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

English 1 Simon Drury Group P 9/27/2012 Tues daytime 310 Kathleen Samson Paul Auster has said that The newfangled York Trilogy is centrally cin one caserned with the question of who is who and whether or not we atomic number 18 who we conceptualize we are. Use this remark as a mention of departure for a discussion of the character Quinn his presentation in the new(a) and his experience in City of Glass.In the City of Glass, Auster creates a sense of uncertainty around the identities of the diametric characters in the book. One does not factually grasp who is who in the novel because of the complex and multiple layers of the story Austen creates. The City of Glass asks questions about identity element and in this es posit I will look at the paladin (Quinn) and his search to chthonicstand himself and to discover his true identity which ultimately leads to his identity being changed with each new character role he takes on to go forth his past self.Daniel Quinn is a comp licated character and our k straightawayledge of him is curb because the narrator does not reveal much about him. Where he came from and who he was seem of little splendor in the novel we are further told his age, that he was once married but his son and daughter are dead (a past which he seems to be running away from). He is generator of detective stories under the pseudonym of William Wilson (a evoke Quinn takes on to forget his past). William Wilsons character mirrors Auster s , the author, throw feel. Quinn creates his own character guck rub down, a private eye narrator.In his stories the protagonist Max becomes very actually and moves away from merely being a fictitious character, subsequently causation Quinn himself to take on some of the characteristics of Max, thinking and behaving in a same manner to him. Eventually Quinn stopped thinking on himself as objective. (Auster 10) So already Auster creates this sense of doubt about Quinn and his true identity and ev entually Quinn is consumed by the mortala of Max Work and the more Quinn seemed to vanish, the more glum bleeds presence in that world 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 appealing because it puts him in the role of an observer, analyzing the world much like a reader of a novel, and in essence he forgets himself and his reality by doing so. Max work is essentially 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 idea of being a detective that when he receives a identify call intended for the private detective Paul Auster, he impersonates him and begins to cogitate on pricking Stillman. Peter is a young man who feels exist by his stupefy who had been let out of prison.So now Quinn, under the parent of Paul Auster, places himself onto another(prenominal) story, another reality through which of he rouse further delve into the life a real detective. Quinn at this point has already taken upon three 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 incertain of whom the real protagonist of the story is. Quinn becomes obsessed with Stillman senior 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 inevitable. Peter Stillman junior resembles Quinns dead person son (whose name was also Peter), Stillman junior had been locked up by his father for nine years in order to test whether Gods language would resurface (that is the language uncorrupted by the world, its line of descent during the time of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. ) Roberta Rubenstein argues that Stillman junior is a representation of Quinns childhood, isolated from the world with a sense of loneliness.When the ii men disappear I creates a sense of anxiety for Quinn, he longs to be non-existent as well and eventually he morphs into a mad street walker, homeless and in the end crazy. Auster uses this dilapidation of Quinn to emphasis the betrothal within the character and how his self forgetfulness leads to his eventual downfall and leaves the question of who he is and who he is meant to be unanswered. Peter Stillman is a character apply by Auster the author as a way to further explore the diametric identities in the book.Stillman junior, after having being isolated from the world has no get in 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 done throughout the book, and as seen in the quote Stillman loses the meaning of his name and loses his sense of identity. This quote shows how Auster is very plain 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 born again. The red notebook is the further thing 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 record or conception of himself that does not change. Quinn recognizes the importance of knowing who he is when he says, most important of all think of who I am supposed to be. And he later echoes the words of Peter Stillman Junior when he says, all I can say is thi s my name is Paul Auster.That is not my real name. This shows that Quinn, like Stillman, is confused 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. Therefore the question of who is who and whether or not we are who we think we are is not really 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, perhaps 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 names 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 Glass. London Penguin, 1990 Rubenstein, Roberta. Doubling, Intertextuality and the Postmodern Uncanny Paul Austers New York Trilogy. LIT Literature Interpretation Theory, 9 (1998) 245. Academic essay Premier. EBSCOhost. 08. 04. 2006.