Identity

Throughout the Black Boy Out of Time, the author uses their letters to their Inner Child in order to reconnect with their most authentic version of self. In tandem, these letters reify the author’s journey towards self-actualization, and thus their search for identity. “Inner Bonding,” Ziyad learns while reading Margaret Paul’s Inner Bonding: Becoming a Loving Adult to Your Inner Child, “is a process of connecting our Adult thoughts with our instinctual gut feelings, the feelings of our ‘Inner Child,’ . . . so that we can live free of conflict within ourselves” (30). Paul goes on to explain that rediscovering and communicating with one’s Inner Child “is not about romanticizing childhood,” but about “recognizing that our essential nature isn’t the negative feelings that may have been prompted by childhood trauma, and reclaiming that nature” (30). This is indeed the work that Ziyad endeavors to accomplish by way of...