Adjectives Defining Identity

In Beloved, Tony Morrison masterfully tells the story of life after slavery in a haunting manner. In addition to her literary techniques, Morrison's language surrounding race and identity caught my eye.

Throughout the novel, the color of one's skin is always tied into the person it describes. For example, Amy is a "whitegirl" and the house on Bluestone Road is in a "colouredpeople" neighborhood.

Although Morrison's deliberate combination of the two words makes perfect sense seeing as how race defines your position in society, I've never seen an author do this before. Subtle yet striking, this combination contributes to the author's depiction of identity where slaves are animals and stripped of agency. Denver isn't just a girl, she's a colouredgirl. Amy isn't just a girl, she's a whitegirl.

With this technique, there's no way to truly escape how society defines you. Whether you're free and just beginning to exert your power in the world, like Sethe attempting to murder all or her children, or if you're attempting to find some humanity in your enslavement, like Paul D and the bit, you're stuck in your own skin, haunted by the past, and powerless.

Featuring Logan Paul as The Stranger

The general public may know Logan Paul best for his scandals involving filming a dead body and tazing rats. He's found himself the subject of the internet's ire several times in the past months, but no one has stopped to consider his literary impact. When given the context of The Stranger, Paul's shenanigans seem eerily familiar.

For example, Logan's greatest controversy is a video he posted about discovering a suicide victim in Japan's Aokigahara forest, which is famously the site of many suicides. His reaction was totally emotionally removed, much as Mersault was when he killed Raymond's man. The emotional impact one might expect from that proximity to death was absent; Logan Paul laughed, and Mersault worried about the inconvenience that the death would represent.

They also share a distinct disregard for animals. Mersault seems totally unfazed by Salamano's abuse of his dog, despite the clear brutality of his beatings. Similarly, Logan Paul has proven insensitive towards the plight of animals. He got in hot water with many animal rights groups, including PETA, for posting a video featuring himself tazing a dead rat, a clear show of insensitivity to the dignity of nonhuman animals.

The strange parallels continue with the treatment of women. Mersault seems content to befriend Raymond, a violent man whom he witnesses viciously beating a woman. Similarly, Logan Paul's brother Jake Paul's girlfriend has alleged that he abused against her. Regardless, Logan Paul has continued to work with his brother.

The similarities between Mersault and Logan Paul are uncanny. Maybe, they're a little too uncanny. I propose that the personality we know as "Logan Paul" is a part of an elaborate sort of production, where actors play out the story of The Stranger through social media and video streaming services like YouTube. It would follow, then, that we are leading up to the shooting at the end of Part 1.
But that's just a theory, A GAME THEORY. Thanks for watching.
Just a thought.