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  • Essay / Human Consciousness and Landscapes of Identity in “Brooklyn”

    The deliberate manipulation of textual form allows composers to show how the consciousness of an individual's and a social group's identity is manufactured and shaped by their dominant landscape. Colm Toibin's bildungsroman Brooklyn (2009) exploits characterization and form to detail the experiences of Irish immigrant Eilis Lacey, as she interacts and navigates her primary landscapes of Enniscorthy and Brooklyn. Toibin deliberately imbues Eilis's characterization early in the novel with passivity and acquiescence to demonstrate the stultifying effect of her conservative Enniscorthy environment. Additionally, Toibin imbues the novel with parallel settings in Enniscorthy and Brooklyn to emphasize how the vast dichotomy of societal identity arises from the influences of the predominant landscape. Therefore, authorial choices regarding characterization and form allow Toibin to highlight the reciprocal relationship between landscape and the consciousness of identity of individuals and social groups. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"?Get the original essayCharacterization is a key vehicle through which composers communicate the impacts of the dominant landscape on an individual's self-awareness. Toibin uses characterization to present Eilis as a deliberately passive observer, a product of her stultifying upbringing in Enniscorthy. Opening the novel with an image of Eilis "sitting at the window", Toibin describes her as she "noticed her sister" and "looked at her in silence". These verbs, “noticed” and “looked,” carry acquiescent and passive connotations, reflecting the static familiarity of its dominant landscape of Enniscorthy. Initially, Eilis' identity centers on her Irish upbringing, as she imagines "having the same friends and neighbors, the same routines on the same streets." Anaphora of the 'same' The repetition of the 'same' allows Toibin to demonstrate that Eilis's identity rests largely on the repetitive familiarity of her lifestyle in Enniscorthy. The stultifying effects of her landscape have a severe impact on her personal growth, as she believes that the arrangements for going to America "would be better if they were for someone else, something the same age and size ". Toibin uses the conditional “if” to demonstrate that Eilis' imminent departure from Enniscorthy made her aware of the inextricable link between her hometown and her identity. (ß Expand on this point) Toibin presents a shift in characterization to further reinforce the connection between place and identity as Eilis in Liverpool finds herself using "a tone that Rose might have used...a tone used by a woman in full possession of herself. She openly acknowledges that it "wasn't something she could have done" in Enniscorthy, with a very modal tone emphasizing her awareness of the shift in identity that accompanies her change of landscape. Therefore, Toibin's manipulation of characterization demonstrates the awareness of identity that arises during Eilis's habitation and departure from Enniscorthy. A composer's deliberate manipulation of structure is a powerful tool for expressing how a self-perpetuating consciousness of national identity arises from the interactions between social groups and their predominant landscape. Infusing Parts I and II with parallel settings of Miss Kelly's shop and Bartocci, Toibin distinguishes the insularity of Enniscorthy and the dynamism of Brooklyn to highlight the understanding of identity that arises from everyday interactions with and within a landscape. Acting on awareness of social identity.