Identity in Lamb and Gunn Allen
Fri 10 July 2009
Deborah de Groot, Communications
Authorial identity profoundly impacted the style and preoccupations of Charles Lamb’s A Chapter on Ears and Paula Gunn Allen’s Off the Reservation.
Both authors employed essay style to expose universal themes through personal experience using, as Perl (2006, p.218) suggested, “life experience to make larger social statements”.
In comparing texts, similar literary devices and intertextuality were used.
First person narration was employed to form a bond with the reader, while repetition of Lamb’s “I am” and Gunn Allen’s “I was born” reinforced singular identity.
This identity in the sense of “who they are” (Soanes 2003, p.861), combined with life experience, created preoccupation with inclusion and exclusion.
Individual identity in relation to family influenced both.
Treadwell (1998, p.499) even suggested Lamb used fiction to displace family tragedy.
Non-conformist traits formed the basic thematic preoccupation for both texts, but while Lamb isolated from religious societal domination, Gunn Allen included and embraced multiple societies.
Both authors’ identities were influenced by personal characteristics and life experiences.
Lamb had a stutter, which lent “a proclivity towards social anxiety” (St Clare et al 2009, p340) and enforced a sense of isolation.
Imagery was used to reveal “perceived societal links between stuttering and stupidity” (St. Clare et al 2009, p348) when Lamb referred to a mule, which was commonly identified with stupidity, when he said “I feel no disposition to envy the mule”.
Yet Lamb still used alliteration and assonance to reproduce his personal stutter, using phrases like “in those ingenious labyrinthine inlets – those indispensable side-intelligencers” (p165) to expose a difficulty with pronunciation and to indicate the impact this trait had on his character.
This identity marker was reinforced when Lamb used a meandering sentence, which firstly babbles the “b” sound in “believe beyond…Jubal stumbled” (p166), then calmed with alliteration in “stroke at soothing” and the use of onomatopoeia with a musical “ing” in “soothing, elevating, and refining” (p167).
The sentence finally returned to a harshness of alliteration in “candid current of my confessions”.
Lamb’s identity as a failed poet and depressed alcoholic (Ackroyd 2003, p.22) was indicated by the repetition of the word “melancholy” and the use of three-word groupings, such as “endless, barren, fruitless” and “ ‘all silent,’ ‘all damned,’ ‘all stops’”.
Lamb stated “I am incapable” and that “I have been practising…all my life...in solitary corners...[and] received a great deal more pain than pleasure”, which indicated feelings of isolation.
In fact most scholars, according to Fang (2003, p. 815), recognised Lamb’s essays as responses to personal tragedy.
Lamb himself even confessed envy of Coleridge, his friend and contemporary, and the “poverty” of his own “tame and prosaic” dreams (Pick 2004, p.120).
In contrast, Gunn Allen integrated an identity with community, using Native American symbolism and the physical environment to portray inclusion.
Imagery of nature, “hills”, “Woman Mountain”, “ripe”, “bedrock” and “wilderness” expressed a harmony and comfortable identification with the surrounding landscape.
Gunn Allen’s identity was a conglomeration, where “mixed blood” was repeated and a single paragraph, “I was born…road to everywhere” held multiple phrased sentences to highlight this mix.
The word “immigration” was repeated, in contrast to Lamb’s “melancholy”, as an identity marker to reinforce the impact this factor had on Gunn Allen’s character.
However, assonance of the “u” sound indicated routine and normality and “multiplicities of multilingual puns”.
There was a casual view of time, place and religion, such as when it was said “Laguna Pueblo has from its inception been a way station for everything that goes on in the universe, sacred or otherwise”, which influenced identity and impacted upon the relaxed style of the essay.
Indeed, Hassan (1992, p.130) claimed that “climate, mores or locale” could be significant influencers, and Gunn Allen seemed stimulated to respond to the physical factors of environment and location.
The essay imitated “the old narrative cycle of the Pueblo peoples” by circling back on itself.
It began with “three major themes: creation, emergence, and migration” and concluded with “three sections: creation, emergence, and migration”.
This repetition reinforced Gunn Allen’s concept of identity being tied to the circle of life.
In similar style to Lamb, Gunn Allen used groups of three.
