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Post by connorswauger on Jul 8, 2024 4:09:18 GMT
After reading part one, I found myself asking why I didn’t know the name of the main character. Everyone else is given a name and sometimes a backstory and then I realize that he is just nameless. I think that has to do with his sense of identity within himself and his family/culture. He is trying to find his way in a world where his community is made to feel like the “other” and he is learning all of this new information. His Grandmother tells a story of how she grew up and The Narrator also learns new information about his father whose memory, he held in high regard. His father actually wasn’t the man he thought he was. His wife/girlfriend ran off and with his possessions. It seems that he is immediately thrown into a storm of indecision and having no name shows how his authentic self has basically been lost.
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Post by gnicholson3 on Jul 8, 2024 7:11:40 GMT
I also noticed this. He often identifies with who he isn't. He is called "squirt" and "boy" by others and is quick to defend his status as a man by letting them know it was winter and he is now thirty-two. His namelessness allows him to drift in and out of different scenes seamlessly, because he fits into all scenarios. He is also labelled by others as Indian and Teresa First Raise's boy, but we're also supposed to acknowledge that his Indian ethnicity is different and contrasted with the Cree. So, we're painted a picture of who he 'is' versus 'isn't'.
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Post by Dr. Nemmers on Jul 8, 2024 15:28:38 GMT
Right, we do really see an indeterminate narrator here--- not only his lack of a name but his lack of a purpose and an identity. No job, no close friends, no direction in life. Does he even exist? To some extent, his status mimics the "Invisible Man" of Ralph Ellison's novel of the same name.
To your point, Grace, he's also stuck in this state of arrested development, where he's plagued by this accident that happened like twenty years ago; he's still living with his mother, he hasn't gotten married, and he's treated like a kid by everyone, including his new stepdad.
So yes, indecision is one of the big motifs here, and I think we can liken this protagonist to our previous one, Binx Bolling... the stream of meaningless women, the close ties with family, being about 30 yrs old, the general malaise, etc. What is it with these guys???
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Post by dianarmartinez on Jul 10, 2024 23:38:25 GMT
A major event affects someone, not just emotionally but also in terms of confidence. From an existentialist point of view, he chooses not to do anything. We all have the ability to make choices. However, our circumstances definitely have a heavy influence on our decision-making abilities.
I wonder if he was not persecuted for a crime, would his treatment be different? He gets treated like a child, and adults usually make choices for children because they do not know any better. Are the parents wrong or being empathetic?
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Post by Rylee Wenzel on Jul 11, 2024 0:59:58 GMT
It is interesting to point this out! It almost shows that maybe he does not see himself as anyone important. Not worth being named. This might be because of the loss and alienation he has experienced. Since he does not belong anywhere, both socially and physically, he is nameless.
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