Realized Identities: A Means to an EndRealized identities exist primarily because people are simply incapable of achieving or achieve a certain power, a certain wealth or to escape by natural means. means within their true identity. These realized identities allow people to accomplish the difficult task of breaking down social boundaries. In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's short story, "The Man with the Crooked Lip," Neville St. Clair leaps social boundaries as a former middle-class journalist living the identity of a wealthy upper-class gentleman . In his daily routine, St. Clair leaves his family and the norms of upper-class life behind each morning to adopt a detestable alter-identity as Hugh Boone, a beggar and match seller. Often, in the presence of only one realized identity, a second can be created in response to the first. St. Clair's first very private identity is that of Boone the Beggar, which leads him to the accidental creation of St. Clair, the very public English gentleman. As St. Clair jumps the social boundaries between middle and upper class, he must then cross the boundaries of his upper-class lifestyle to acquire the wealth made possible only by Boone's makeup and tattered clothes. At first glance, it appears that St. Clair has only one realized identity, that of Boone the beggar, but upon closer examination it can be observed that there is another realized identity, that of St. Clair, the upper class businessman. St. Clair, in his natural identity as a journalist, is caught between these two extreme identities. St. Clair worked as a reporter for the evening paper in London for which he was assigned to write about begging in the metropolis...... middle of newspaper...... middle class reporter until to a powerful and rich man. However, during this process he must take a very big step down to be able to take an even bigger step within society. Realized identities are not limited to fictional stories. Every day, they manifest themselves based on what we have to learn from certain situations. Doyle uses this story to address the issue and highlight the fact that performed identities exist within all of us. For Neville St. Clair, it was a path to a better life. For you or me, it may be as simple as making a better first impression at a party by elevating ourselves beyond who we really are. Realized identities do not have to be complex, well thought out, or durable. Through a degree of deception, great or small, they create in each of us an ability to achieve something that would otherwise not be achievable in our natural selves...