There were three native themes of creation, emergence and migration, which were reinforced by word grouping of three, such as “the Spaniards, their horses, and their garrisons”, “some rode brooms, some carpets, and some magic arrows”, “by blood, by law, and by injection”, reference to “braiding” and three heritage strands, those of “Laguna Pueblo, Maronite Lebanese, and Celtic Scots”.
These groupings of three held significance in magic and were associated with the religious trinity.
Both texts revealed the authors as non-conformists.
Individual beliefs and rebellion against boundaries imposed by societal or religious convention became evident and supported Forster’s (2005, p.152) proposition that human nature could be altered by individuals looking at themselves in a new way when institutions, such as organised religion or the state, were against such search.
Lamb asserted a non-conformist identity, questioning his position within society, and said “it is hard to stand alone in an age like this...I am not without suspicion”.
Using obscure analogy such as “I have no ear”, he was not persuaded by religion.
His ear was passive to the “measured malice”, was not receptive and he would not study it because “it hath no task to con” (Soanes 2003, p357).
The words “candid current of my confessions” paralleled with the absent words “confessing candidly”, revealing the text’s true theme of opposition to organised religion and using religious terminology to express this dissent.
Gunn Allen also revealed non-conformity, seeing borders as opportunities to be crossed, where “ideas can’t be fenced”.
Identity was forged by family and blood lines, where Allen noted “I was raised in a family that assumed resistance to be the bedrock of its reality”, and that “even in dreams I engaged in the pursuit of freedom”.
Even though categories were “imposed and impose”, Gunn Allen would not conform, being “on the road to everywhere” and believing “anyone with eyes can see”, “anyone with ears can hear”, and stressing a recalcitrant stance.
Gunn Allen was “off the reservation”, which “designates someone who doesn’t conform to the limits and boundaries of officialdom, who is unpredictable and thus uncontrollable”, and was seen as a “threat to the power structure”.
However, Gunn Allen would not be bound, even though her village was “bounded”.
Both revolted against societal expectations.
Although considered a Romantic poet, Lamb revealed Enlightenment tendencies in a time of religious upheaval when it was said that “scientifically, I could never be made to understand” and “I am not without suspicion”, rebelling against religious domination.
The essay used extended metaphor of music to expose this theme and highlight opposition to an enforced indoctrination and manipulation of a religion which the text disclosed, that people were “obliged to follow”.
Lamb asserted not to “hear” music, yet the essay was interspersed with musical words such as “fret”, “stroke”, “note”, “quavers”, “harmony”, as well as onomatopoeia including “thrumming”, “humming”, “thrill the soul” and the assonance of “long coats”.
The statements “when therefore I say that I have no ear, you will understand me to mean – for music” and “pieces of music, as they are called” used absent parallel and italics to stress to the reader that Lamb was not talking about music.
Lamb’s style of using a long sentence in one paragraph and the words “be forced to”, “be obliged to”, “to be long”, “to be exposed to” and “to gaze” in that sentence emphasised the “to do” aspect of church rules which Lamb objected to.
Juxtaposition was used in statements such as “rack of roses”, “languor by unintermitted effort” and “tedious sweetness” to reveal the futility of religion.
This futility was also revealed in reference to a book without words , where “to read a book, all stops”, “empty frames”, “inexplicable rambling mime” and “empty instrumental music”.
Use of paronomasia in “honey upon sugar, and sugar upon honey” not only described the smothering nature of religion and societal control, it revealed an oversweet coating of falseness.
Lamb previewed his intent early in the text using astrology, such as “thank my stars”, “compass of my destiny”, “magic influences of an art” and reference to biblical miracles “water parted from the sea” to indicate a possible future link between the two, revealing cynicism as a characteristic of his identity.
The essay moved on to pointed references to “a carpenter’s hammer” and “Italian opera” until Lamb expressed his vehement opposition to the control of religion, using “will fret me”, “sheer pain”, “inexplicable anguish”, “distracting torment” and “Enraged musician” to express his emotion.
In comparison to Lamb’s astrology, Gunn Allen brought the mythical world into the present when she hypothetically questioning ancient “traditions”, merging them with today’s world.
