Prelims Coursework

. 'It is striking that many novelists[.] write almost obsessively about the uncertain crossing and invasion of identities.' [Robert J.C. Young] How do any texts explore the 'uncertainties,' 'crossings' and 'invasion' of identities?

The desire to determine the arbitrary nature of 'identity' is an obsessive concern in literature due to its significance in reality. The OED defines identity as, '1a. The condition of being the same in substance.nature, or in particular qualities.' The belief that individuals share 'particular qualities' suggests 'otherness' for those who are not 'the same in substance.' This therefore reiterates the oppressive nature of the binary model which consolidates 'Subject' and 'Other.' Zizek's (1989) concept of the 'master-signifier' castigates the longing for the 'Subject': an uninformed desire due to its unattainable promise of wholeness. This impossible aim unsettles the subject in her 'uncertainty' and consequently leads to acts of 'crossings' and 'invasions' in the desire to embody the 'master-signifier.' This preoccupation with the exploration of identity suggests an obsessive desire to stabilise the arbitrary meaning of 'identity' and to sever the oppressive ideologies that praise the 'master-signifier' over the 'Other.' Lacan's (2010:1163-9) concept of the 'Mirror Stage' occurs in the anal stage of a child's psychosexual development. At this age the child is fragmented yet, upon seeing itself in the mirror, recognises itself as Gestalt (whole) and connects its reality to this ideal image, or the Ideal-I. Once the subject falls into language, however, it loses this sense of wholeness and consequently desires to reach this Ideal-I; it follows an asymptotic course, eternally desiring yet never achieving this ideal. Similarly, the concept of 'identity' is just as futile in its promise of 'wholeness', but the desire to engage in the quest itself suggests a perverse enjoyment in this unattainable goal. Indeed, Peter Brooks' (1998:339) 'erotics of form' argues that one gains sexual pleasure from the 'delay and advance' of the narrative. In regards to 'identity' the subjects' libido is enticed through the 'perversely delaying' quest to understand the arbitrary nature of identity; the unknown compels the subject, and invites her to fulfil its meaning similar to the quest of the Ideal-I. In the context of the binary model it is the 'Other' which engages the subject's libido in her subsequent gratification in discovering the unknown. The desire to understand the purpose of 'identity' reiterates the acknowledgment that the term 'identity' is created by language and constructed for and before us. Therefore, the associated ideologies affiliated with categories of identity form prejudices and beliefs that surround the individual subjects. As Zizek states: 'we do not believe directly but only because others do' (1989:53). The interpellation of a subject from infancy into the Ideological State Apparatuses, such as the Church or family, causes the individual's sense of self to be tarnished by the system of signs that pre-exist her birth (Althusser, 2010:1335-61). The subject is thus recruited into categories of identification, and this act echoes the oppressive binary model by constituting 'Self' and 'Other.' Such a model, however, is merely an impasse 'which retards rather than hastens cultural and political transformation' (Freidman, 1996:134). The uncertainty that is constitutive of 'identity' arises from the individual's early recruitment into this category which she is unable to choose. Secondly, it is the anxiety felt towards the binary model which separates individuals from birth in an arbitrary manner for reasons unknown to the subject. The binary model is reinforced throughout the individual's life, thus establishing a sense of certainty to these categories. For instance, the critic Barbara Smith (2010:2227) reasserts interpellated, arbitrary identification in her castigation of white critics who 'display a chilling case of barely disguised cultural imperialism' in their use of 'Black Literature'. Yet, as Friedman states, moments such as the holocaust question the notion that the category of 'white' is stable (1996:121); identity is unstable regardless of one's identified group. It purports that individuals are 'the same in substance' which immediately hinders the subject's ability to find a sense of self-identity. Barbara Smith (2010:2227) conversely manifests 'disguised cultural imperialism' in her act of asserting ideology and rescinding the individual's sense of subjectivity in her criticism of white critics. Not only Smith but any reader embodies the imperialist by exerting their dominion over a text. Wolfgang Iser consolidates this notion as it is: 'the unwritten aspects [that] lead him to shade in the many outlines suggested by the given situation', and this act of projection is an invasion on the gaps of the text that the imperialist desires to 'shade in' (1974:276). Jeanette Winterson's Written on the Body (1993) is narrated by an unnamed narrator whose gender and sexuality is not revealed to the reader. The reader constantly questions the narrator's identity, attempting to recruit her into an identifiable category, and thus becomes an invader trying to dominate and make certain that which is uncertain. What is ultimately achieved is the acknowledgment that, although the reader is incapable of delegating what material social body the narrator belongs to, the substance of the protagonist's character and story is relatable to individuals as humans. The reader learns about herself through her projections on the text as the text reflects these projections onto the reader to let her perceive the gaps of her own being. Spivak (2010:2114-28) addresses her concerns with the act of 'shad[ing] in the many outlines of a text' (Iser, 1974:276). In her essay 'Can the Subaltern Speak?' Spivak focuses on the category of the subaltern who are without identity. The subaltern, as she implies, are a category of individuals who are so overtly oppressed that they have not even been established in the social structure. The subaltern need a voice but Spivak castigates theorists such as Foucault who lend a voice to these oppressed groups of society. Spivak implies that Foucault, as a white, middle-class male, has no right to lend the oppressed a voice. Such criticism, however, oppresses and imposes ideology rather than alleviating its impact. Spivak's act of equivocating the white, middle-class man with the historical stereotype that has been affiliated with him causes her to become an imperialist; by exerting this ideology she invades the subject's sense of self by affiliating him with the ideologies associated with his categorised identity. If the subaltern's main form of oppression is that they have no access to a revisionist history, then to what extent can the white man alleviate himself from oppression if he is not given the chance to revise his history? For him, the ideologies of the past invade his subjectivity in the future. The invasion of ideology and the continual act of rendering identified categories as synonymous to the historical implications of their past is an attack on a subject's sense of self. Thus Spivak's argument, in this respect, asserts ideological oppression on identities and forms the foundations of individuals' own dissatisfaction with their identifiable group as they desire to rid themselves of oppressive ideologies. The invasion on individuals' subjectivity is thus due to the oppressive ideology that is affiliated with their categorised identity. This oppressive ideology, however, remains because of past stereotypes. Women, who have been oppressed throughout Western history, are consistently subjected by their material existence which consolidates them as 'mother.' Donna Harraway argues that a woman's acceptance of this oppression destroys her self-identity as it is 'forced upon her by the terrible historical experience.of patriarchy, colonialism, and capitalism' (2010:2196). As it is women who are assumed as 'Other' due to their 'lack' of the phallus their self-identity is lost; as the phallus is the metaphor for power, and thus Subject, woman is perceived as the subordinate 'Other.' As de Beauvoir argues women must acknowledge that 'one is not born a woman' and that it is 'civilization as a whole that produces this creature' (1997:226). Undoubtedly women have been oppressed significantly by ideologies that render them weak and domesticated. Yet civilization also 'produces [the] creature' man, and he too is obliged to conform to the historical ideologies that render man as 'masculine.' For instance, Curtis D. Bennett's poem The Becoming of a Man (2011) ironically addresses the veterans of war: Who has passed all the tests of manhood, Has proven his mettle, his honour, his humanity, He will forever be the warrior, the man (The Becoming of A Man, 2011)

