Intan Mohd

Expository Writing 101 (Section 05)

Paper 3(Final Draft)
John Warren
10/27/15
REBELLION
People are born into a society, which has preset laws and norms. Violation of these laws
and norms tends to result in condemnation and punishment by society. For example, in Son by
Andrew Solomon, the author narrates about his life experience of being a gay where he identifies
it as a horizontal identity. He then explains his endeavor in his whole life in order to be accepted
by society where later he found his true self through that journey. On the other hand, in The
Minds Eye, Oliver Sacks describes the blindness and how blind people can act in their own
way far from what society expects them to be. They even can use their imagination to see
something which is not a typical thing that common blind people can do or at least what people
think blind people can do. In addition, the essay The Mega Marketing of Depression in Japan
by Ethan Watters relates to this by telling us about the cultural shifting of Japanese which causes
by the marketing of the depression. Japanese start to accept the depression as one of the illnesses
which is against their culture narratives. Thus, violating the cultural norm is not necessarily bad
since it can create a new experience to us; not only that, this violation can shape our identity and
allow us to live the world in our own terms.
Horizontal identity is the identity that violates cultural norms. Cultural norm is defined as
acceptable attitudes and behaviors within a cultural group. Horizontal identity is the term coined
by Solomon which means identity that is an acquired trait that is foreign to his or her parents

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and must therefore acquire from a peer group, attributes that his or her learn by observing and
participating in a subculture outside the family or physical disability (Solomon 370). What
Solomon is trying to say here is that the horizontal identity either by nature (autism) or nurture
(gayness) is not acceptable and against society. As a matter of fact, cultural norms are not an
absolute rules since it has tendency to change due to external influence. Watters says in his essay,
Cultural beliefs about depression and the self are malleable and responsive to message that can
be exported from one culture to another (Watters 519). What Watters is saying here is that
cultural beliefs about depression is subject to shift and can be influenced by other cultures. For
example, depression is taboo in Japanese society, and accepting this mental illness cause their
culture to be shifted. This acceptance has cause the conflict among the Japanese, thats why
people who suffered depression is considered to have a horizontal identity. In a nutshell,
horizontal identity is confronting cultural norms nevertheless it can create new experience, shape
our identity and let us live in our own terms.
By defying our cultural narratives, we can create a new experience that is not influenced
by the culture. The cultural expectations usually limit people from doing what is achievable by
them. For example, in one culture, blind people are considered disabled, someone that cannot do
anything by themselves. However, Sackss essay shows a lot of proof that blind people can do
any kinds of things that normal people can do, and sometimes they can do it better. Sacks
mentioned in his essay, He [Torey] soon gained enough confidence in the reliability of his
visual images to stake his life upon it, as when he undertook the roof repairs by himself(Sacks
333). What Sacks is saying here is that even if they have a horizontal identity, it cannot abstain
them from doing whatever they want. Yet, they can use their minds eye to create their own
experience and not letting the world to control what they are supposed to experience. Well, it

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might be uncommon for blind people to repair their own roof but it is possible, and the cultural
narratives make us feel like it is impossible and this norm limits them from doing it. Luckily,
Torey believes in himself and decide to go against the norms which later be a proof that norms
are not necessarily truth for all the time and it is not wrong to violate them. Additionally, while
unable to make any profits from selling the antidepressant in Japan, the pharmaceutical company,
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) realized that Japanese have a different view regarding depression. They
realized that mental illness is taboo in Japan and depression is part of it, therefore, they need to
change this mentality in order to gain the profit. Watters says in his essay, Depression, they
repeated in advertising and promotional material, was kokoro no kaze, like a cold for a soul
(Watters 524). As we all know, cold is a common illness for everyone and it can be treated
simply by taking a medicine. By denoting depression is similar to cold, Watters wants to show
that depression is not a severe condition and should carry no social stigma. Accepting the
depression as the illness for the Japanese even though it is not in line with their vertical identity
give them a new experience of treating the illness that they might not be able to do it if they
conform the norms.
Violating the cultural narratives enables us to create a new identity that is free from
cultural expectations. The vertical identity is formed since we were in the womb and when we
were born, we were introduced to the norms that later on, with or without our consciousness,
mold us into a certain identity. This identity sometimes against our own persona which results in
burden that need to be carried throughout our whole life. In contrast, people can create their own
identity without being influenced by culture by embracing our own selves. This is why Solomon
says, while I might have had an easier life if I had being straight, I am now wedded to the idea
that without my struggles, I would not be myself, and that I like being myself better than I like

