In Mascot and Flower off the Bloom, the narrators informs the reader how society influenced the development of their identity in a detrimental way and stripped them of their humanity by forcing them to change. The narrator of Mascot, Malcolm X grew up desiring to be like Joe Louis, the heavy weight champion of the world at that time because he was the source of pride and received respect from everyone. As well as that his brother, Philbert was praised “as a natural boxer”, which led him to want to follow in his brother's footsteps to receive that same recognition. However, during the boxing competition rivaling against Bill Peterson, he loses and worst of all, his younger brother Reginald's lifelong recognition for him disappears. Malcolm …show more content…
For the most part in her life, her mother isolated and imprisoned her from everyone. She was unable “to leave the apartment for anything other than school”, which left her with what she claims as “nothing that could help me fit in with the other kids.” She was so devoid of social interactions and freedom that when she was thirteen years old and met Charlene, she attempted to emulate her because she was “jealous of her life.” She tried to do everything in her power to mature. She was even willing to exchange her morals and values to have what she believed to allow her to have power and control. She followed Charlene into the car of older boys whom she didn't even know. She let Rodney (one of the older boys) have his way with her without any hesitations. In a turn of unfortunate events, she was deflowered against her own will by Roni (the leader of the older boys) as a conquest and objectified her instrumentality. Due to the excruciating physical and mental pain that engulfed her, She “stared into space, a zombie” . She lost her innocence and was forced to grow up. She had to change and could no longer be happy or a child. The sexual assault traumatized her and made her constantly nervous. Her mother didn't make the situation any better and just made her feel disgusting and unacknowledged. Essentially, the narrator transformed into a “zombie” because of society's influence and was