Problems KEEPing Track of Identity
While reading Native Speaker, we spent a lot of time as a class discussing Henry’s lack of identity and lack of cohesion when trying to come up with a complete picture of himself. It seemed as though Henry could only explain his current situation by explaining all of his past selves. In The Keep, both Danny and Howard seem to be suffering from a Park-ian (can I do that, or is it too soon to create adjectives from characters in Native Speaker?) lack of wholeness in their lives. Danny reflects on his sense of self being shattered when he entered college at NYU: “because ‘self-exploration’ is always dangerous for that nice outline you thought was you. And Danny’s outline turned out to be fainter than most people’s” (34). I think that this sensation is part of the college experience, or at least it has been for me, but that Danny is still thinking back on it as being dangerous 15 years after the fact says a lot about his desire to understand if there is any substance to his life.
Danny’s transformation of clothing and lifestyles is also a testament to his lack of wholeness. It’s also interesting that the observation comes not from the narrator or Danny’s mind, but rather from Nora’s point of view: “Straight dyed-black hair an inch past his neck. A pewter hoop in one ear with a ruby stuck in it. Today (not always), mud-colored lipstick. That was Danny’s style, one of many he’d had over the years” (27). First off, Danny is a much odder-looking character than I pictured on page 1. Secondly, I think Egan overdoes how little Danny understands of himself, although his disbelief in Howard’s transformation is very important. That Howard could realize his flaws and capitalize on only the good from his childhood (as far as I’ve seen so far) makes him an excellent foil to Danny.
Speaking of foil, it’s time to wrap this all up. With the dual narration of the book, AuthoràRay and RayàDanny, I think The Keep is fascinating in its ability to tell two stories concurrently and effectively. Along with Howard and Danny’s changing personalities, I think that Danny’s spotting of the young woman in the castle’s keep touches on a continuing theme of transformation of the self. Maybe that’s what this book is really about, after all.
I had a similar reaction after Egan finally told us what Danny actually looked like. The contrast between Howard and Danny is huge, especially since they were friends with similar interests as kids. Danny doesn’t understand himself, so there’s no way he could understand how Howie has become so successful after the incident that took their lives in different directions while his (Danny’s) whole life changed from being the center of attention to priding himself on being a #2 man and giving people what they want. I’m interested to see what happens between these two and how their childhool plays a part in their futures.
An interesting thought you had that caught my attention is your last comment: “I think that Danny’s spotting of the young woman in the castle’s keep touches on a continuing theme of transformation of the self.” This is really interesting, maybe we’ll see more of this theme as we continue to read.
I agree with you that Danny and Henry seem to be very much a like in their identity struggles. I hadn’t paid all that much attention to the self-identity theme in this book until I got to the part where Danny gets all worked-up over his boots and at that point Egan/Ray seemed to be bashing the reader over the head with the identity theme. I’m curious if Howard’s past is going to be talked about in terms of this theme because it seems like he could have some identity issues having been adopted and left in a cave and sent to reform school. And buying a huge castle so he can play in imagination land for the rest of his life.