From what was discussed in class, the creation of two selves is attributed to the unnatural act of silent reading. The idea of a second self stems from the question of who does one read to when reading silently? The rise in literacy across the globe created a split in identity. People no longer identified themselves by their job titles or positions. The second self allowed people to now identify themselves in multiple ways.

I can’t exactly prove the above point, nor disprove it, but I can offer another theory. Perhaps this second self wasn’t derived from reading silently, but thinking silently. Do we assume that people thought to themselves exclusively out loud prior to the development of reading silently? On one hand inner thoughts could have been primal desires like ‘I’m hungry’ or ‘I’m cold.’ Thinking may have been a reflex that people were unaware of. On the other, inner thoughts could have consisted of complex questions such as ‘why am I here?’ or ‘what causes the cycles of night and day?’ People may have been curious and pondering. They questioned their surroundings and sought answers having debate with each other over these causes. Did this debate simply cease once people enjoyed seclusion or did it continue internally creating another voice? Food for thought.

The idea of a second inner self may stem from silent reading, but the idea of multiple selves definitely precedes silent reading. The ‘self’ is a complex combination of attitudes and emotions that appear in different combinations depending on the social situation. The way you act with a parent, a friend, a lover, a peer, a superior, or an underling all differ. I think the idea of oversimplifying people to a single ‘self’ is inaccurate. Even dogs show variation in their ‘self.’ They act quite differently with an intruder than they would with you.

Like I said, I can neither prove nor disprove any of these theories, but it’s interesting to see where this chain of thoughts leads.