Literary Analysis of Joyce Oates ‘I.D.’

Literary Analysis of Joyce Oates ‘I.D.’

‘I.D.’ is a shorty story of Joyce Carol Oates. It was first published in The New Yorker back March 2010. The piece focuses on the life of Lissette, a middle school girl who is forced to undergo the difficult situation of identifying the corpse of her supposed mother. As readers tread through the storyline, Oates brings together different tensions that continue to influence Lissette’s life and in the end create the impression that I.D. goes more than just the act of identification and conveys a deeper meaning to the protagonist in the story.

One of the important themes highlighted by Oates in the story corresponds to the nature of fear experienced by the protagonist as she tries to verify the identity of her mother. Given that Lissette was in the transition period from childhood to adolescent, hearing the news that her mother is possibly dead remains to be a daunting experience on her part. For someone who is just starting to develop her individual identity, losing a mother is something any girl would fear. Equally, this traumatic and fearful experience is cultivated by the necessity of identifying the corpse of her dead mother (Toh 1). Oates enables readers to understand this reality by showcasing the development of Lissette’s character with the mixture of flashbacks and dialogues that readily define her emotional capabilities in handling the issue.

Denial is also another relevant theme that Joyce Oates advances in the story. Specifically, it features the unwillingness of Lissette to accept the reality that her mother might be dead. Having a limited idea of what her mother did for a living made matters worse for the protagonist as she thought to herself the different scenarios that can possibly happen other than death. A good way to show this is the phrase, “if she did not think that this woman was her mother, it was all right: there were other ways to identify the victim” (Oates 1). Arguably, the process of denial sets in not only in the part that Lissette had to validate the identity of her mother but begins initially with the life she had lived within Atlantic City and the numerous mistakes she has committed prior to the incident. Seeing this, Oates enables readers to slowly recognize the presence of denial by slowly knitting together tensions until eventually everything is unraveled for readers to understand what I.D. means.

The use of ‘I.D.’ as a symbolism in the story is also another significant strategy utilized by the author to connect with readers. Clearly, as Oates provides context of this term to the life of Lissette, it brings forward questions pertaining to her ability to cope with the issue as well as recognize the situation as it unfolds to an individual who is reaching adolescent age. This was particularly elaborated by Oates during her interview with The New Yorker where she said, “I meant “I.D” to have a double, symbolic significance: how do we “identify” the true circumstances of our lives? And how do we move on to act, once we have made this crucial “identification”?” (1). Putting this component into context, Oates is able to portray a likely difficult scenario where an individual can be subjected to and specifically define their identity and who they aspire to become in the process.

In the end, Joyce Carol Oates makes a compelling piece in ‘I.D.’. With her powerful mixture of dialogue and flashbacks, the story is able to transcend to readers about the internal struggles and emotional challenges felt by a child who is forced to verify the identity of her dead mother. By carefully utilizing different layers of storytelling, Oates is able to put forward the multiple tensions experienced by the protagonist Lissette and how it remains to be symbolic in defining her identity and true self. Indeed, I.D. brings forward the ability of individuals to define themselves during these difficult situations and emphasize on our capacity to move beyond these challenges to learn and grow.

Works Cited

Oates, Joyce Carol. ‘I.D.’ The New Yorker, 29 Mar. 2010. Web. Accessed 28 August 2014. 

The New Yorker. This Week in Fiction: Joyce Carol Oates. 21 Mar. 2010.Web. Accessed 28 August 2014.

Toh, Samantha. ‘Author Joyce Carol Oates brings personality for ‘I.D.’ The Stanford Daily, 24 Sept. 2010. Web. Accessed 28 August 2014.