Browsing by Author "Taipale, Alek"

In this thesis, I analyze the dynamic nature of identity and communication in Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s book series Aristotle and Dante. The eponymous protagonists’ journeys of navigating their identities, such as their homosexuality and Mexican-American identities, affect them as well as their families and friends in significant ways. I argue that there exists a mutually affective bond between identity and communication. Additionally, I place great importance on non-verbal communication (NVC), silence in particular, as both have had a contentious position in research as credible forms of communication. This thesis aims to bridge the gap between verbal and non-verbal communication, arguing for the significance of NVC as an informative medium. In my analysis of the characters in Aristotle and Dante, I show how communication styles may vary from individual to individual based on a plethora of things, such as personality, acquired behavior, and relationships. I also show that the opposition between such arbitrary conceptualizations as extroversion and introversion, or verbal competence and incompetence, do not necessarily directly correlate to how much information one communicates about themself. Ultimately, this thesis shows the importance of looking at identity and communication as a set. The ways in which people, real and fictional, understand their own identities and express them are constantly changing. Focusing on these changes in individuals’ verbalized and non-verbalized self-expressions helps us to understand them better and more holistically.