Sense of Self

Sense of Self

The sources for Paper 3 are listed below.

• “What is the Self? It Depends” by Julian Baggini, posted on Blackboard.
• “Wheat People vs. Rice People: Why Are Some Cultures More Individualistic Than Others?” by T. M. Luhrmann, posted on Blackboard.
• “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner on pp. 432-438 in Abcarian (short story).

According to Julian Baggini in “What is the Self? It Depends”:
We have different conceptions of the self the world over not because selves differ, but because at different times and places people have more or less concern with
different aspects of selfhood. They provide different answers to the question “What is the self?” because that apparently singular question in fact contains any number
of different ones.
In her article “Wheat People vs. Rice People: Why Are Some Cultures More Individualistic Than Others?” T. M. Luhrmann reports on two possible answers to the question
“What is the self?” based on whether the people in a given culture feel and act primarily “as unique, autonomous, self-motivated, self-made” individuals or as
“interwoven with other people – as interdependent, not independent” (Luhrmann). Both authors associate the more autonomous conception of the self with the West and the
more interdependent conception of the self with Eastern cultures. As Baggini puts it:
Whereas in the West the self is understood primarily as an autonomous ego whose existence is distinct from that of others, in the East, it is often argued there is no
meaning of self that is independent of our relations to others. The self is irreducibly social.
Paper Three will explore which conception of the self seems to fit the protagonists of our two stories. But stories (narratives) are not static descriptions of how
people define their identity, their sense of “self’. Rather, the plot of a story is dynamic: it creates its characters by putting them into a context and plunging them
into a crisis that forces them to take action. The topic for Paper Three looks at the intersection of the identity (the self), the actions, and the context of the
characters in our two narratives.

QUESTIONS TO EXPLORE IN PAPER 3

• How do the narratives dramatize the ideas presented in Baggini, and Luhrmann’s article, showing the tension between individual autonomy (the freedom to act as
one wishes) and pressure to conform — to “fit in” – with one’s social context?

• Do the narratives confirm or complicate (disprove, challenge, question) the dichotomy between individualistic (Western) and interdependent (Eastern) cultures
discussed in Baggini’s and Luhrmann’s articles? Notice that our two protagonists, Miss Emily is American — probably the most “Western” and “individualistic” of
cultures, but do the stories confirm or challenge our expectation that the protagonists would act autonomously, unaffected by social pressures?

• Finally, how might patriarchy (in “A Rose for Emily”) affect the tension between autonomy and interdependence in the protagonists’ actions?

Support your argument by quoting and analyzing passages from the story and articles. When reading and writing about literature, pay close attention to the words the
author uses. He or she has chosen those words with great care.
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