How Are "Place" and the Self Related? Essay

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Self' Related?

An individual's identity is largely shaped by the surroundings and the environment within which they were raised. It is the different aspects of an individual's surrounding that build up to determine their character. The fact that people are often raised in different places brings about some diversity in their identities. Towards this end, no two environments can be termed as being equal places, even if they are both within a single block. Lahiri (110) puts this aspect into perspective through her essay 'Rhode Island'. In her words, "the sense of environment radically shifting from mile to mile holds true throughout Rhode Island" - in which case she was making reference to the differences in social surroundings between Kingston (her family's initial place of residence) and Peace Deal (Lahiri 110). This text predominantly focuses on the relationship between 'place' and 'self', particularly the difference between space and place, the qualities that transform space into place, and the difference in feelings derived from space and place environments.

Difference between Space and Place

The distinction between place and space can be explored from three perspectives. The first is a geometric distinction, which labels space as volumes and areas, and place as environments separated by space (Price 120). Towards this end, the world consists of both space and place, although what may be a place for one individual may not necessarily be a place for another. In her essay, Lahiri depicts Vermont and Rhode Island as places; and the mass of land between the two as mere space. In the essay's last paragraph, she mentions that since her parents will not be buried in Rhode Island, this too will revert to space following their death.

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It will no longer provide such necessities as love, protection, and parental care, and hence like many other people, she "will pass through without stopping" (Lahiri 111).

A second distinction is based on the ontology of both -- space exists naturally, whereas places are made (Price 120). Places are therefore products of human intervention, and are characterized by personal experiences and memories. Tuan (4) makes reference to the physicists Weiner Heisenberg and Niels Bohr, who initially perceive the Kronberg Castle as any other castle -- a simple shelter made up of ramparts and walls (space); but change their perception immediately they associate the castle with Hamlet, a common figure in the 13th century chronicle -- the social element associated with Hamlet gives the castle a whole new meaning/identity (place). Similarly, Lahiri (102) makes a place (identity) out of Rhode Island (space) by associating it with renowned figures, including Roger Williams, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The social aspect, what Price (120) refers to as human intervention, transforms space into place.

Thirdly, "space is cerebral, place is experiential" (Price 120). It is one's personal experiences and memories about a certain environment that make the same a place for them. Experiences and memories are, however, built over a period of time. This explains the statement "time and space meet in place" (Price 120). Peace Deal, for instance, was mere space in the case of Lahiri before the family moved out….....

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