Identity

Every individual’s identities is different. This could be the result of different ideals and morals or by the environment people are brought up in. Even with these influences, they all link to the separate experiences every one of us go through which shapes our individual identities. This idea can be conveyed throughout Dawe’s poems, “Enter Without so Much as Knocking” and “Homecoming” and also other external texts including 5cm per Second and Path of the Warrior.
“Enter Without so Much as Knocking” is one of Dawe’s many poems which show that one’s identity is shaped from inevitable external factors such as commercialism. One way Dawe show this is through the repetition of “Blink, blink.” This effectively confers the idea of urgency in the individual from birth showing the child caught up by the fast pace material world which acts as an external influence challenging his individual identity. Another technique Dawe uses in this poem is satyr which is seen from, “NO BREATHING EXEPT BY ORDER.” This successfully shows the state of conformity in the society in which people start to lose their identity and rights in an exaggerated situation. This therefore, states that authority takes away rights to think which challenges one’s identity causing people to conform to what authority wishes society to be. Dawe also used contrast to prove his point from “Walk, don’t walk, turn” to “A pure unadulterated fringe of sky, littered with stars.” This shows the different views between the adult community and the children. The hurrying, fast paced nature of the adults represents the loss of identity due to conformity and the calm, slow paced nature of the child’s way of thinking. This in effect demonstrates that the children still have not had external factors impacting their identities yet unlike the adults. Therefore, Dawe has effectively utilised techniques in his poem to convey the message that one’s identity is formed from one’s external environment.
By highlighting notions of...