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Anthony Litwiller

Dr. Leonard

English 1201

06 February 2020

My House

Starting this assignment, I thought it was going to be difficult. I saw the large rubric and

the broad and all-encompassing writing description and began to think about the parts of my

personal crest. That being said, I quickly found out that the parts of my crest were easy to come

up with. My culture and social influences are a lot more engrained in my mind than I initially

had though. My view of my world and myself, through the eyes of a student of intrapersonal

communication, is quite broad. My crest is full of the social aspects that make me who I am as a

person.

The first part of the crest was to identify a symbol that relates to your culture. This, in my

eyes, meant that I should post something that has to do with my Celtic culture as part of a long

and robust line of Irish immigrants. I chose the Celtic knot as a symbol for my culture. To me,

the knot represents how close knit and welcome family is in Ireland. We make a culture of love

and friendship within a family. I did come across a website that described it very well. According

to this website called Gaelic Matters in the article with no known author titled “The Meaning of

Celtic Knot Symbols”, the knot represents the continuity and togetherness of life. This meaning

is also something that is broad in Irish culture, as we believe in the love of all people.

The second quadrant of the shield is meant to represent my gender in which I align

myself. I’ve chosen the symbol for male as I do identify as a male. There are many social and

communication based aspects that have to do with ones gender. I, for one, do not buy into most
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social norms and practices. Although I spend time doing things that are known to be “manly, I do

not attribute that to my need for social normality. I pride myself in society as including all

genders and being able to be supportive. The text book in plain language says “… a sense of

belonging and being authentic with others” (Adler 51) is how we belong to a supportive co-

culture in society.

The third part of the crest has to do with reflected appraisal. I decided to choose the U.S.

Army picture to signify that I am a member of the Army. The textbook defines reflected

appraisal as “… a mirroring of other’s judgements.” ( Adler 72). I believe this represents my

view of reflected appraisal because society looks at those of us in the military to be held to a

higher standard when it pertains to morals and social standing. I believe that in my everyday life,

I make decisions based on this reflected appraisal. I will make moral decisions and treat

everyone with respect because I believe that society expects it. This kind of societal impact is a

benefit to society in my eyes.

The fourth part of this picture asked me to find a symbol that represented my social

comparison. As a runner, I decided to choose something that had to do with how I compare

myself to other runners. Both in my time in the gym and my running I compare myself to those

who run faster and lift more. This can put some kind of a burden to keep going faster and

training harder. I don’t necessarily view that as a bad thing, however, because I believe it makes

me a good runner. I think that in general social comparisons can lead to making us more

productive people in our society, although I have also witnessed the other side of that.. For

myself, I believe that while I’m comparing myself to others I am learning and making myself

productive and healthier in the whole process.

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Through this assignment, I went back and forth on things. As I stated in the beginning o

the essay, I believed that it would be difficult. My culture, as it pertains to this assignment, is

important to me. The other things that I’ve learned in this course such as my gender identity and

how it affects other people, have recently become important to me. Throug this, I’ve found a

little more meaning in society thus far.

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Works Cited

“Celtic Knot Symbols - Meaning.” GaelicMatters.com, 2019, www.gaelicmatters.com/celtic-

knot-symbols.html.

Adler, Ronald B., Lawerence B. Rosenfeld, and Russell F. Proctor. Intrapersonal

Communication. Oxford University Press, 2018.