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Gabby Troisi

Professeur Kevin Waltman

English 101

17 September 2018

Write or Wrong Response

In “Write or Wrong Identity”, a narrative essay by Emily Vallowe, the author provides

insight on her identity crisis derived from her childhood belief that she is and always will be a

writer. She shares her inner feelings regarding a life changing childhood experience that

impacted how she sees herself as a person. As she ages, she questions her identity, wondering

whether she has the qualifications to even call herself a true writer. She feels conflicted, as she

says how she does not understand how it is possible to be defined at such a young age. She

explains how this idea of being a writer may be no more than an abstraction she has built up in

her head. Vallowes’ inner dialogue contributes to the underlying message of the text regarding

the significance of childhood experience. Overall, the text conveys the message that childhood

experiences have a significant impact on one’s future and beliefs they hold about themselves,

which creates anxiety and prevents children from trying new things

I support the idea that childhood labels are extremely influential in shaping one’s future.

Vallowe expresses how, in kindergarten, her teacher told her she had a natural writing ability and

she has clung to this ever since. Vallowe writes, “Mrs. Meadow’s showed me a special writing

desk… I’m not sure if I understood why she was showing me this writing area. She may have

said she’d heard good things about me. This handful of images is all I can remember about the

most significant event in my writing life”(Vallowe, 74). The reason she views this as such a

significant event in her life is because she continues to hold this label close to her and may be the
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root of her anxiety. I can personally connect to this because, as a child, I was in a similar

position. At a young age, I was recognized for being a talented artist. Although, unlike Vallowe,

I did not cling to this idea as my only source of self identification. In highschool I did not take

any art classes because I wanted to explore my strengths in other areas, and I did. Despite this, I

understand her anxiety and self doubt. Even though I tried other things, I still revisit my

childhood memories of being told I was an artist. When other classes challenge me, I often

question if I should have been pursuing art all along. She knows her perception of herself is

linked to her childhood memory, “All I know is that some event occured in early elementary

school that made me want to be a writer”(Vallowe, 74). She was labeled as a writer before she

could even comprehend what this title meant to her. These types of small childhood memories

are very life changing and impactful, as she still vividly remembers this small moment as an

adult, often leading to self doubt.

To elaborate on this point, creating a label for someone who has little experience leads to

false beliefs, this label proves to have created an abstraction in Vallow’s head that she is a writer

although she does not meet the qualifications or have the experience to be identified as so.

Having had a similar experience, I had always considered myself to be talented at art, despite the

fact I had not taken any art classes beyond middle school. The false belief creates a lack of

control in life. It creates pressure to perform in an area that one has little experience in. As

Vallowe puts it, “I approached every writing assignment thinking, ‘I am suppose to be good at

this,’ not ‘I am going to try to make this good,’ and such an attitude is not a healthy way to

approach anything”(Vallowe, 74). The false belief that one can only be good at one thing is

simply not true. Her belief she is only good at one thing creates problems because she believes
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she is already good and may not put in as much effort to do well in writing. She has a significant

amount of pressure to perform well, but may set unrealistically high expectations for herself. She

writes,“There are certain drawbacks to clinging to one unchanging identity since the age of five.

Constant panic is one of these drawbacks”(Vallowe 74). The idea that natural ability pre

determines an individual's career can be unhealthy and have the reverse effect, as Vallowe feels

she is trapped in this role as a writer that she never chose for herself.

Additionally, this feeling of being trapped prevents people from exploring their options

beyond their natural abilities. Vallowe’s perception was that she could not possibly be good at

anything else, so she never branched out. She held the belief that she could only be great at one

thing and feared trying other things would take away her identity. Vallowe is unsure if she ever

really wanted to write, stating, “Looking back, I don’t know if I ever wanted to be a writer. The

idea might never have even occured to me. Yet somehow I was marked as a writer”(Vallowe,

74). Even though her teacher may have seen a natural talent in young Vallowe, telling her so

may have been detrimental, as she is constantly in panic. It is not healthy for someone to

experience this much anxiety, she constantly worries about who she is. As she grows older,

having little experience in writing, Vallowe comes to the conclusion that her writing identity is

no more than an abstraction. Indicating that her representation of herself is not reality and that

she only presents herself as so out of fear. I am happy I had the experience to try other things

beyond art and feel competent in other areas. I did not stop doing art and being creative entirely,

but allowing myself to venture has created a more healthy mindset and given me a clear

perspective as to what I am truly passionate about.

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Overall, childhood labels and experiences have a significant impact on people’s adult

lives and contribute to identity crisis and anxiety. It is not always healthy for children to be

labeled at such a young age because they have not had enough life experience yet. My personal

experiences helped me connect to Vallowe’s writing because I experienced similar anxiety and

thought processes. It is easy to accept a label someone else has given you, but exploring options

beyond one’s natural talents helps to create a healthier mindset. Vallowe believed she could not

be good at anything besides writing her entire life because of one defining childhood experience.

I agree with the message in the text that childhood greatly impacts one’s future and if someone is

labeled incorrectly, it can be unhealthy and detrimental.

This paper has changed from the initial brainstorming process, because as I wrote I began

to see the message of the text more clearly. When I began writing the paper I did not have a clear

understanding of exactly what the message was, I later came to the conclusion the purpose of the

text was to show what contributes to the author’s identity crisis and how a childhood event has

had such a great impact on her life. The feedback given by my professor was helpful in

composing this assignment. My rough draft was a more general message of the text and, when

editing it, I added more personal experience tomy final draft. I also created an outline prior to

writing the paper which helped me to organize my thoughts and pick out the main points of the

text. Writing the thesis statement first was also helpful. The biggest challenge for this assignment

was time management and coming to a conclusion about what the message of the narrative was.

The biggest success was that as I continued to write I became more clear in my personal opinion

of the message. This allowed me to have a better understanding of the reading and clarify my

point of view.
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Works cited:

Emily Vallowe, “Write or Wrong Identity”. Bullock, Richard H., Francine Weinber and Maureen Daly

​ .W. Norton &

Goggin. ​The National Norton Field Guide to Writing with Readings and Handbook. W

Company, 2019.