The Search for Identity Dorothy Allison's "Bastard Out of Carolina"

THE SEARCH FOR IDENTITY In her novel, Bastard Out of Carolina, Dorothy Allison tells a story of Bone and the Boatwrights, a family besieged by poverty and violence. Throughout the novel, the reader uncovers the lives of all the different characters, and discovering the identity of these characters plays a large role in understanding the novel as a whole. Within the Boatwright family are women who are constantly faced with the struggle of finding themselves …

…male dominance; they will never be able to realize how crucial it is to have their own identity. Oppositely, Raylene will always have a fulfilling life because she lives for no one other than herself. Though Bone faces many roadblocks, she ultimately decides that Daddy Glen can no longer rape her of her identity, and begins to create her own path. This novel successfully explores the search for a woman's identity within a male-dominated society.