who we’re talking to. When we write a letter, we have an audience in mind and even when there is no audience, we think of what our intended audience would be, therefore you’re never going to write something that reflects your true self.

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One Reply to “There’s No Such Thing as a True Self”

  1. It’s true; more often than not, we always end up writing about a piece of ourselves that we want to present to our audience. While we largely try to insert our personal conflicts and experiences, often it is separated from the genuine article. I, myself, speak from experience, as I wrote a story based on the production of our midterm project.

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