Jhonatan Lantigua

Abstract

The concept of identity is complicated to everyone, let alone when it is influenced by different intersecting factors such as religion and sexual orientation. In this essay I describe how, in order to survive, I had to struggle with language and identity before I could exist as a multifaceted human being. I trace the development of my relationship with being a homosexual Caribbean man, connecting my experiences to literary texts by Judith Cofer and Demetria Martínez. Being bilingual has helped me adjust to changes and thrive in the environments I have found myself in. The chameleon in the title represents the flexibility of identity—its capacity for transformation, change and growth.

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