As the group of students walk into their next class, their outside conversations are followed by silence. Most teenagers’ student personas are quite different from how they behave around their friends, and this shift is evidence of a front stage-backstage dynamic. Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest emphasizes this double personality, or what character Algernon calls “Bunburying.” There seems to be a blurred line between one’s student persona and their authentic self because while my student persona is not a whole other person, like Bunbury for Algernon or Ernest for Jack, I bring out aspects of myself which are beneficial in a classroom environment. This might include parts of my background, but there is also a level of hesitation and anxiety when it comes to what I say in class. My peers say that they participate based on what they think sounds intelligent, and to an extent, I agree. Hesitation also arises as competition for higher grades causes students to betray their friends. Many times, I find it difficult to know who I can trust, and this affects both my front stage behavior and my authentic self.

Student background is a major part of student persona, and the way others view my responses in class are somewhat based on what they already know about me. As a student, I put up a wall and decorate it to look like what I admire and what I think others will admire. My actions in each class are pasted onto my wall, and one class can drastically affect the way people see me in another class. A big part of my front stage behavior is believing that everything is like a domino effect: one mistake triggers another, and soon enough, my wall is vandalized, and my front stage-backstage dynamic is completely destroyed. The factor which defames Jack’s wall is that he was found in a handbag; it causes Lady Bracknell to hesitate in letting Gwendolen continue her relationship with him. When describing Jack’s origins, Lady Bracknell calls the train line he was found at “immaterial” and says that “it could hardly be regarded as an assured basis for a recognised position in good society” (135). Jack’s lack of status is an unappealing decoration on his wall, and my words are significant in the sense that they have the potential to either embellish or damage my wall. For students, the goal is to create the most appealing wall, and its beauty has to do with the success of their responses.

To be a successful student, I only bring out certain parts of myself in class. In this case, being successful means impressing other students, teachers, and myself. In Jack’s situation, he does not reveal his true identity because Gwendolen is impressed by his fake persona. After Algernon asks him about the situation, he says, “My dear fellow, the truth isn't quite the sort of thing one tells to a nice, sweet, refined girl. What extraordinary ideas you have about the way to behave to a woman!” (136). He knows that her opinion of him might change if he tells her his real name, and so he refrains from telling her the truth. Similarly, I speak in class based on what not only I feel is intelligent, but what I believe others will deem intelligent as well. Ernest’s lifestyle is a safe space for Jack, and most of the time, I play it safe by saying what I am confident in; however, it brings hesitation when I wish to say something, but worry about the consequences that may follow. This introduces a break in my front stage behavior as I may end up saying something regardless of the risk of it sounding incoherent. Wilde exaggerates this idea when Gwendolen says, “But we will not be the first to speak” (174), but then proceeds to speak to him less than a moment later. After Gwendolen speaks, she does not seem to appreciate nor regret her response. On the other hand, after I speak, I either appreciate the risk or completely regret saying anything at all. If I regret the risk, then I modify my student persona, being even more careful of what I say in the future. When my risk does pay off, I reveal more of my backstage behavior, further blurring the line between my student persona and my authentic self.

However, the classroom environment can still be disheartening as some students are willing to betray their friends for a better grade, making it difficult to distinguish who is trustworthy. In middle school and high school, I learned that though you may think you know a person, their student persona could be entirely different. I once made the mistake of telling a friend an idea for an essay due the following week. We had peer editing the next day, and I realized that her essay sounded very familiar; it was almost identical to mine. Outside of class, we would spend time together, and I thought I could trust her, but this experience and others like it showed me that I should never make final assumptions about people. Thus, my social interactions in class have affected not only my student persona, but my authentic self. It takes me longer to trust people, and I am more aware of my peers’ student personas. Wilde portrays this through the conversations between Cecily and Gwendolen. At first, Gwendolen says, “Something tells me that we are going to be great friends. I like you already more than I can say. My first impressions of people are never wrong.” (161). She quickly contradicts this when she says, “From the moment I saw you I distrusted you. I felt that you were false and deceitful. I am never deceived in such matters. My first impressions of people are invariably right” (166-167). The drastic difference in her statements is for comical effect, but it also shows how one action can radically change someone’s perception of a person. While my perception of a person does not change as quickly, I now take all their actions into consideration instead of solely using past interactions to define them.

As a person, I do not believe myself to be split into multiple personas; instead, there seems to be overlapping parts of my personality. My goal is still to create the most noteworthy wall, decorating it such that my front-stage behavior seems near perfect. However, despite my efforts to keep my student persona and authentic self separate, they often mix because a main part of being a student is taking chances. The risks are not always worth it, but they allow me to reveal more of my authentic self in my responses, thus blurring the line between my front stage and backstage behavior. Classroom interactions affect my student persona, but they also impact my authentic self. Since many people are quite different in class, it takes me longer to trust their student personas. Unfortunately, this also makes it harder for me to trust people outside of class. The classroom environment causes students to explore parts of themselves that they did not know existed, whether they be good or bad. I have multiple overlapping puzzle pieces, and it can be tough to figure out where they come together; but in the end, they all fit to form one person: me.