Today in my Contemporary Fiction and Narrative Theory course, we discussed the idea of the self as a fragment and the various masks that we, as humans, wear in our daily lives. I immediately began thinking about the masks that I am expected to wear. The one I wear in the classroom is different than the mask I wear at home, and certainly that differs from the one I wear at work.
So, why exactly do these masks exist? When we are alone do we fully have access to our most natural selves, or are we still performing, even when the lights are dimmed? Are we constantly shifting through our masks and deciding that our truest forms lie in a combination of them all?
I've been thinking about how my need to please those around me differs depending on that particular person. I have begun to question whether I people please merely because it has become a fragment of my true self, or if it is entirely dependent on the mask in which I have learned to perform in. Thoughts?
