Society vs. the Individual: A Reflection and Analysis
of The Names by Don Delillo (Page 1 of
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Don Delillo implies that the self is autonomous by focusing and scattering
throughout The Names the idea of the self as an entity that can
exist alone in the human mind, away from the routines and limitations of
“Everydayness” that are commonly found for James in language, in politics,
in life. Through this concentration in The Names, Delillo implies
that language and politics are part of a social identity; although we use
these forces to build up self-importance and self-delusion, they are
directed more towards group identity than individual identity. It’s an
individual identity that James seeks--who he is in the here-and-now sense.
Through
his environment--people, places, and objects—the main character in The
Names by Don Delillo, James realizes that both language and politics
are part of routines that in the end speak for how we act as a group but
do not say much for one’s individual state of mind. James learns that
language teaches us to lie to ourselves--for instance, James at one point
lies to the concierge of a hotel by telling him he’s going to certain
places, but these places are only place-names he can properly pronounce in
a foreign language -- and when tied with politics, the two forces allow
the mind to regress to self-delusion and hide behind human fears.
In
Delillo’s novel, “America is the myth” (114). Instead of constructing an
identity for James, politics keeps him away from the realm of
individuality because everywhere he goes, he is reminded that he is an
American because he is traveling to parts of the world where Americans are
judged based on their government. From people like Andreas, he sees that
Americans have the need to feel self-important--“it’s only in a crisis
that Americans see other people” and even then it “has to be an American
crisis…look this is Iran,
this is Iraq. Let us pronounce the word correctly…the Americans choose
strategy over principle every time and yet keep believing in their own
innocence.” and lie to themselves (58). From living abroad, he notes that
“[e]veryone is there…Not just Americans. They’re all there. But the others
lack a certain mythical quality that terrorists find attractive,” and it’s
this myth of America created by others that serves to “embody recurring
[routine] themes that people can use to comfort themselves, justify
themselves” (114). James suggests that all groups of people are guilty of
the same things: self-delusion, self-importance, and the lies, the
fiction, we tell ourselves--everyone gives and takes blame. James’s
environment or his constant change in environment allows him to
progressively understand that this is all politics and language molded
together to make him part of a common identity.
The stones
of the past that Owen found from a dig use language primarily for
community dealings; the knowledge of an everyday language used in the past
reveals nothing about the constructs of the individual self--“The stones
spoke,” Owen says, “what the stones say, after all, is often routine
stuff. Inventories, land sale contracts, grain payments, records of
commodities, so many cows, so many sheep…it seems to be the case that the
first writing was motivated by a desire to keep accounts” (35). Later in
the novel, he realizes that “language [as Mrs. Helen taught it] existed
mainly as a medium of politeness between people” and once again have very
little to say about the individual (250). “Do people make things to define
the boundaries to the self?” James asks and then affirms that “objects are
the limits we desperately need” (133). Language, objects that possess
language, guns used to kill people (justified by “revenge” and war or
“strategy” ) are all things that people use to restrain ourselves from
reaching our individual selves (202).
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