I recently read the essay Double Identity, by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston. The essay discussed what the author's life was like as she grew up. She explains how she had to live two separate lives, conforming to strict family rules and also the influence of society on a young mind. Houston wrote the essay in narrative form. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The title matches the essay well. It describes how Houston felt growing up. Since she had to live virtually two separate lives, due to her strict family rules, Houston had a dual identity. An identity was used when she was with her family. The type of family she lived in was a traditional Japanese family. When she was with them, she behaved very much like a woman raised in Japan (similar to her mother). She was shy, not very outspoken and had great respect for the men of the house. The other identity was used around his young Caucasian friends. When she was with them, she was outspoken and less shy. Later in life, she started having problems with her husband. She also had difficulty deciding how to raise her children. I enjoyed the way Houston described her family and identities. I felt that through a description of these characters, one could determine an impression towards them. From what she said about her brother, how they taught her how to ride a bike and drive a car, and they also took her to her first dance and how they told her to watch out for boys Caucasian and all they want is sex, you could tell they loved her a lot and were protective of her. When she describes her father and his strict ways, we can see that he was a good man who wanted the best for his family. He was also protective of his daughter because she said he never liked the boys she dated and never let her wear the same clothes as white girls. Houston also discusses the relationship she had with her siblings. She had five older sisters and four older brothers, and she was the youngest. She describes how her older sisters helped her mother and her brothers helped her father in his fishing business. For her, women were always expected to stay in the house to cook and clean while men worked. It wasn't until later in life that she realized things didn't have to be that way. It was her other lifestyle, the one she led with her Caucasian friends, that opened her eyes to this. An emotional decision she made in her life was to date. She liked Caucasian men and Japanese men. She wanted a man who was like her father, in that he was unpredictable, dominant and brilliant, but sensitive and poetic, a blond samurai (page 314). She also worried whether her family would approve. Her other siblings who married had married Japanese companions and she was unsure if she would do so. She was also afraid of her father's reaction. When she met her husband, her father had died and her mother openly agreed to the marriage. When Houston got married, she wasn't sure how she should behave around her husband. She was afraid that if she behaved like a Japanese wife (like her mother, dutifully serving her husband and being totally submissive to him), he would take advantage of her. She was also afraid that if she behaved too much like an American wife..