Fantastic Mr. Fox a movie made in 2009 that depicts a fox who changed occupations to provide for his family in a safer manner… Until he’d gotten tired of his role and wanted something new. The hole he lived in where he had a normalized routine became insufferable. He didn’t want to live in a hole anymore. When we get normalized to being portrayed in a certain way or stereotypes we get accustomed to hearing we unconsciously may begin to adapt this perception onto ourselves. We put ourselves into a hole metaphorically. I don’t want to live in a mental hole. 

When I was younger I was often seen as to be one of the “smart kids” much of this was attributed to the fact that I was Asian more specifically brown where the internet often associates a common stereotype of brown people as being “smart” this was something that people had repeated towards me so much as a kid that it stuck to me, I gave myself a label. This label that I had given myself became detrimental as if I couldn’t adhere to the standards of being a “smart kid” I would lose value in myself. This is a common problem that comes along with labels we tend to put on ourselves. We try to stick to them as much as possible but when we don’t meet someone else’s standard of what that label means we are looked down upon or we are expected to act a certain way because of the label we have. 

Lowercase q brings up the example of labels throughout the chapter, for some it can be fulfilling, being finally able to understand yourself and be a part of something. But to others it can feel claustrophobic as if you are being put into a type of position. Labels are a double-edged sword and can be both beneficial and harmful. The choice whether or not you want to put a label on yourself is entirely on you but it’s not something that permanent and it’s something you can always change.