Everything has labels in the modern world, whether it be price tags or names. Labels give meaning and depth to mankind, objects, places, and more. Therefore, whatever that is classified acquires a sense of identity, just as how names communicate to one’s sense of self. Labels impacting one’s character is depicted through Cecelia Ahern’s novel Flawed when individuals are branded. As a result, labels can be mentally and emotionally damaging to one’s sense of self. When individuals are labeled, it can be mentally damaging to one’s sense of self in society. In Celestine’s community, the Flawed are anyone who have made mistakes and are branded with an “F” label. With their bodies being scarred by the “F” mark, it acts as a permanent reminder that …show more content…
After Celestine is branded and examines her scars, “[she] hates what [she] sees” (Ahern 145). Celestine begins to hate her own body, something she was never concerned about before. Being able to wear whatever she wanted was her past self, now she can’t even wear a t-shirt without feeling disgusted of herself. She feels the need to be hidden under something to disregard her flaws. On top of that, Celestine spends the entire day by herself in her room, crying and drowning in her sorrows while refusing to come out. As she is no longer up to society’s standards of what a perfect person should be, everything was foreign to her. Similarly, Eddie Ellis, someone who went to prison for twenty-three years for a crime he did not commit, still constantly hears people describing him in an inhumane way. Hearing the negative labels, it made him “begin to believe it [himself]...” (Board). Hence, he feels unwelcomed by the society from the label’s effect. He thought that what they called him was who he truly is. For this reason, he was emotionally affected by everyone’s relentless hostility towards him and stopped feeling like he belonged in the same society as everyone else. Therefore, labels heavily impact one’s sense of self and their feeling of being shut out of