Bennett reiterates the imposed obligation on men to prove themselves through the heroic 'warrior' figure. Man is thus burdened by this invasive ideology to embody 'manhood,' and so his chance of self-discovered subjectivity is prevented. It is the acknowledgment that identity is a social construct, a means of invading and dominating individuals, that may alleviate the problems imposed on subjects to conform to these pressurised ideologies. Furthermore, the impact of our 'uncertainty' regarding identity and the consequence of ideological 'invasions' on categories leads to acts of 'crossing.' In Nella Larsen's Passing (2008) Irene and Clare, as women of African and Anglo ancestry, are able to 'pass' as either identity. Whilst Irene commits herself to 'Black Harlem,' Clare marries a white man. The obligation the characters feel to commit themselves to a single identity reinforces the arbitrary nature of identity which does not account for anything 'Other' than the singular identities of 'white' or 'black.' Thus, they are silenced and denied a self-identity as they are forced to occupy a position on the binary model. This desire to attain the 'Other' is, however, merely due to ideology. Heidegger's (1967) concept of the hermeneutic circle, which is the continual act of applying our prejudice to a text and our inability to refrain from this act, when associated with identity suggests a continual set of prejudices we apply to the 'Other,' and even our own identifiable group. Yet, each subject is interpellated into this fixed category and indoctrinated to perceive itself as 'Subject.' Therefore the extent to which one can 'leap into the "circle"' (1967:363) and view their prejudices is a challenging effort. In regards to identity the circle has broken; each subject merely sways backwards and forwards from the end points, needlessly overlapping and enacting their interpellated social identity, incapable of 'crossing' over. The only way in which this 'crossing' can be achieved is by acknowledging the falsities of ideology and in the acceptance of individuals as their own being, rather than through their identity. This frees characters such as Irene and Clare from the forces of identity that render them outcasts due to the implications of ideology. Joseph Conrad also addresses the literal act of 'crossing' identities in his novel Almayer's Folly (2006). As a Dutch man, Almayer settles on the Borneo cost with his Malayan wife and 'mixed blood' daughter Nina. Almayer desires to return to Europe, whilst his wife and daughter later find solace in returning to those who share their national identity. The novel thus addresses the implications of intersubjectivity, which states that: 'persons of similar occupations are better at taking each other's perspectives' (2010:22). Almayer's subsequent desire to return to Europe, and his wife and daughter's desire to live with those who share their national identity, suggests a natural urge to be surrounded by those who are 'the same in nature.' Almayer, however, is incapable of finding a stable home and his alienation exemplifies the arbitrary decision to rely on those who share our common 'identity.' For Almayer, happiness is not achieved through those who share his qualities nor the 'Other' and thus Conrad suggests that we subject ourselves to loneliness in our inability to acknowledge that identity is an 'uncertain' aspect of our lives, and that social acceptance perpetuates beyond our own identifiable group. To conclude, the 'uncertainties' felt towards identity and the subsequent acts of 'crossing' and 'invasion' stem from the arbitrary ideologies that are associated with categories of identity. This ideology influences our understanding of our identity so thoroughly that it is difficult to conceive of a truly independent notion of identity. The act of destroying ideologies and prejudice results in the dismantling of the binary model and the arbitrary 'master-signifier,' and a subsequent acknowledgment that we are all 'the same in substance.'