The Self in Society

Society is a defining factor in a person’s life. In Canto 15 of Whitman’s “Song of Myself,” Whitman describes the different roles people take on to form a community. Each person has a place in society, whether it be as the President or as a prostitute. In the journey to discovering oneself, Whitman writes that these roles “tend inward to me, and I tend outward to them” (Canto 15). This shows the mutual effect that other people have on his self, and his self has on other people. Other people’s roles in society define his own role in society. Parallel to that, his role in society defines other people’s roles in society. Whitman seems to suggest that the self can be defined by outside influences and is therefore not of an innate, fixed nature. Without all these people around him, he would be incapable of defining himself, as he would not have a point of reference. He is accordingly partly who his fellow humans make him to be.