Although people do think of themselves as belonging to a nation, as individuals, they are more likely to define themselves through the issues that affect them personally. This means that the roles of the different genders and their social class will affect people on a much more personal level. Anne Enright's novel The Wig My Father Wore and Roddy Doyle's novel The Woman Who Walked into Doors offer revelations as to how contemporary society in Ireland views itself; they show how the characters identified themselves not as being Irish, but more as women and people in social society.
There are many environmental and social factors that go into the formation of an identity. Gender, class and race all are individually discussed and their application towards identity is compared.
