Quinn’s Character in Paul Auster’s City of Glass

English 1 Simon Drury Group P 9/27/2012 Tues twenty- quartet hour period 310 Kathleen Sam tidings capital of Minnesota Auster has said that The mod York Trilogy is centrally touch on with the question of who is who and whether or not we be who we think we ar. Use this remark as a point of departure for a discussion of the typesetters eluding Quinn his presentation in the impudent and his experience in urban center of Glass.In the City of Glass, Auster creates a sentiency of indecision around the identities of the distinguishable characters in the book. star does not concretely kitchen stove who is who in the novel because of the abstruse and multiple layers of the grade Austen creates. The City of Glass asks questions ab surface individualism and in this es verbalize I leave look at the protagonist (Quinn) and his appear to understand himself and to disc over his true identity element which ultimately leads to his identity cosmos changed with from each one new character role he takes on to forget his past self.Daniel Quinn is a complicated character and our k straightwayledge of him is particular(a) because the narrator does not reveal often about him. Where he came from and who he was wait of little enormousness in the novel we are only told his age, that he was erst married but his son and missy are dead (a past which he seems to be running away from). He is writer of detective stories under the anonym of William Wilson (a predict Quinn takes on to forget his past). William Wilsons character mirrors Auster s , the author, proclaim brio. Quinn creates his take in character muck Work, a reclusive eye narrator.In his stories the protagonist Max becomes truly current and moves away from merely being a fictional character, subsequently make Quinn himself to take on some of the characteristics of Max, view and behaving in a similar direction to him. Eventually Quinn stopped thinking on himself as substantial. (Auster 1 0) So already Auster creates this sense of doubt about Quinn and his true identity and eventually Quinn is consumed by the soulfulnessa of Max Work and the more Quinn seemed to vanish, the more tenacious works presence in that squareness became. (Auster 10). Quinn runs away from his real life because he finds some form of attraction in the world of being a fictitious detective. Quinn finds the role of a detective good-hearted because it puts him in the role of an observer, analyzing the world ofttimes same a reader of a novel, and in essence he forgets himself and his pragmatism by doing so. Max work is basically an escape from Quinns life as a writer (William Wilson) and from his past life as the real Quinn.By becoming the character he created (Max work) Quinn embarks upon seeking the truth and reality, which in a way is what Quinn is trying to do in terms of discovering an identity. Quinn becomes so consumed in the life of Max Work and the musical theme of being a detec tive that when he receives a phone call int termination for the private detective capital of Minnesota Auster, he impersonates him and begins to focus on slit Stillman. tool is a young man who feels jeopardise by his father who had been let out of prison.So now Quinn, under the name of Paul Auster, places himself onto some other story, another reality finished which of he can further savvy into the life a real detective. Quinn at this point has already taken upon ternary identities, each of which has served its purpose and been forgotten. The question of who is who now begins to become raveled in layers and doubles so the reader and the character himself is unsure of whom the real protagonist of the story is. Quinn becomes obsessed with Stillman ripened and his interest in the man deepens as every day passes, he had lived Stillmans life, walked at his place, seen what he had seen. Quinn becomes Stillman during the case in a way and so another character shift seems to be inev itable. shaft of light Stillman junior resembles Quinns deceased son (whose name was also Peter), Stillman junior had been locked up by his father for nine years in order to test whether theologys terminology would resurface (that is the language uncorrupted by the world, its downslope during the time of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. ) Roberta Rubenstein argues that Stillman junior is a agency of Quinns childhood, apart(p) from the world with a sense of loneliness.When the two men dissolve I creates a sense of disquiet for Quinn, he longs to be non-existent as wellhead and eventually he morphs into a sickish street walker, homeless and in the end crazy. Auster uses this dilapidation of Quinn to emphasis the conflict inwardly the character and how his self forgetfulness leads to his eventual crepuscule and leaves the question of who he is and who he is meant to be unanswered. Peter Stillman is a character utilize by Auster the author as a way to further explore th e contrastive identities in the book.Stillman junior, after having being isolated from the world has no clear grasp on his own identity, much like Quinn. In a conversation with Quinn he says, I am Peter Stillman. That is not my real name. My real name is Peter Rabbit. Stillman junior is able to change his name to suit him much like Quinn has do throughout the book, and as seen in the mention Stillman loses the meaning of his name and loses his sense of identity. This advert shows how Auster is very obviously asking the question, who is who and are we who we think we are.Stillman sums it up by saying, I cannot say who I will be tomorrow. Each day is new, and each day I can be innate(p) again. The red notebook is the only issue in the book that keeps Quinns real name. He writes it in the book during the Stillman case for the first time in over five years and it is the only indicate or conception of himself that does not change. Quinn recognizes the importance of knowing who he is when he says, close important of all remember who I am supposed to be. And he later echoes the words of Peter Stillman Junior when he says, all I can say is this my name is Paul Auster.That is not my real name. This shows that Quinn, like Stillman, is conf apply about his own identity. Because he is trying to be four people at once he loses the origin of his name and character, his true self. thereof the question of who is who and whether or not we are who we think we are is not very answered in this book. Auster provides a multi layered and complex understanding of what identity is and how it is used. For Quinn, identity is used as a way of escape, mayhap from the past or from himself (the person he was and whom he grew tired of).Although Quinn is the same person but under different name or aliases, he takes on different identities and makes them a part of his life which eventually leaves no definite answer to who the real Quinn is. Works cited Auster, Paul. City of Glas s. London Penguin, 1990 Rubenstein, Roberta. Doubling, Intertextuality and the postmodernist Uncanny Paul Austers New York Trilogy. LIT Literature Interpretation Theory, 9 (1998) 245. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. 08. 04. 2006.