The Search For Self

Paul Auster’s The Brooklyn Follies depicts a heart-warming story of a group of common people who lose their self at the beginning but later redeem each other and regain their confidence in life.This thesis focuses on analyzing the journey of the main characters’ regaining of their self to explore Auster’s humanistic care for the American people,so as to reveal the realistic significance of the novel.Based on the symbolic interactionist perspective,this thesis analyzes the manifestations and the deep causes of the main characters’ loss of their self,as well as their approaches to regain their self.The thesis argues that the main characters’ identities are suspended,their self having nowhere to be anchored.From their traumatic experiences and the psychological mechanism of presenting the self,it can be seen that they lose direction and confidence in life.The conflict between the “I”and the “Me”,pessimistic perception of the situation and the absence of “the generalized other”barricade the main characters’ journey of regaining their self.Through the interpretation of the changing process of the main characters’ from being pessimistic to optimistic,the thesis also reveals the significance of the reflections on past experiences and the re-establishment of healthy relationships for the main characters to regain their self and identities.By exploring the journey of the main characters’ regaining their self,this thesis tries to reveal Auster’s attempt to heal Americans through his writing,and the implication of the novel: being mired in traumas and loss will not help;the only way to start a new life is through reflection,and actively establishing benign interpersonal interactions.