The shadow of identity gather the soul

I’m sure many of you will or already have noticed connections to the movie “V for Vendetta” so far, and here I am drawing on an idea from a quote from the movie.

Evey Hammond: Who are you? V: Who? Who is but the form following the function of what and what I am is a man in a mask. Evey Hammond: Well I can see that. V: Of course you can. I'm not questioning your powers of observation I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is. Evey Hammond: Oh. Right.

Can anyone else see where this same situation can reflect all of us? Don’t we all use our own masks everyday to hide feelings, flaws and other things we don’t want anyone else to perceive about us? I know I am constantly masking myself to act in a way of self preservation which has slipped towards a way of self detesting. All of us get caught up asking the paradoxical question “Who are you?” in our conformist society, where different is an outsider, everyone has masks up to hide their true identity. Based upon our own convictions we automatically set up a charade, a masquerade, making the other person think highly of who we are not and from which a new born lie has begun to streak through your life. If all our masks were as visible as V’s would we all be able to live the individualistic lifestyle he leads, where he lets the events of his life determine who he is, not letting a burning internal desire to be what society considers “cool”. Is hiding our visible identity the key to living our true identity? Do they have to always blanket one out of sight? Can we not have both as the same time? There is a simple answer; yes we can show both identities concurrently. Yet a complication arises here. To be able to have your visible and true identities simultaneously showing we need to be totally free of conviction of others minds and realise that we need to, in the words of V himself, “place nothing above the verdict of my own mind”. Simple in theory, impossible in practice and the reason why our two identities can only reveal themselves in detachment from the other one so we cannot shame ourselves and henceforth crumble to the conformity of an already flaw ridden, doomed society.