One of the things that make human life intriguing and to some extent captivating is the diversity and variation exhibited by various people as a result of their differing cultures, personalities and physical appearance. However, there are areas in life where being different may lead to some form of discrimination and therefore, disguising yourself to fit in with the rest presents the best chance for coexisting harmoniously with other community members.
I have at various times in my life been forced to disguise myself so as to fit into a group. In this essay, I shall examine one such instance and articulate the advantages and disadvantages that spring from disguising myself. This will help me identify if a disguise does indeed reveal more than in hides.
I have always viewed myself as a fashion conscious person and my taste in clothes and music attests to this. However, I am afraid of revealing my true personality; afraid to appear special by dressing up in a manner that is different from the other girls. I therefore wear the trendiest t-shirt and jeans or slacks and loafers in conformity with what my peers do.
If I were to be true to my nature, I would dress up in fashionable dresses and shoes. However, dressing up like this would definitely make me stand out from the crowd hence having me labeled as a snob or even worse, being shunned by my classmates and friends. Therefore, if only for these reasons, I conform to the dress code of my peers.
My disguise presents me with a number of advantages. The most significant benefit to me is that I avoid being stigmatized or bullied by my peers. This saves me from the rude remarks that I could be subjected to as a result of being different. As such, my emotional well being is guaranteed as I do not spend time defending who I am or dealing with the verbal insults from my peers. While this conditional acceptance by my friends is not ideal, I appreciate it as I have witnessed the effects that outright rejection by one’s peers can have on a girl.
Despite the advantages that my disguise presents, I sometimes feel like a fraud for conforming to the standards of others. Having being brought up in a family where standing up for my beliefs is important, I feel like a failure for not being able do stand up for what I believe in. The effort that I have to put in as I pretend to actually enjoy the dressing code of my friends is also a lot and sometimes not worth the compensation that I receive in the form of my peer’s acceptance and association
While my disguise does serve the primary objective of making me appear to fit in with the other girls, I sometimes get the feeling that my peers are not taken in by my pretense. While I can change my clothes, I can never get to change my attitude to the clothes that I am forced to wear.
As such I end up despising the clothes and I cannot bring myself to show the enthusiasm that my peers have when we go for shopping. This has resulted in my peers viewing me with suspicion as they suspect that this is not who I am. My disguise therefore does not fully work since a close look will reveal clearly that I am not what I pretend to be.
In this essay, I set out to give a scenario where I disguise whom I am so as to fit in with other society member. I have outlined the advantages that my attempts at fitting in present me with and the disadvantages from the same. From the discussion presented, it is clear that the disguise works but only to some extent. In my case, my disguise does hide more than it reveals but only to the casual observer. A keen observer will see more about me than if I did not bother to disguise myself in the first place.