My Final Post (One Last Look at the Identity Crisis Present in Modern Texts)

            For my final blog post, rather than talk sully about The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, I will also incorporate the theme that my research essay revolves around.  As I mentioned in my previous post, and in class on Friday, I believe that Oscar’s family is suffering from the loss of identity.  This loss, I believe, is represented in both fuku and the faceless man.  Coincidently, I am also writing my paper on the loss of identity that is present within The Sun Also Rises.  This realization of loss in a character’s life is largely present in a number of texts that we have read this summer.  When analyzed thoroughly, it is generally the main catalyst or issue of the story.

            According to author Daniel J. Singal, “Modernist thought represents an attempt to restore a sense of order to human experience under the often chaotic conditions of contemporary existence.”  Not since the time of the Enlightenment had a time period brought forth so many major changes as did the 20^th century.  Events such as World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II left individuals feeling lost, confused, and often times angry.  The years 1914 through 1945 proved to be an emotional rollercoaster for many, with ideas of nationalism being crushed by the Depression, only to be reignited with the start of another war.  These historical events clearly played a large role in literature.  Due to authors feeling out of touch with the zeitgeist, they reconciled by crafting characters who were desperately searching for their place in the world.

On the issue of modernity and its importance in literature, literary critic Martin J. Plax writes:

“Modernity was an interest in change and the measurement of change.  To speak of Modernity, therefore, means to speak of two novel ways of perceiving, thinking, and judging.  While the sciences seek certitude about Nature, the novel investigates the existential and aesthetic truth about human experience” (Plax 275).

This search for aesthetic truth is still present in 21^st century literature, which Junot Diaz clearly demonstrates.  This feeling of loss is something that has lingered, and in some ways grown, since the 1930’s.  An individual’s loss of identity is now a common theme amongst many novels.  Even in our own lives as college students we are searching for our place in the world.  Perhaps by reading texts such as what we have read this semester and in previous classes we will have a better perception of this struggle?  Either way, the issue of an identity crisis never ceases to craft an interesting character for readers to indulge.