The problem of identity is one of the most crucial in the development of each society, and it refers mainly to taking into account the greatest differences which separate people, as well as stating these differences in order to be acknowledged and respected by the others. ”Identity is about belonging, about what you have in common with some people and what differentiates you from others.”(Jeffrey Weeks, The Value of difference, in J. Rutherford (ed.), Identity: Community, Culture, Difference, London, 1990).

People are especially made aware of these discrepancies through the use of the huge amount of different markers which are bestowed to them, and which are all intimately linked to such categories as: social, physical appearance, personality, nationality, religion, family relationships, gender, occupation, culture. But by whom, where, why, under what circumstances and for how long are these markers associated to one’s individuality, still remains a matter of relativity and contingence.

In American literature this essential problem becomes obvious through the many forms of narratives which take the shape of stories centered all on this major theme, of the quest for

a private, inner identity as a major human experience. As the Americans were the first to define the short story as a specific literary form (1842, E.A. Poe), it is self-evident that their attempt to depict their search for identity through it is as important as ours in trying to distinguish its American features.

“One thing at least is clear-identity only becomes an issue when it is in crisis, when something assumed to be fixed, coherent and stable is displaced by the experience of doubt and uncertainty”( Kobena Mercer , Welcome to the jungle: identity and diversity in postmodern politics in Identity, Community, Culture, Difference, London, 1990).This feature of identity is directly linked to the structure of the literary genre of short story, defined through its “unity of effect”, containing momentary, revelatory or epiphanic experiences, leading to a conclusion, meaning that a tension will be finally solved, a crisis will inevitably lead to happiness or grief, or characters will lose or win. That is why the shape of short story is so well fitted to express this experience of the quest for identity.

In Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories, the quest for identity undertakes deeper meanings, which spring out from the exploration of the darker side of human nature. Either in The Black Cat or The Cask of Amontillado, the quest for the narrator’s identity is linked to the search and discovery of the unconscious impulses, which are represented, in the first, through the image of “the black cat”, an embodiment of “the spirit of perverseness”, and in the latter, through the character of Fortunato, a double of the narrator, whom he symbolically tries to murder. The repression of these unconscious desires seems futile, while accepting one’s identity through coping with them is ultimately inevitable, as the narrators confess is through the act of creation of narrated text.

At a different level, feminine identity is defined in American literature through the works of such writers as Mary Wilkins Freeman and Sarah Orne Jewett.

In Bartleby, The Scrivener, Herman Melville concentrates upon the pressures of the system, of the society in the act of shaping of an identity. The story unfolds on Wall Street, in New York City, that is in the world of modern economy, with all the changes which this implies. The scriveners are part of the machinery of modern industry and commerce, they are educated men who do tedious work. In this world, where a man does his work, earns his pay and goes on and on until he dies, Bartleby is a freak and an outcast. He is a profoundly depressed and lonely man, who seems completely unable to find work that will satisfy him. Life itself is pointless to him, and he cannot pretend enthusiasm for it. His trademark sentence, “I would prefer not to” marks his continuous disengagement from the world. Successful men, as the narrator, are victims, in some way, of progress, because they are forced to renounce to a certain part of their individuality and conform. By refusing to change and challenging death through his silence, Bartleby fights constantly for the preservation of his individuality and identity.

Some topics in this essay:
Difference London, West South, York City, Major Molineux’s, White Heron, Dagget Louisa’s, George III, Cask Amontillado, Van Winkle, Washington Irving, quest identity, short story, short stories, white heron, own identity, american literature, sarah orne, washington irving, edgar allan, individual vs, sarah orne jewett, culture difference london, mary wilkins freeman, community culture difference, edgar allan poe,