Identity, Imitation, and Self-Acceptance in The Color of the Crow’s Dream

Hadi Mohammadi and Salimeh Babakhan’s Iranian illustrated children’s book, The Color of the Crow’s Dream (Rang-e-Royay-e-Kalagh), presents an allegory for identity formation. It tells the story of a black crow whose dream of possessing color launches a quest for self-definition marked by imitation, social rejection, and, ultimately, self-acceptance. Published in 2025, the narrative resonates with profound contemporary relevance. This essay contends that while identity formation is inevitably social, the achievement of a stable and authentic self necessitates a critical move away from imitation and external validation, and toward an internal sense of purpose and value. The crow's initial quest mirrors the adolescent stage of identity exploration defined by Erik Erikson, while his desperate hope for approval from the group of crows exemplifies Charles Horton Cooley's concept of the “looking-glass self,” where our self-concept is shaped by how we believe others see us. By analyzing the crow’s journey through these theories, this essay will demonstrate how the narrative critiques an over-reliance on the social mirror or imitation for the sake of validation, and promotes cultivating internal values and acceptance. This insight is profoundly relevant today, in a world where both children and adults are surrounded by infinite digital looking-glasses and face the challenge of defining themselves despite all else.

Theoretical Framework

Erik Erikson describes eight key stages of development that people pass through from infancy to adulthood. Each stage is marked by a specific psychological conflict. The fifth stage of this theory occurs at adolescence between the ages of approximately 12 and 18. At this stage, they are “primarily concerned with what they appear to be in the eyes of others as compared with what they feel they are” (Erikson 235). Erikson introduces role confusion (or identity diffusion) as the danger of this stage and in “The Problem of Ego Identity,” he explains it as the failure to form a stable sense of self in adolescence, which can result in them being unsure who they are, and confused about their place in life, additionally, “where an assured sense of identity is missing even friendships and affairs become desperate attempts at delineating the fuzzy outlines of identity by mutual narcissistic mirroring” (Erikson Problem of Ego 80).

Charles Horton Cooley argues that the self is inherently social, shaped by language and interaction with others. He explains that the looking-glass self is composed of three parts: “the imagination of our appearance to the other person, the imagination of his judgment of that appearance, and some sort of feeling, such as pride or mortification” (Cooley 96). He clarifies that the metaphor of a literal mirror is insufficient because we don't simply see ourselves; we see ourselves as we believe another person evaluates us. Therefore, in imagining their judgment, we effectively adopt and feel it as our own (Cooley 102). This reliance on the social mirror is typically invisible until it fractures; the sudden withdrawal of approval reveals how much our sense of worth is often held up by others (Cooley 107). Cooley argues that when the social self is not properly integrated, the looking-glass self exerts excessive influence, resulting in a “loss of equilibrium,” a condition he identifies as more prevalent among youth (Cooley 106).

When Cooley formulated the concept of the looking-glass self, he could not have anticipated a world in which individuals would be exposed to thousands of mirrors from across the globe within moments. In the digital age, Judgement is now also quantified and publicly displayed through likes, follows, comments, and views. As a result, the risk of what Cooley described as a “loss of equilibrium” has increased. Empirical research supports this vulnerability: Koutamanis et al. note that peer approval is “crucial to the development of adolescents’ self-concept,” and that adolescents are “highly sensitive” to negative peer feedback. In digital contexts, this sensitivity is intensified because online feedback is more public and persistent than face-to-face interaction (Koutamanis 486). This dynamic poses particular dangers for children and adolescents, who are still in the process of forming a stable sense of identity. Algorithms efficiently promote narrow standards of identity, increasing the risk of Erikson’s role confusion and fostering adults who, perpetually modeling themselves on external expectations, possess fragile, underdeveloped selves.

Discussion

“I was a crow

With short legs, round eyes, and a long beak

Black was always my color.

And I couldn’t get away from it” (Mohammadi and Babakhan 8).

As children grow older, they begin to grapple consciously with the concept of identity. At that stage, “all samenesses and continuities relied on earlier are more or less questioned again”(Erikson 235). Similarly, the crow in the story begins his identity search when he dreams of being a crow with color. This dream functions as the catalyst for his journey, initiating a desire to find out who he is. The accompanying illustration reinforces this transition by depicting a bright spring day with a clear sky, symbolizing new beginnings and emerging possibilities. At the same time, the crow’s reflection appears fragmented across six floating pieces of ice, which signals the end of winter. This visual fragmentation mirrors his psychological state and the fact that a coherent sense of self has not yet formed.

He feels sadness and longing for being the crow in his dream. Seeing a red fish, he immediately adopts its color, hoping for it to be the color of his dream. Excited about his new identity, he flies to the city of crows right away to show it to them. According to Erikson, this stage of exploration is both necessary and productive; adolescents must experiment with roles in order to develop identity. However, when opportunities for exploration are restricted or punished, identity formation may be delayed or disrupted. In the story, the crow’s experimentation is impulsive, reflecting how young individuals may adopt and discard identities rapidly. The pitfall of this stage is prioritizing what is accepted and idealized externally, like the images and personas on the internet or societal norms, instead of the internal values and purpose. People often adopt popular values not out of genuine belief, but as a strategy for social acceptance. They imagine how other people perceive them and use that as a compass to guide their lives. Social media platforms frequently present idealized portrayals of users’ professional, social, and romantic lives. Exposure to profiles that emphasize popularity and social approval can intensify adolescents’ need for acceptance and encourage upward social comparison, leading to the internalization of media-driven ideals (de Lenne et al. 2). 

