On the wall next to my bed I have three wooden J's that my friends painted for me before I left for school. We loved doing arts and crafts so one day we bought a bunch of wooden letters for each other and painted them for each other to take to college. It was supposed to be something that we could all have the same of in our dorms, something to connect us all, something to remind us that friendship survives distances. My friends have played a big part in shaping my identity; they've played a part in shaping the type of person and the type of friend I am. I think the identity that these J's project is that my friends are important to me and are a part of who I am.
When I asked my roomates what they thought the J's suggested about my identity, they said that I have friends that enjoy doing arts and crafts and am proud of the first letter of my name. I didn't think about it when I put them up, but I can see where having 3 large letters of the first letter of my name could appear a bit narcissistic. Besides this concept of possible narcissism, what I intended this item to perform and what it performed was pretty similar. This was probably the case because my friends and I chose to paint something that was pretty basic; if we had chose to paint ponies for example, my roomates might have thought I had interests similar to a 4 year old or was into horses. Since the reaction of my audience matched the intended presentation, Goffman would likely say it was a good performance.
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