Finally Getting the "Gist" of This . . .

Well, due to my tendency to be extraordinarily scatter brained, here is my entry for the first part of this assignment, almost a week past its due date. Go me! Is the 2nd half supposed to be our paper, or is it another blog post? I’m confused, although it looks as though I’m not the only one. Also, I apologize if some of the formatting is messed up in this, as I typed some of my ideas down in word and then just wrote the whole post in there, so I wouldn't lose track.
Anyways, I thought that this chapter was actually quite enjoyable. The philosophy and ideas behind what identity is and how we shape it, as well as how language and rhetoric shape it were, dare I say it – fascinating.
Upon being introduced to this chapter, we are given some factors that help to determine what makes up one’s identity. Ramage explains that language makes up a large portion of our identities:

“It is this interdependence between identity and language – our capacity to use
language as a means of representing our identity to others and in turn to
interpret others’ representations of themselves – that makes rhetoric such a
powerful tool for understanding, forming, and preserving identity.” (34)

We use language as a major means of conveying to other people who we are, and how we came to be the people we are at that present moment.
Further on, we read that Rhetoricians view identity as an on-going process, a continuously changing being, rather than a predetermined definition of our selves, bound to fate – uncontrollable and indefinite. (36) Human beings are constantly refining their identities in an unending paradox of conflicting ideals – to remain unique, yet conforming to society’s norms and remaining a functioning, respectable member of their communities.
I really liked Ramage’s inclusion of the Shakespeare poem to explain the use of metaphor in describing someone’s identity in a well-rounded and complete way – defining what someone is and is not in order to get the full “gist” of the identity, or what Burke calls the paradox of substance. (39)
The gist of something, according to Ramage, is a take on the meaning of the subject. We can change the “gists” of ourselves to our advantage, portraying different aspects of our identities to fit the different types of people we are talking to (employers or peers) and the situations we find ourselves in. This eventually leads us to the idea of the three dimensions of identity; the given, readymade, and constructed.
The given identity is simply the parts of ourselves that we inherit from our parents and our environment. For most the time, we have no say in how our given identity is formed. The place where we grow-up and our familial situations, even the time period, can constrain our choices. If I had been born over 100 years ago I would probably not be attending a university simply because that was just not a thing women did. Maybe I could change that, but chances are it would not happen.
The part that really interested me was the readymade dimension, which includes three sub-divisions: the workplace, commercial, and cultural. This division includes identities that are created by others. We are provided with models that we aspire to be like – the dutiful businessman, the “tough” biker guy, a devoted house-wife. The work-ethics of society, as well as advertising and the media, have a really powerful hold on people’s identity via the use of rhetoric. By writing books and carefully constructed advertising tactics, companies can turn people into devoted consumers or employees merely by catering to their identities, or providing encouraging models.

According to the third idea of Constructed Identity, we build ourselves according to the certain societal “models” of our time, as well as within the limits we are born with. There is no such thing as an original belief or thought. Our decisions are heavily based on what others think. However, we are given the choice to choose sides, to pick a “model” and stick with it. While we may not be entirely unique in our ways of thinking, we are given a choice to decide on what we believe in and how that changes us as people.
Overall, this chapter gave us a clear glimpse into just how rhetoric and language can manipulate people’s identities, and how one can harness this knowledge in order to get others to perform for their own advantage. If you can be responsible for your identity and which models you conform to, and upon mastering rhetorical language, you can be a very powerful or influential person.