The Antagonist Character Analysis

A person’s identity can be broken up into two main categories, public perception and self perception. The Antagonist by Lynn Coady elucidates that an individual’s socially-constructed identity can greatly impact their self-identity. In the novel, the main character Gordon “Rank” Rankin Jr. had his identity created for him by his vulgar and patronizing father, as well as the social interactions he encountered throughout his life. Finally, throughout the novel, Rank has been trying to modify his public perception to match his self perception. The Antagonist expresses that unless people learn to resist the roles that others place them in, they will become the antagonist of their own life. To start, After reading Adam’s novel, Rank finds himself being represented as the antagonist with an innate criminality. When answering a book club’s question period about who the title The Antagonist …show more content…
They start cowering, and then I feel like a monster”. Rank has to change how he acts based on how people react to his physical appearance. The fact is, he is intimidating even though he knows he would never hurt a women. This public perception manipulates Rank’s self-identity, so that he feels“ like a monster”.This leads him to have what Adam calls a “virgin-virgin complex”, or essentially an unrealistic and one-sided view of women. Another situation where Rank was labelled was when he was talking with Emily at Goldfinger’s, ““I wouldn’t have pegged you as an art lover” says Emily. Rank allows himself to sulk slightly. “Yeah,” he says. “I’m not surprised. A lot of people pre-judge me that way.””. Again, based on his size and physique, Rank is automatically classified as someone who would not like art. Rank has to break free of the stereotypes surrounding his appearance that others force onto him if he wants to reclaim his