Issues of Identity

"In my case that mute backward-reaching distance was my own childhood. It had been lived out of my country, away from the signals and clues by which a self, almost without knowing it, finds its way to adulthood." pg. 76

I liked this short passage because in it, Boland deals with the 'issue of her identity. I found it interesting that Boland felt a need to have a physical place to ground herself, to say "Yes, this is where I come from and it is what shaped me". I believe that a place shouldn't define one but rather we should learn from wherever we may find ourselves at any point in time. Identity in terms of nationality is not much of an issue in the States, but I think that we have a monopoly on that because we are 'the melting pot'. Are there other ways that we might try to categorize ourselves in terms of our identity?