The Construction of the Notion of Identity in Stephen Crane’s a Dark Brown Dog: A Critical Discourse Analysis
Abstract
The present paper aims at providing a multi-dimensional discussion to the way the notion of identity is being constructed in Crane`s short story, “A Dark Brown Dogâ€. To reach an in-depth critique of the issue, the paper seeks to formulate a workable definition of the term and to establish a multi-disciplinary theoretical framework that is adequate to trace how theevolution of the narrative serves in the construction of the characters’ identity. The story under focus is written at the end of the 19th century, in 1893, during the Jim Crow era that stretches from the late 19th century to the sixties of the 20th century.Aiming to study how the identity of the white character and the identity of the black character are being linguistically constructed in this story, a simple method of data collection and analysis will be used. This method is summarized in three steps: a) the collection of textual data that reflect the characters’ identities; b) the analysis of the collected data; and c) the interpretation of the findings of the analysis. The application of this method has led to the formulation of several conclusions. First, it is proved that the characters’ identities are monitored by their mental conception of the social context in which they live. Second, the characters’ social identities,as black or white, are determined by the social ideology that divides the American society in two racial groups and set clear the relations of power between them. However, the characters’ personal identities are determined by their ways of interacting along the text. Third, the social identity of both whites and blacks evolves from one generation to another leading to a change at the level of the black/white relations. Finally, these conclusions show that the notion of identity is a mental construct, which varies in function of many variables such as context.
Keywords: White, Black, Identity, Social ideology, American society, and multi-disciplinarily.Â
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