“As soon as the crows saw me, they gathered around me and started pecking my head and body.

Why do you hit me? I asked.

They cawed and cawed and said: You are not a crow.

I said: believe me, I am a crow, I had a colorful dream, I took the color red from the fish to reach my dream.

Crows said: What a joke! A red crow! crows can never be red like a fish, even in a dream!”(Mohammadi and Babakhan 16)

The group of crows can represent many things: the conformity that is imposed by the surroundings and even parents, or the ridicule and bullying from peers and people who cannot understand the child’s dream or identity. As Cooley mentioned, the “I” is always a social phenomenon, and it can only have meaning in a social setting. The issue arises with the fact that a social setting can be very perilous and unwelcoming to the “I”. Through his theory of the looking-glass self, he demonstrated that we all imagine ourselves through other people’s judgment. Children are extremely susceptible to this danger, since from the beginning, they learn of the effect their actions produce and therefore try to control those effects. For instance, if an action produced positive attention from parents, they replicate it many times to receive the same reaction. On the other hand, if they receive a negative response, they do not yet have the ability to question it. Therefore, it is not hard to imagine the traces of this kind of conditioning staying with children as they grow older. That is why the treatment that the crow received from others can be way more devastating than we, as adults, might initially imagine. The crow did not at all reflect on how he himself felt about his color red, but instantly went to see what other crows thought. This clearly shows that the identity was chosen only to impress others without any connection to the crow’s own values. 

The use of crows in the story is symbolic in two ways. First, there is a Persian proverb that says, “the crow, wanting to learn the partridge’s walk, forgot its own,” which is used to warn against the fact that imitating others blindly can make you lose your own identity, perfectly mirroring the actions of this story’s protagonist. Second, crows are associated with mobbing, a well-documented behavior observed in many bird species, which occurs when a group of birds gathers to confront and harass a perceived threat, such as a predator or intruder. Much like the reaction the crow received when he deviated from the norm and therefore became an intruder or even a threat.

The saddened crow does not give up, however, and continues trying to reach his dream. Getting different colors from the green parrot, the yellow chick, the grey donkey, and the orange cat. Every time he gets attacked by the group of crows in the same exact way, and the message “what a joke! a [color] crow! crows can never be [color], even in a dream!” is repeated to him five times in the book. The idea is getting reinforced, and he is more alienated. There emerges a cycle and a very difficult pattern to break; he chooses identities to imitate based on what other people would appreciate, but still fails to receive the much-desired validation and acceptance. The story shows external validation to be failing and unreliable.

Through this process, the crow feels completely lost, even more so than when he started his search. “I was neither myself nor my dream” (Mohammadi and Babakhan 44). He then gives back all the borrowed colors and becomes black again, but he doesn’t go back to the city of crows. He says, “I don’t want to be a dreamless crow again” (Mohammadi and Babakhan 46), and goes to live in solitude. This echoes the fact that, through consistent negative reinforcement, anyone starts to shut people out and choose solitude as a defense mechanism. The crow feels like he doesn’t belong anywhere.

Days, weeks, and months go by. As time passes, the illustrations shift from autumn to winter. The crow is depicted inside the husk of a much larger crow, symbolizing a core or authentic self that has remained dormant throughout his struggle, but starts to resurface as he becomes “more colorless than ever”. Removed from external mirrors and social judgment, he gradually recenters his life around his own inner experience. One night, that amazing color again comes to his dream, “a color that had all the colors “(Mohammadi and Babakhan 50). The next morning, he finally feels happy, and he sees everything as more colorful.

“I looked into the water,

I was no longer that black crow

I was a crow with amazing colors

As if all seasons were inside of me

From white to black” (Mohammadi and Babakhan 55).

The illustration shows that from the outside, his color has not changed at all; he still looks like a black crow. What has changed, however, is his view. He no longer puts other people and their judgment at the center; he finally looks within for purpose, validation, and acceptance. Even though he still looks black, his reflection in the water shows a crow with “amazing colors” (Mohammadi and Babakhan 50). The story then ends on a spring day, just like it began. With a brand new beginning.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the crow’s journey serves as a timeless allegory for a modern crisis of identity: we are not the reflections we perceive in the eyes of others, and we can only find our identity by looking within. This fundamental truth, though simple, is perilously easy to forget, especially in an age defined by infinite digital mirrors. Many spend their lives, like the crow, chasing the borrowed colors of approval, mistaking external affirmation for internal worth. This metaphor is perfectly captured by the crows: to stand apart is to risk being mobbed by the harsh cawing of a society that sometimes values conformity over authenticity. This is a struggle shared by all, especially minorities, and one that often goes unnoticed. 

Works Cited

Cooley, Charles Horton. Human Nature and the Social Order. Scribner’s, 1902.

de Lenne, Olivier, et al. “Picture-Perfect Lives on Social Media: A Cross-National Study on the Role of Media Ideals in Adolescent Well-Being.” Media Psychology, vol. 23, no. 1, 2020, pp. 52–78.

Erikson, Erik H. Childhood and Society. W. W. Norton & Company, 1950.

Erikson, Erik H. “The Problem of Ego Identity.” Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, vol. 4, no. 1, 1956, pp. 56–121.

Koutamanis, Michiel, et al. “Adolescents’ Comments in Social Media: Why Do Adolescents Receive Negative Feedback and Who Is Most at Risk?” Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 53, 2015, pp. 486–494.

Mohammadi, Hadi, and Salimeh Babakhan. The Color of the Crow’s Dream (Rang-e Royā-ye Kalāgh). The Institute for Research on the History of Children’s Literature, 2025.