The Social Human Identity

Paper Summary:

This paper contends that one of the pervasive philosophies behind many post-modern forms of art and literature is the idea that human identities are defined more by their social circumstances than by any universal truths. The paper explains that the human is not a self-sufficient entity, but is built through social conventions. The paper explores how this notion reveals itself in the transitional post-modern works of "Waiting for Godot" by Samuel Beckett and Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita".

From the Paper:

"Nabokov seems to take a more psychological approach to the topic of human identity than does Beckett. This is precisely why Humbert is both "the rapist" and the "therapist," and additionally, why the novel is divided into two sections. In this respect, the human being, to Nabokov, is a complex conglomeration between innate drives and intellectual morality. Innate drives created his idealized mental image of Lolita, but abstract morality meant that such an image was inaccurate and transitory. Recognizing this, we can see that Lolita is divided into two parts along similar lines; the lines of creation and destruction, but also along the lines of individual perspective and social perspective. The novel has two names as well: "Lolita, or the Confessions of a White Widowed Male." (Nabokov, 3). "Lolita" is not the girl Dolores Haze, but the image of the girl that Humbert creates for himself-it is a part of his internal identity. However, "the Confessions of a White Widowed Male" is clearly the title more socially accurate and appropriate for Humbert's incarceration. To the end, Humbert remains obsessed with Lolita even though his image of her no longer exists objectively-she is no longer a child. Lolita is destroyed by external social circumstances."

More papers on The Social Human Identity:

• Persuasive Essay # 142855 : "The Geneticization Of Identity"
• Research Paper # 66171 : "A Search for Meaning and Identity"
• Essay # 47544 : "Identity and the Life Cycle"

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