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the idea of being someone else-someone I have neither the ability to imagine nor the option of
being (Solomon 383). This quote shows how struggling against norms can give a satisfaction of
being on our own identity, on our own self, be someone that can define their own self. In other
word, we are responsible for our own identity, if we did not create it, the culture will take over
and we will become the robot of the society, the robot that is similar to each other with the only
difference lies in the identification card. It is possible to create our own identity as Sacks
mentions in his essay, But although he[Torey] was advised to switch from visual to an auditory
mode of adjustment, he had moved in the opposite direction, resolving to develop instead his
inner eye, his powers of visual imagery, to their greatest possible extent (Sacks 332). Here,
Sacks is telling us about the norm that usually happened when people experience blindness
which is they were advised to switch from visual to an auditory mode of adjustment. However,
the option of choosing either to maintain the use of visual or to switch to auditory mode of
adjustment is up to us. We are the one who is in charge of making a choice whether to follow the
norm or to resist it by following our own desired. We will never know our greatest strength until
we go beyond our boundary and create a whole new experience which lead to the formation of a
new identity. The identity that free from norms and expectations; the identity that allow us to live
our life in our own terms.
Embracing horizontality allows people to recast their own narratives and live the world in
their own terms. Solomon says, The best way to get through this these horizontalities is to find
coherence, and in the wake of these stories, I recast my own narratives (Solomon 386). The
phrases finding the coherence shows that he believe that one day the society would be able to
find the meeting point where everyone can be their own selves and we can live in a harmony
without the feeling of being discriminated. He also wants us to know that by embracing our own

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selves even it is against the narratives can help us to construct our own narratives. The narratives
that allow us to decorate our own lives without the influence of the society and surrounding. This
is important because it can help us live life to the fullest without being burden by the social
expectations. This is exactly what Arlene Gordon in The Minds Eye has experienced,
She[Arlene Gordon] explained how her traveling companions would describe places, and she
would then construct a visual image from these details, her reading and her own visual
memories(Sacks 345). She is embracing her blindness and live with it like a normal people do
but by her own way. From the quote, Sacks is trying to say that communication plays a role in
helping people to get the understanding towards something and Arlene use that to get a new
experience by combining the information that she get from her travelling companions, her
reading and her own memories. This is a very brilliant idea because our brain is so powerful that
we can create something out of it. If you cannot see, so what? This is not the end of our life, we
still have a lot of ways to become our real selves without following the norms; the norms that
limit you from having what you supposed to have. For our own happiness, just live our life like
Crown Princess Masako, she chose to have a better life when she agree to get the treatment for
her depression despite of what her people might think of her. It was rumored for years (and
finally confirmed by the Imperial Household Agency) that Crown Princess Masako suffered from
depression. Soon it was revealed what she was taking antidepressants as part of her treatment
(Watters 526). Since depression is a taboo in Japan, the news regarding Crown Princess Masako
suffered from depression, will be like an eye-opener for the Japanese to accept that situation. The
phrases taking the antidepressants is very significant because it shows that she just frees
herself from the social stigma and makes the best choice for her health. Not only that, her action
can encourage her people to do the same thing like she did, to embrace her depression and get a

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better life. All in all, not matter what norm throws at you, you just need to keep on believe in
yourselves, have a grip on your own narratives and dont let your life to slip into the misery of
norms.
Embracing horizontalities allows us to gain new experiences; it also enables us to create a
new identity and let us to recast our own narratives that allows us to live on our own terms.
Norms limit us from doing certain activity, however the horizontal identity empowers us to go
beyond that limit which then give us opportunities to try something new and allow us to create
new narratives. To sum up, everyone is part of the society which allows us to play our role to
shift the narratives. Society members do not need to engage in the horizontalities to acknowledge
it. They could simply accept the fact that people are different and they should not be punished,
explicitly or implicitly for being difference. It only takes one person to start a revolution, be that
person!

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