Home> Archive> 2015> Volume 5 Number 12 (Dec. 2015)
IJSSH 2015 Vol.5(12): 1062-1067 ISSN: 2010-3646
DOI: 10.7763/IJSSH.2015.V5.605

From Root to Route: Identity, Mobility and Renaming in James McBride‟s The Color of Water

I-Hsin Kai

Abstract—The idea of mobility implies an escape from intolerant normality and a chance to make oneself over. Moving around signifies willpower in quest for a true self. Postmodern men need to run away from set patterns of institutionalization system--roots. By constant moves, individuals develop roots of different categories and link them to form new routes to foster constructive selves. Hence, the practicability of running away expands the depth of the idea of mobility. In addition, mobility often interplay with re/naming. Naming is an exercise of power because those who name also control. From the perspective of identity construction, renaming is deemed as self-designation;; it indicates freedom and the birth of a new self. This paper analyzes correlations between mobility, renaming, and identity construction in James McBride’s The Color of Water.

Index Terms—Identity, mobility, renaming, The Color of Water

I-Hsin Kai is with the General Education Center, National Taiwan Sport University, Taoyuan, Taiwan 33301, ROC (e-mail: kaiih@ntsu.edu.tw).

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Cite: I-Hsin Kai, " From Root to Route: Identity, Mobility and Renaming in James McBride‟s The Color of Water," International Journal of Social Science and Humanity vol. 5, no. 12, pp. 1062-1067, 2015.

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