In Daphne Du Maurier’s novel, Rebecca, the narrator of the story is placed in many different environments. The narrator also has to associate with many different people. These people, places, and things, explored in the book, all support a main theme pertaining to the the narrator. This theme is the theme of identity.
The ultimate theme of identity, in Rebecca, represents a lack of identity. One of the most obvious examples of this theme is the narrator’s name. Throughout the book, the narrator’s true name is never told. At the beginning of the novel, there are already signs of the narrator having no control of her life. The narrator does whatever her employer, Mrs. Van Hopper, tells her to. The narrator also has no family. Eventually, the narrator marries Maxim and moves to Manderly, but even then she lacks control. The narrator has replaced Maxim’s dead wife,
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The main cause for the narrator feeling lost is her constant comparison to Rebecca. As the new mistress of Manderly, the narrator finds that she has large shoes to fill. Everyone at Manderly, except for the narrator, knew who Rebecca was. Not knowing of Rebecca’s true identity was is the biggest problem for the narrator. Throughout the majority of the novel, the narrator constantly self defeats herself by conjuring up ideas of Rebecca being lovely. Not knowing of Rebecca’s identity causes a lack in the narrator’s identity. The narrator can not even fully enjoy her own love with Maxim. She constantly presumes that Maxim’s love for Rebecca was greater than his love for her. The narrator is forced to live in the shadow of Rebecca, and she feels unnoticed. An example of this would be when the evil servant, Mrs. Danvers, tricked the narrator into wearing a dress that Rebecca had once worn. By wearing the dress, Maxim became very irritated at the narrator. This further dampens the narrator’s self confidence in her identity as Maxim’s new
In his Enigmas of Identity, Peter Brooks describes the “transactional nature of the self,” where individual identity is created through its relationship with others (Brooks 23). Identity is forged through “transpersonal networks”, moving beyond the individual or the personal (23). Identity is not static, but a continuous “project,” asking in what ways one stays the same, changes and grows (15). In Arthur Conan Doyle’ “A Scandal in Bohemia,” Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” identity and its transactional, malleable nature play a significant role. In each narrative, the identities of those protagonists hold shape shifting capabilities, and mistaken or lost individual identities are major themes.
Identity is how we define ourselves, how we see ourselves within our communities and it is what we portray to others. In the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë the eloquent use of language allows for the true portrayal of the identities of all the characters in the story. Emily uses anecdotes and metaphors to portray her characters in all their glory. Wuthering Heights is about the consecutive search for one’s true identity by two primary characters. This essay will specifically focus on Catherine and Heathcliff’s search for their identities. Heathcliff and Catherine both vary in social status as the book progresses, each of their respective sexes play a large role in their identities and the choices they make also influence their final identities; these three main factors are what create the identity problem for both Catherine and Heathcliff.
The nameless narrator is a young black person, who attends his college regularly. He follows certain directions to lead a normal life. Yet, his life has to diverge from what it is as he makes a huge mistake, which can not be forgiven by the Headmaster, Dr. Bledsoe. Mr. Norton, one of the trustees, is chauffeured by the narrator and in the trip they take together, the narrator shows him the places, where the real life that blacks have is obvious. Raged at this, Dr. Bledsoe’s reaction towards the naïve narrator is harsh and he is sent away from the college. The events have key points to them in terms of how the characters choose to behave under certain conditions. These conditions are mostly related to honor and shame, pride and humiliation, ambition to take over and passivity.
It should be noted that gaining an identity in autobiographical writing is crucial “because literacy becomes a way of creating an identity where before there was none in the public discourse” (Finkelman, vol.2, 190). Although the identities of William and Ellen Craft may have been revealed partially before their narrative, their own words and experience have a much greater impact on the reader than if told by a secondary source.
The narrator’s inner conflict can be seen when she says, “ I had indeed lost my mind, for all the smoldering emotions of that summer swelled in me and burst—the great need for my mother who was never there, the hopelessness of our poverty and degradation, the bewilderment of being neither child nor woman and yet both at once, the fear unleashed by my father’s tears. (9) Through this quote, we can see how Lizbeth struggled greatly with what has happened in her life and all the things she had to go through. The unfortunate, sad resolution to this conflict further develops the theme that growing up can be hard and things will happen that you may not like or have control of what happens. When Lizbeth says, “ ‘M-miss Lottie!’ I scrambled to my feet and just stood there and stared at her, and that was the moment when childhood faded and womanhood began. (10) This resolution shows that we can allow guilt and shame to show us that their are not always a happy ending in every story. Therefore, the plot elements of conflict and resolution further develop the
Another way some characters lose some of their identity is in their name. In many of her works women who were married were often referred to as Mrs. –. This would have been a proper way to address the woman at the time, but it gives the character only one identity. The story is about them and finding identity, but they are defined by their husband's name. The characters are supposedly going through this change, they are still tied to their identity as a married woman, and while they reflect on their younger selves, they aren't tied to that person anymore. This shows that as much as they are going through a discovery of identity, it is fleeting, and they never truly change. It is also often that their ...
