Abstract—The idea of mobility implies an escape from
intolerant normality and a chance to make oneself over. Moving
around signifies willpower in quest for a true self. Postmodern
men need to run away from set patterns of institutionalization
system--roots. By constant moves, individuals develop roots of
different categories and link them to form new routes to foster
constructive selves. Hence, the practicability of running away
expands the depth of the idea of mobility. In addition, mobility
often interplay with re/naming. Naming is an exercise of power
because those who name also control. From the perspective of
identity construction, renaming is deemed as self-designation;;
it indicates freedom and the birth of a new self. This paper
analyzes correlations between mobility, renaming, and identity
construction in James McBride’s
The Color of Water.
Index Terms—Identity, mobility, renaming,
The Color of
Water
I-Hsin Kai is with the General Education Center, National Taiwan Sport
University, Taoyuan, Taiwan 33301, ROC (e-mail: kaiih@ntsu.edu.tw).
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Cite: I-Hsin Kai, " From Root to Route: Identity, Mobility and Renaming in James McBride‟s The Color of Water," International Journal of Social Science and Humanity vol. 5, no. 12, pp. 1062-1067, 2015.