Identity In Russel Banks's Rule Of The Bone

Rule of the Bone by Russel Banks is a 1995 novel that tells the story of a boy named Chappie as he struggles to define his own sense of family, home, and identity. More specifically, once he leaves home and changes his name, Bone must discover his own sense of self while navigating conflicting ideas of masculinity, race, and morality. While this book has been compared to a modern day telling of Huckleberry Finn, I argue that the story and characters of Peter and Wendy can be used to examine such issues, as well as the evolution of Bone’s identity through the various stages of his emotional journey. By forming such a comparison, reader may find a better understanding of who Bone is as a person, and his direction at the end of the story. However, …show more content…
Choosing a design of a cross bones, Chappie changes his name to Bone with an implied altered outlook on his upcoming adventure. Starting on page 105 with the line “I was attracted to some of the drawings…” and ending on page 108 with the line “No matter who you think he is, man, the dud is always somebody else,” Chappie narrates his thought process of picking out a tattoo and what the change means for him. This passage here succinctly summarizes and introduces the idea of an evolving identity, and raises a number of questions that both the author and the main character attempt to answer before it’s done. The first is, why does a person choose a new identity? For Chappie, at least at this point of the story, it’s for practicality. He’s supposed to be dead, burned up in an apartment fire. The tattoo is just another step in changing his physical appearance, erasing recognizable aspects of who he once was. However, it’s clear from Chappie’s tone that this change of identity isn’t entirely his choice. Just from the physical situation, he describes how Russ was “negotiating for me, not himself” and the tattoo artist “hands [him] this beat-up old book of drawings (Banks 104).” A number of things in the story that necessitated Chappie’s change in identity, including the stealing of the electronics, the fire, and the new marking were chosen for him, not by him. This is a theme that will be continued throughout the book, highlighting Chappie’s lack of power within a situation. The change in identity isn’t necessarily Chappie’s choice, however, it’s shown that he does have the agency to decide what that change will