Ok, so Ralph hasn't exactly woken up on a foreign ship in the middle of a storm with a common case of amnesia, however he does find himself in the dilemma of not knowing who the heck he his, and considers himself and even his life a shipwreck.
Ralph has a lot of issues, but whether they stem from his childhood or simply from his diverse residencies is unclear. He definitely cares about what other people think-actually, it's almost his entire reason for being. He attests that his "present urge is, in the inaction imposed on [him], to secure the final emptiness" (13). He is constantly trying to create himself, create a new facade to display. He says of the persona Leini invented for him, " I must confess I was pleased then that the character Lieni created had in its own small way become a legend" (26). While he himself often evolved the character that people saw, he was pleased that even the character someone else made for him was just as satisfactory. He says even earlier, "I tried to give myself a new personality. It was something I had tried more than once before, and waited for the response in the eyes of others. But now I no longer knew what I was" (32).
That is what his eventual and continual struggle is. He doesn't know who or what he is. All he knows and remembers is everything and everyone that/who influenced these creations. He was laughed at by his peers in school, he remained withdrawn, and even his name became such a source of embarrassment that he altered it to sound less distinct. He isn't the type of person to attempt to make a mark on the world- he simply wants to observe and copy the accepted mannerisms of worthwhile individuals, becoming one of the "Mimic Men."
He is without a home, without a purpose, without a place in this world. As Stephanie said, he "derives [his] self worth from other people's responses [to his 'character']."How scary and how sad is that. This guy needs to get in touch with Dr. Phil, and fast.
You and many more people in this class are taking the stance that Ralph's biggest problem is that he analyzes how people react to his actions too much. I'm still trying to figure out how this fits in with postcolonialism. Why would Ralph's identity crisis be a symptom of being from Isabella? Hopefully, we'll hatch this out in Tuesday's discussion.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had your creativity, your blog titles are most impressive! Well said about Ralph's identity. I find it distracting almost. I still have no idea what type of person this character is so it makes for difficult reading. You've put a really interesting perspective on it.
ReplyDeleteWow, I think you summed up Ralph's feelings of displacement quite nicely. It did seem that his concern about what other people thought, as well as where he belonged, demanded more attention than the postcolonial theme of the novel (Tanner's point). Having finished the novel now, I'm still not sure if I've digested all of those postcolonial aspects. Oh well, stoked to see a blog post about The Mimic Men.
ReplyDelete