Her identity was shaped by both ancient and modern, as part of a larger plan.
Using essay style allowed expansion from present day to mythical world, then contraction back to present.
Personal to universal consideration was also evidenced when comparison was made to personal birth and growth.
The author was “cooked”, and the world matured after the atom bomb where “the sun rose twice”, “we were all ‘cooked’ that day”.
Hence, for Gunn Allen, identity was linked to the earth and land.
The text used obscure analogies and personification to emphasise importance.
Similarly, Lamb’s text used obscure analogy when describing ears as “exterior twin appendiges”, “hanging ornaments” and “(architecturally speaking) handsome volutes to the human capital...conduits”.
This symbolism of cathedrals and religious artefacts ridiculed organised religion and was in keeping with Mulvihill’s (1994, p.37) idea that Lamb was remarkably candid about his opinions and prejudices.
Both texts used binary oppositions and paradoxes to expose societal control.
Lamb used binary opposition “cold Theatre in Hades” and paradoxical placement of words in a “buffoonish catalogue” (Lopate 1995, p.159) to indicate the constrictions imposed by religious fanaticism.
Lamb further criticised organised religion for controlling society to the point where fun was removed.
In one paragraph “profanation”, “pit”, “immovable”, “faint”, “shadow”, “cold”, “none”, “silent” and “damned” were in binary opposition to “cheerful”, “laughing”, “delighted”, “enjoyment”, “party” and “parlour”, suggesting Lamb’s ridicule.
He also italicised forms and enjoyment, but paradoxically there was no “form” of “enjoyment” under religious oppression.
Lamb included Wordsworth’s poetry, “Party in a parlour All silent, and all damned” to highlight and react against religious oppression, as this stanza was omitted from Wordsworth’s own work so as “not to offend the pious” (Wordsworth in De Selincourt 1944, p335).
Repetition emphasised the negative aspects of religious control, such as in “no means”, “no labour”, “no persuasions”, and “they cannot be rid of”, “they cannot resist”, against which Lamb rebelled.
Gunn Allen also used irony to enforce an objection to religious control by creating doubt in the readers’ minds, when she stated “or so they say” and “or maybe stories…just get around”.
Yet, unlike the brooding symbolism of Lamb, Gunn Allen lightened her objection to western religion with humour, such as when she stated “Old Man Missionary” and “rosaries…and trinkets”.
Christians had belittled her native beliefs, where Kokopelli “capers sadly about on wall hangings” and retaliation was by “tongue-in-cheek” humour, even though the author’s “native heart” was filled “with rage”.
The text employed a style which allowed the reader to appreciate the author’s identity and personality, where “there’s more than one way to skin a cat” and “gee, it’s almost like old times”.
The impact of identity upon both essays was also evident in the use of intertextuality.
Lamb mimicked the stream of consciousness effect of the Romantics, for example when he said “but they were used to be…for Alice W-n”.
Contemporary poets Coleridge and Wordsworth both attributed Lamb’s verse to an awareness of his “problematic relation of identity and circumstances” (Mulvihill, p.38).
Lamb referred to Defoe as “quite unabashed”, without ears and “in the pillory” as well as referring to himself in third person as the character of Elia, establishing an identity as a loving man when referring to his love for “Alice W”, the fictitious name for Ann Simmons, a woman with whom he was deeply in love.
Similarly, Gunn Allen used intertextuality in stating “Don’t Fence Me In” to strengthen argument as well as indicate character.
It was clear that individual identity impacted upon the style and preoccupations of the texts of Lamb and Gunn Allen.
Both expressed resistance and an objection to oppression, with recalcitrant attitudes to constriction and domination.
However, while Lamb focused a non-conformist attitude toward religious oppression, Gunn Allen rebelled against social manipulation while deriding religious manipulation.
Both used the style of personal essay to expound and disguise the main themes, where Gunn Allen’s use of humour contrasted with the underlying satire of Lamb’s music analogy.
Irony, extended metaphor, binary opposition, paradox, symbolism and figurative language were used in both authors’ style.
Both texts upheld a preoccupation with themes of belonging and isolation, which had been influenced by individual identities.
While Lamb covertly isolated from society, Gunn Allen overtly included in multiple societies.
Sources
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