An Analysis Of Identities In William Kennedy's Legs, The Coen Brothers

Frequently in stories, and in real life, people appear to have multiple identities. For example, in William Kennedy’s novel, Legs, the main character, Jack Diamond, develops three distinct identities. There is John Diamond when he is in private, Jack Diamond when the public thinks of him, and lastly there is Legs when he is mythicized. In the film, Miller’s Crossing, the Coen brothers develop their main character, Tom Reagan in a very different style. Instead of developing many different identities for Tom, he exists as the same person throughout the entire film. The only true identity that is shown for Tom is his public image. Through the three books on Jack’s bookshelf, and Tom’s hat, the fact that the only image that matters in the end is the way the public views the character. Jack’s three identities are most apparent in the three most noticeable books on his bookshelf. The three books are Rabelais, an encyclopedia of Freemasonry, and the Douay Bible (Kennedy 43). Each one of these books demonstrates one of his three identities. Rabelais, a story about a man climbing the Eiffel tower and urinating on the people of Paris below him, demonstrates the character of John

They do this through Tom Reagan’s hat. Since hats are typically a symbol of the mind and what is under the hat, Tom’s hat clearly represents his identity. The fact that the whole city knows Tom for his hat proves the hat to represent his public identity. The idea of almost never seeing Tom without his hat represents that he maintains the same identity throughout the entire film. By only showing his public identity, the Coen brothers have sent a clear message that the only identity that matters is his public identity. If there was a need for other identities, they would have shown it through various other