Her name “Blanche” gave clues to the character, as the word is related to the colour white, which is pure and cold but also blank, with no real personality. The two characters are complete opposites; Blanche with her ostentatious nature greatly differs from Jane’s demure mien. Jane’s character would rather sit alone in a small corner, whereas Blanche tries to draw attention to herself. One evening Jane observes Blanche’s actions and describes her to be “evidently bent on striking them as something very dashing and daring indeed.” Blanche’s emptiness makes Jane’s true depths of human dignity, and morality all the more evident and attractive. Without the use of Blanche as a foil, the positive attributes of Jane’s character would not of been as evident, as she would not of been compared to one with such an ugly inner
June’s constant praisal is at the expense of Connie. As June’s self esteem is boosted from her family’s attention and admiration, Connie becomes increasingly insecure because of her inability to attain the same level of success as her sister. She seeks the same attention as her sister, yet has been conditioned to believe that she cannot match her sister’s accomplishments, leading Connie to rebel for attention. She feels as though her self worth rests solely on the opinions of others, because her relationship with her family has not provided her with any reassurance of her value. Consequently, Connie struggles with insecurities, as she always feels a need to meet the expectations of others.
When Zora Hurston wrote this novel, she wanted to explain how a young women search for her own identity. This young woman would go through three relationships that took her to the end of the journey of a secure sense of independence. She wanted to find her own voice while in a relationship, but she also witnessed hate, pain, and love through the journey. When Logan Killicks came she witnessed the hate because he never connected physically or emotionally to her. Jody Starks, to what she assumed, as the ticket to freedom. What she did not know was the relationship came with control and pain. When she finally meets Tea Cake she was in love, but had to choose life over love in the end.
...e relationship with men, as nothing but tools she can sharpen and destroy, lives through lust and an uncanny ability to blend into any social class makes her unique. Her character is proven as an unreliable narrator as she exaggerates parts of the story and tries to explain that she is in fact not guilty of being a mistress, but a person caught in a crossfire between two others.
She hides her actions and attempt to justify them until she is expose by the letter from the paper regarding her novel entry. She is ignorant to her unrealistic judgements about Cecilia and Robert and attempts to fix the problem when she made it worse. She realizes her mistake when the letter questions the conflict of her novel and she witnesses her attempt to hide the true horror behind her decision. While she attempts at hiding her problem in the draft, she made it more noticeable to the paper and drain the luster of the plot. Her realization of her ignorance honor the lovers’ romance and made her strive to atone her former
Most women in Mrs Mallard’s situation were expected to be upset at the news of her husbands death, and they would worry more about her heart trouble, since the news could worsen her condition. However, her reaction is very different. At first she gets emotional and cries in front of her sister and her husbands friend, Richard. A little after, Mrs. Mallard finally sees an opportunity of freedom from her husbands death. She is crying in her bedroom, but then she starts to think of the freedom that she now has in her hands. “When she abandoned herse...
In the novel Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier tells the uncommon, suspenseful love story using a small range of characters with many different personality traits. The reader begins to feel as though they truly know these characters only to discover the unseen truth as their masks fall off. As these personalities develop throughout the novel one can discover that the narrator, Mrs. de Winter, strives to please people and feels very insecure in her identity. She tries to stick up for herself, but her words have no effect on her cruel, manipulative, controlling husband, Mr. de Winter. Mr. de Winter appears as a gentleman in the very early chapters of the book; however, the reader soon discovers that Mr. de Winter seems not to care about other people’s feelings, and that he contains controlling characteristics. Besides being controlling, he also verbally abuses his wife. In simple and plain terms, Mr. de Winter is a jerk. Later in the book, another malevolent and controlling character becomes introduced, Mrs. Danvers. Mr. de Winter’s controlling, abusive ways and Mrs. Danvers malevolent tendencies collide together as the new Mrs. de Winter strives to please them.
The young narrator is not rescued by another male figure, but by her mother instead. Carter signifies that woman can be strong and independent: “Now, without a moment’s hesitation, she raised my father’s gun, took aim and put a single, irreproachable bullet through my husband’s head” (Carter 45). The narrator’s mother shows how she is independent and did not rely on a man to save her daughter; thus, embracing how Carter breaks the gender norm. The mother’s qualities are found in the narrator, as the narrator learns to become a woman like her mother: “Although Carter does not explicitly mention curiosity as a trait the mother has and might have modeled, the mother’s active, devil-may-care life indicates she may possess this trait” (Manley 76). The narrator is very curious, and her curiosity helps her towards becoming a woman. The narrator is curious about the locked door, but also about the femininity she posses about marriage and sex. The narrator searches for an identity in the transition of becoming a married woman. The narrator experiences being a true woman by losing her virginity to the Marquis, as she partakes in sex for the first time. The narrator learns how to appease her husband as she learns how to utilize the act of sex to her advantage. As seen later in the short story, when the keys to the chambers are given to her by the Marquis, she is able to explore the forbidden room where she
Historically, compared to men, women were underprivileged and inferior in society. In A Room of One’s Own, the narrator explains, “Here then was I (call me Mary Beton, Mary Seton, Mary Carmichael or by any name you please - it is not a matter of any importance)”(Woolf 340). The action of providing a name is an identifier for a person. The narrator may be inferring that women have a hard time establishing themselves a personal identity. The anonymous narrator is