"Identities

The story “Identities” is about a man who is strolling along the streets in a suburban area that is different from his usual, comfortable lifestyle. He is looking a little scruffier than his regular state, and he is also anxious about the rough location he is in. He decides that it would be a wise idea to call his wife and tell her he’d be on his way home. In search of a store or payphone, he watches apprehensively as gangs of young eyes gaze upon his Mercedes Benz. At the edge of a small store, three young men and a girl slouch in the darkness, he is nervous to walk by. Being cautious of his surroundings, he does not even notice an inexperienced police officer following him, until the officer orders him to a halt. The officer too, is nervous of the neighbourhood, and becomes suspicious seeing an unshaven man in blue jeans driving a Mercedes. The man, unaware of how his appearance may be perceived, felt relieved at the sight of a man of the law. Reaching in his pocket for his identity, the officer makes a rash assumption and anxiously triggers a pistol ending the harmless mans life.

It amazes me how much an appearance impacts the way people feel about one another. First impressions truly are important, for if the man would have looked more clean, it could have saved his life. People tend to have stereotypes towards certain styles, and believe that your personality should suit you exterior. The officer in the story, was ‘trained to see an unshaven man in blue jeans as a potential thief instead of probable owner,‘ and came to the impulsive conclusion that the man had stolen the car. When the officer approached him, it would have been more clever of the man to ask the officer to take out his ID before making the action. Though, I do suppose that the man was just so relaxed just to see the officer, that he didn’t consider a negative possibility.

The first time I read this story, I found most of it too be too descriptive and difficult to bring my attention to follow it. Although, I did understand the ending and just that made me like the entire story. Reading it the second time, I found it more interesting because I knew the ending. Knowing what was going to happen, I started to realize all the hints the author used throughout the story. ‘…it has been a reckless haphazard path. Retracting it is impossible.’ I think the author was trying to say that sometimes when people commit to a regrettable decision, they can’t always relapse and fix what they have done. Another clue I recognized, was; ‘so intent is he upon the future that he dangerously ignores the present’, meaning that he was so worried about not getting home on time, he wasn’t even being cautious of his surroundings, and that a police car was following him. Even though the ending is heartbreaking, I liked the message it sends to the readers; that things aren’t always what they seem.