The Poetics of Identity

I make the case that imaginings influence the construction of identity-the composite of answers to the `who am I?' question. The central model for my arguments is the Quixotic principle-that imaginings stimulated by stories read or stories heard can provide the plot structures for one's own self-narratives. I illustrate the principle with a brief bio-graphical account and with two historical examples. Extending the analysis to contemporary concern with domestic terrorism, I claim that cultural myths provide the imaginings that serve as a framework for adopting the dramatistic role of hero. The individualist frontiersman, a fixture of American mythology, is the protagonist in stories depicting the settling of the West in America. The plot structure of the deeply entrenched myth of the frontier-regeneration through violence-contains the justifications for the actions of domestic terrorists.