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Notes -
We're all creating the character of "I", then playing that role, all the time. A few people achieve the levels of self-awareness to do so deliberately. Its more common in performers; David Bowie comes to mind. Modern business coaching is full of "defining your brand" etc.
All of this reminds me of Obama's book, which always came off as much more grandiose than the factual information it contained. Unlike most presidents (esp. the current one), Obama didn't have much of a history. He was fairly young and only served one term in the Senate. He had the chance to create a new character to present to the public, so he did.
I wasn't the only one to notice the somewhat odd tone of his book, which brings me to the point of this post.
“Obama had this habit of doing very grandiose, epic language, for day-to-day struggles or minor things that happened in his childhood,” says Warren. “And I realized: This is the language of an epic story, even though it’s not an epic story. There really is enough of that language to tell another story altogether.”
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2011/07/son-of-strelka-son-of-god-obama-narrates-a-new-creation-myth.html
Dan Warren chopped up the audio book version and used it to create an entirely different story: Son of Strelka, Son of God. The whole thing is on Youtube and linked in the above piece.
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