Finding Identity in the Schism of the Outer and Inner Selves.

  Here, Here: A Response

The inner self and the outer self. The dichotomy between the two and the Masks we all put on to hide what we see in ourselves that we do not want anyone else to take note of is a poignant theme of There, There. Tony Loneman (I see what you did there, Mr. Orange) exemplifies this in his perception of himself. Orange develops the conception of the inner and outer self through Tony’s perception of his fetal alcohol syndrome; a fitting experience to place on a character to represent a part of Being one despises, for it is such an obvious example of a precondition utterly unavoidable to someone who experiences it. Tony’s perspective lets the reader into the mind of someone who grows up in a life that emits such a solitary experience to the world.

Through humor, and a bit of spite, I was able to relate to the character in a way that I did not expect to understand. Though I come from a completely different life than Tony, I found an ability to relate to the character because anyone can relate, at some point in their life, to the feeling of being a ‘Loneman.’ Though it is a different experience, the inability to discern your own intelligence is a universal feeling that persists throughout experience, I believe, and is articulated well through the narrator’s experience. He is not stupid, it is evident in his ‘street smarts’ and his ability to adapt and live in his environment. But that is not the same as having a person validate your intelligence in the classroom---or someone denigrating your overall intelligence because of shortcomings in one area or another. 

Orange uses the physical appearance of Tony to initiate the metaphor of being able to see beyond the way someone is acting to understand where they are coming from. Tony is perceived as stupid because he doesn't look normal. Although, because the structure of Tony’s narrative is displayed from his perspective, the audience understands how he can use this to his advantage and to wrap his head around a form of adversity that he had no jurisdiction in placing on himself. The first time Tony noticed his inner self was particularly poignant in that it is the first time he notices the difference between his perception of self and an outsider’s perception of him by looking through the foggy glass of a television set. From here on out, this understanding is at the forefront of the narrative and represents a schism in the way of Being that Tony, and the audience, experience. This theme is a universal dilemma that all humans encounter and trudge through in their derivations of self, I found the way in which Orange expresses the schism to be a nuanced interpretation that makes use of ‘The Drome’ well as a means to an end in defining identity when your own understanding of self contrasts so heavily with the world’s perception of you.