In the book, Track Changes, by Matthew Kirshenbaum looks into the writing process of writers and how different type of writing can affect a writer’s work. He also examines how with technological advances, writers have to adapt to these changes and how technology also adapts to writer’s preferences. In the beginning of the book, Kirshenbaum writes about George R. R. Martin’s interview which the audiences find out he uses a program called WordStar because it is not as distracting as other writing programs. Everyone was waiting for this part because it is part of his writing process which created books that many people liked. Many people would want to know how to achieve greatness and George R. R. Martin’s way of writing, but every writer’s writing process is different. “Many reader will recognize modes from their own experience: When you switch back and forth between different “screens” or interfaces within the same application to accomplish different kinds of tasks, you are working within different modes.”(Kirshenbaum, 4). A person might be used to an user interface or prefers it more because of the tools he/she uses is much more convenient to use than another program. Over time they will become masters of the program and know the tricks and shortcuts to make whatever they are doing faster. Kirshenbaum writes about this with two different writers. George R. R. Martin mastered WordStar and became second nature to him while another writer, Dennis Baron, tried to grasp WordStar, but simply couldn’t because the interface doesn’t suit him.(Kirshenbaum, 2).

With advancement in technology, changes will have to be made. Word processors like WordStar doesn’t change how you write, but newer word processors like googleDocs, they will make changes for you and sometimes a writer doesn’t want that. A poet may be using white spaces to create a more dynamic poem that uses lines to draw a picture or a poet is trying to use capitalization of a word to emphasis its significance. Word processors don’t understand this because they don’t understand what the writer wants. They follow rules that are set by them and carry it out to the best of their abilities and also follow commands inputted by users. But there are writers who embraces these changes and prefers it that way. Writing preference and the tools they used shapes how they think and as Friedrich Nietzsche said, “Our writing tools shape our thoughts…”(Kirshenbaum, 10). However writers don’t have to embrace new technologies completely or to only use older technologies. They can compromise and adapt to new technologies. Lucille Clifton would think out her writing piece in her head and then put it on a word processor.(Kirshenbaum, 11). There is also Brathwaite who uses fonts to create writing pieces because it provides an aesthetic quality to it.(Kirshenbaum, 202).

In The Mirror Stage, Lacan proposes that the “mirror stage” is a psychological development  in which an infant recognizes himself or herself in the mirror and become aware of selfhood. Lacan observes that this stage occurs sometime before the infant is 18 months old, and this is the moment when the infant realizes that he or she is a separate entity from other people and things. This begins the process of constructing an identity that is different from others, yet at the same time, it is dependent on the images of others to establish itself.

Lacan built his concept on a number of Freudian theories and developed them further in order to explore human behavior and identity. According to Freud, the id is a natural part of our personality that is unconsciously driven by basic human desires. The ego on the other hand, is a factor of our personality that develops to engage with reality in a way that our basic needs are met but in ways that reflect our social realities and restrictions. For Lacan, the mirror stage is the point at which the ego develops as a way of containing and constraining the limitless desires of the id. In this stage, a child has the ability to separate the “I” from the “other”; the child can now finally recognize a sense of boundary lines between the self and other outside identities. At this stage the child recognizes for the first time that he or she is actually an individual and not just a body that is dependent on others for everything. Lacan also built on Freud’s ideas about sexuality and unconscious desire. Freud claimed that dreams reveal the truth about the individual’s unconscious desires. These desires are always a reflection of the desires that others have. Lacan goes on to argue that desire is always dependent on others. When it comes to sexual desires, Freud underlined the importance of sexuality and sexual behavior as a guide for unconscious desires. Lacan continued to observe sexuality to suggest that people are always learning what to desire. For example, advertisements bring up the idea that desire is actually constructed outside of the individual, rather than just naturally developing from inside of them. Advertisers can convince people to desire a particular kind of car, phone, designer wear, or type of food/drink.

Another major theory that Lacan includes in his work is Freud’s Oedipal complex. Freud’s Oedipus is a complex theory that describes one of the psychosexual stages of a child called the “phallic stage,” and this occurs usually between the ages of 3 and 5. According to Freud, the child develops a sense of resentment towards the father and a want to replace him because of a desire for his mother. Lacan visualizes that the child develops an obsession with trying to figure out what the mother wants and tries to fulfill them. However, the child eventually comes to realizes that the influence of the “Law” represented by the father figure actually impacts that maternal desire, and the child identifies himself with a larger cultural aspect, rather than be limited to the world of the mother’s desires.