The Real Meaning of Being a Feminist

The idea that heavily influenced me when choosing my topic and writing about it, was Trevor’s connection and appreciation to his mother, and also Patricia’s way of living. In Born a Crime, we often see or hear about Trevor admiring his mother for her ways, and that inspired me. If Patricia could be strong and brave (which she’s not supposed to be) during such a bad time, I can too and I wanted to explore that. Trevor explored his own sense of identity in many different ways, but most of the time, it was his racial identity. He did this by feeling around to see where he felt comfortable, where he relates most, and most importantly, just not fitting in anywhere and finding peace and acceptance in that. In chapters 4-6, Trevor has a moment where he believes he fits in most with the black kids at school, because he could unapologetically be himself. Later in the book, he talks about how some black kids don’t accept him, same with the white kids, so he fits in with the “colored” kids, even if that’s not truly who he is, it was just easier. Very close to the end, Trevor goes to jail and decides to stick with the white people because they “look harmless”. It’s like a never-ending cycle for Trevor, and he just usually goes with what he feels that day. A part or quote of Born a Crime that I resonate the most with is “I was blessed with another trait I inherited from my mother: her ability to forget the pain in life. I remember the thing that caused the trauma, but I don’t hold on to the trauma. I never let the memory of something painful prevent me from trying something new.” I relate with this the most because I’ve had terrible things happen to me, but I don’t let it affect my current life. I had terrible social anxiety, still do, but it’s toned down a bit because of the people around me. Trevor’s writing style inspired me a lot, and I tried to copy him in a way. Trevor spaces his paragraphs more often than me, so I tried to space my paragraphs a bit more. Trevor also writes like he’s talking to someone who has no context of anything, which is also something I tried to do. I stayed on the serious side instead of being humorous, which differs from Trevor’s storytelling techniques. I wanted the reader to understand that I do take this subject seriously, and I would hope they would too. My vignette addresses the question of how our cultures influence our identity.