Individuality In Julio Polanco's Identity

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In Julio Polanco’s poem Identity, the theme of individuality is prominently discussed in various situations using extended metaphor. The narrator “let[s] [everyone else] be flowers… [he’d] rather be a tall, ugly weed” (Polanco, 1-4). The narrator identifies society to flowers and himself to a weed. Flowers follow the same routine of watering and feeding time and time again and are admired for the beauty resulting from these tedious procedures. While everybody else is perfectly molded to society’s expectations–doing the same things, looking the same way, he’d rather be the odd one out if it means he’ll be free from conformity. Another literary device that contributes to the theme of individuality is symbolism. “If [the narrator] could stand