IDENTIFYING BODIES: EMERGENCES OF REPRESENTATION IN "THE CHANCE"

Abstract

In this paper I approach the body as agent of construction and a part of the process of identity in the short story “The Chance”, written in 1979 by Peter Carey. The characters' identity – understood as a process according to the perspective forwarded by Zygmunt Bauman and Stuart Hall, among others - is revealed in their behavior and interactions. The story contextualizes a genetic lottery called The Chance, which gives the possibility of changing one’s body through technology. Based on the perspective that the body is constantly affected by new technologies and considering the body as the main agent of the exclusion of the Other, I conceive that identity is a process in constant mutation/modification and a change of body leads to a change in identity.