Frida Kahlo: Elements Of One's Cultural Identity

Elements of One’s Cultural Identity

Cultural identity is a broad term, there is nothing sparse about it. Although, many need to enhance their knowledge on culture. There is no subjective way to look at it. For example, one source stated, “People from multiple ethnic backgrounds may identify as belonging to the same culture”(Trumbull and Pacheco 9). The word “culture” could be the center of a huge web. Therefore, people should examine their culture in order to better understand how it affects their identity and perceptions. In order to understand one’s cultural identity, he or she must understand what the term means. According to one source, cultural identity can be defined when, “Social groups existing within one nation may share a common

The types of clothes a person wears may change according to his or her cultural identity. One example is Frida Kahlo. She expresses her Mexican background by wearing bright and happy colors. An example of this is when the speaker in “Frida, a Biography of Frida Kahlo” states that, “she dressed in flamboyant clothes, greatly preferring floor-length native Mexican costumes to haute couture”(Herra 34). This shows that when she dresses up, she likes to stand-out from the surrounding group. She shows off the colorful nature of her cultural identity. Another example is when the narrator in “Everyday Use”,by Alice Walker, explains that, “In the winter I wear flannel nightgowns to bed and overalls during the day” (Walker 77). The significance of this quote is that it shows just how opposite two cultures in the same world can be. In this story the mother is expressing he cultural identity by wearing these types of clothes. Although, in the same story, “Everyday Use”,the mother’s daughter, Dee, wears,”A yellow organdy dress to wear to her graduation from high school; black pumps to match a green suit she’d made from an old suit” (Walker 78). Though mother and daughter have the same ethnic background and possibly cultural identity, the way they dress are quite different. The types of clothes worn expresses one’s cultural identity. It gives us a sense of imagery of his or her ethnic