Essay Analysis – City of Glass. Role Playing and Identity

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Essay Analysis – City of Glass
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October 18, 2018
Introduction
The novel entitled the City of Glass and the film Rear Window are some of the most interesting pieces of art in the past few decades. On the one hand, the City of Glass was written by Paul Auster as a part of his work entitled The New York Trilogy which were a series of books focused on mystery and fiction. This novel has been nominated for some of the most prestigious awards those days, such as the Edgar Awards for the Best Mystery of the Year CITATION Pennd \l 13321 (PenguinRandomHouse.com). Mainly, the story focuses on a mystery novelist named Daniel Quinn. In his quest to quench his loneliness and boredom, Quinn would then take the role of Paul Auster (a private detective) only finding himself deeper into trouble. On the other hand, the film Rear Window would focus on the story LB Jefferies, a photographer would has recently suffered a leg injury immobilizing him. This film has also won and nominated in a lot of awards such as the Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and the New York Film Critics Circle Awards among others. In a reflection of both of these pieces, it could be seen that certain thematic similarities exist between them. Some of these similarities include; (1) Identity and Playing, (2) Tragedy, (3) Truth, and (4) isolation. Consequently, I believe that all of these themes are interconnected together in both of these pieces. This relationship between each of the themes would be discussed in the latter chapters.
Role Playing and Identity
The concept of Identity is perhaps one of the biggest themes that surrounds Paul Auster’s City of Glass. Specifically, it shows how the dissatisfaction inherent in human nature could lead to such rash actions, which includes the assumption of another person’s identity. Going back to his novel, it could be seen that Quinn’s dissatisfaction in his own identity (and the circumstances that he is under) has led him to assume different others. One of the most prominent identities that he took was that of the private investigator Paul Auster. In contrast to the film Rear Window, the idea of role playing resulted in the assumption of roles (i.e., Jeffries acting as a sleuth), rather than persona or identity. Nevertheless, both of the actions demonstrated by Jefferies and Quinn are hinged upon their desire to take the roles of other ...