Identity

Throughout the novel, the author uses the main character Carlisle’s attempts to reconcile with her past experiences and identities in order to explore the individual’s ongoing search for self. At the start of the novel, Carlisle is 43 years old when she learns that her father Robert is “nearing the end” (8). Robert’s imminent death impresses itself upon Carlisle because she has not seen or spoken to her father in 19 years. Therefore, after James calls her in “Summons,” Carlisle spends the remainder of the novel meditating on who she has been over the years and why. In “Poulenc for Beginners,” for example, Carlisle recalls “Going to see [her] father and James” in 1983 when she is 10 years old (11). “Coming to Bank Street,” she explains, “is my ambition, even above ballet. Coming to Bank Street is a ballet. The version of myself I present here takes effort...