Type
Text
Type
Thesis
Advisor
Thompson, Roger | Huffman, Clifford C
Date
2016-12-01
Keywords
English literature -- American literature -- African American studies | American, Bowles, Ellison, Gaines, Identity
Department
Department of English
Language
en_US
Source
This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree.
Identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/11401/77528
Publisher
The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.
Format
application/pdf
Abstract
A large amount of American literature is based on themes of identity construction. Several authors make the argument that a true American identity is one that is self-created as opposed to ones made based on societal stereotypes. Yet often, the issue that arise from this central theme is that it takes traumatic episodes to come to this realization. In A Gathering of Old Men by Ernest Gains, the old black men of the town are subjugated and have their identity placed upon them by society, with the label in this case being “them black folk.†Similarly, in Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison sets up the notion that Invisible Man (IM), fails at his chosen identities due to the fact that they are based on societal expectations of what a black person should be rather than what IM wants out of life. Both of these set up the theory that identity has to be self-made and without outside influence. In Paul Bowles The Sheltering Sky, the same theory holds true. Yet the issue with the Moresby’s is that they are unaware that they have pseudo identities until it is too late. In this case, this lack of recognition leads to the subsequent trauma endured by both Kit and Port Moresby. Using textual analysis and several key essays by Ralph Ellison, this thesis takes up the argument that all three of the novels utilize the idea of trauma as central to identity development. By using group trauma, A Gathering of Old Men sets up the idea that the old men have their individual identities removed. Ellison uses repeated individual traumatic episodes to show that IM never has a true identity of his own. Both have an awareness by the end of the novels, that they need to create their own identities and have them recognized. Yet Bowles makes the argument through The Sheltering Sky that if the protagonists do not have this awareness, it will lead to a traumatic episode within itself. | 45 pages
Recommended Citation
Zodiatis, Christos Constantine, "An Invisible Man, a Group of Old Men, and an American Couple Walk into a Bar… How the deconstruction of pseudo identities leads to liberation for the prepared Or to the downfall of the unprepared | An Invisible Man, a Group of Old Men, and an American Couple Walk into a Bar… How the deconstruction of pseudo identities leads to liberation for the prepared Or to the downfall of the unprepared" (2016). Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions). 3332.
https://commons.library.stonybrook.edu/stony-brook-theses-and-dissertations-collection/3332