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

English 1 Simon Drury Group P 9/27/2012 Tuesday 3:10 Kathleen Samson Paul Auster has said that The New York Trilogy is halfway worried about â€Å"the question of who will be who and whether we are who we think we are. † Use this comment as a state of flight for a conversation of the character Quinn â€his introduction in the novel and his experience †in City of Glass.In the City of Glass, Auster makes a feeling of vulnerability around the personalities of the various characters in the book. One doesn't generally get a handle on who will be who in the novel due to the intricate and numerous layers of the story Austen makes. The City of Glass poses inquiries about personality and in this exposition I will take a gander at the hero (Quinn) and his pursuit to get himself and to find his actual personality which at last prompts his character being changed with each new character job he takes on to overlook his past self.Daniel Quinn is an entangled character and our insight into him is restricted on the grounds that the storyteller doesn't uncover much about him. Where he originated from and what his identity was appear of little significance in the novel we are just told his age, that he was once hitched however his child and girl are dead (a past which he is by all accounts fleeing from). He is author of criminologist stories under the nom de plume William Wilson (a name Quinn takes on to overlook his past). William Wilson’s character mirrors Auster ‘s , the creator, own life. Quinn makes his own character Max Work, a private detective narrator.In his accounts the hero Max turns out to be genuine and moves from simply being an imaginary character, along these lines causing Quinn himself to take on a portion of the attributes of Max, thinking and acting likewise to him. In the long run Quinn â€Å"stopped thinking on himself as genuine. †(Auster 10) So as of now Auster makes this feeling of uncertainty about Quinn and his actual c haracter and in the long run Quinn is devoured by the persona of Max Work and â€Å"the more Quinn appeared to evaporate, the more persevering works nearness in that world became. (Auster 10). Quinn flees from his ‘real’ life since he discovers some type of fascination in the realm of being an imaginary investigator. Quinn finds the job of an investigator engaging on the grounds that it places him in the job of an onlooker, examining the world much like a peruser of a novel, and basically he overlooks himself and his existence thusly. Max work is basically a getaway from Quinn’s life as an author (William Wilson) and from his previous existence as the ‘real Quinn’.By turning into the character he made (Max work) Quinn sets out after looking for reality and reality, which in a way is the thing that Quinn is attempting to do regarding finding a personality. Quinn turns out to be so devoured in the life of Max Work and being a criminologist that when h e gets a call expected for the private investigator Paul Auster, he mimics him and starts to concentrate on Peter Stillman. Dwindle is a youngster who feels compromised by his dad who had been let out of prison.So now Quinn, under the name of Paul Auster, places himself onto another story, another reality through which of he can additionally dig into the existence a ‘real’ analyst. Quinn now has just taken upon three personalities, every one of which has filled its need and it slipped been's mind. The subject of who will be who presently starts to become raveled in layers and duplicates so the peruser and the character himself is uncertain of whom the genuine hero of the story is. Quinn gets fixated on Stillman senior and his enthusiasm for the man develops as consistently passes, â€Å"he had lived Stillman’s life, strolled at his place, seen what he had seen. Quinn becomes Stillman during the case in a manner thus another character move is by all accounts ines capable. Diminish Stillman junior looks like Quinn’s expired child (whose name was additionally Peter), Stillman junior had been bolted up by his dad for a long time so as to test whether ‘God’s language’ would restore (that is the language uncorrupted by the world, it’s inception during the hour of Adam and Eve in the nursery of Eden. ) Roberta Rubenstein contends that Stillman junior is a portrayal of Quinn’s adolescence, secluded from the world with a feeling of loneliness.When the two men vanish I makes a feeling of uneasiness for Quinn, he aches to be ‘non-existent’ too and in the long run he transforms into a frantic road walker, destitute and at long last insane. Auster utilizes this frailty of Quinn to accentuation the contention inside the character and how his ‘self forgetfulness’ prompts his possible ruin and leaves the subject of what his identity is and what his identity is intended to be unanswered. Dwi ndle Stillman is a character utilized by Auster the writer as an approach to additionally investigate the various personalities in the book.Stillman junior, subsequent to having being detached from the world has no reasonable handle on his own personality, much like Quinn. In a discussion with Quinn he says, â€Å"I am Peter Stillman. That isn't my genuine name. My genuine name is Peter Rabbit. † Stillman junior can change his name to suit him much like Quinn has done all through the book, and as found in the statement Stillman loses the importance of his name and loses his feeling of personality. This statement shows how Auster is clearly posing the inquiry, who will be who and are we who we think we are.Stillman summarizes it by saying, â€Å"I can't state who I will be tomorrow. Every day is new, and every day I can be conceived once more. † The red scratch pad is the main thing in the book that keeps Quinn’s genuine name. He composes it in the book during th e Stillman case without precedent for more than five years and it is simply the main record or origination that doesn't change. Quinn perceives the significance of knowing who he is the point at which he says, â€Å"most significant of all: recollect who I should be. † And he later echoes the expressions of Peter Stillman Junior when he says, â€Å"all I can say is this: my name is Paul Auster.That isn't my genuine name. † This shows Quinn, as Stillman, is befuddled about his own character. Since he is attempting to be four individuals without a moment's delay he loses the birthplace of his name and character, his actual self. In this way the topic of who will be who and whether we are who we think we are isn't generally replied in this book. Auster gives a multi layered and complex comprehension of what personality is and how it is utilized. For Quinn, personality is utilized as a method of getaway, maybe from the past or from himself (the individual he was and whom h e became tired of).Although Quinn is a similar individual yet under various names or nom de plumes, he takes on various characters and makes them a piece of his life which in the long run leaves no distinct response to who the ‘real’ Quinn is. Works refered to Auster, Paul. City of Glass. London: Penguin, 1990 Rubenstein, Roberta. Multiplying, Intertextuality and the Postmodern Uncanny: Paul Auster’s New York Trilogy. LIT: Literature Interpretation Theory, 9 (1998): 245. Scholastic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. 08. 04. 2006.