Ariadne's threads of identity : foreshadowing of social and individual identity theories in John Dos Passos' U.S.A.

Abstract

The eminent biologist E.O. Wilson theorizes a unity of knowledge for all fields of study. Claiming that all knowledge springs from a basis in physics and continues to chemistry, biology, social sciences, and into humanities and even religion, Wilson then assumes that all knowledge can be connected. Many of these associations begin with people containing an understanding of two or more fields of study or even maintaining a general curiosity about life. American Modernist John Dos Passos is one artist who writes in a period full of new ideas and theories such as Existentialism and psychology. Centered on the mimetic ability for the author to capture concerns that define the human condition in order to bring forth some unknown truth, John Dos Passos writes a picture of America in his trilogy U.S.A. One basic struggle each of his twelve characters has is the challenge to define themselves. In this struggle we see the foreshadowing of future psychological studies: the beginnings of identity theory. What I shall demonstrate is that through the work of John Dos Passos, connections can be made between the U.S.A. characters of Mac, J. Ward Moorehouse, Eveline Hutchins, and March French and contemporary social identity theories. His writings precede very recent discoveries in the field of identity and allow links to be formed between the fields of humanities and the social sciences. By examining different theorists such as George McCall, Peter Burke, Michael Hogg, and Kay Reid, we see that Dos Passos writes about a society that constantly questions the development of self and identity. Due to his unique style, the development of identity, whether individual or social, is a natural product of the style.