The Shaping of Enid's Identity

Living up to the name Enid Coleslaw is quite difficult, especially when you don't quite know who Enid Coleslaw is yet. All silly names aside, Enid's role in Ghost World is all about finding herself. She goes through testing out a myriad of different personas but none of them stick. Her story is set in an unnamed town in who knows where. However, the urban sprawl and stereotypical American diners tell us that it is set somewhere in the United States. 

I do think there is a sort of autobiographical feature for Daniel Clowes in Enid so I believe that what Enid is experiencing is something he is or had experienced. But who hasn't had an identity crisis? Considering this is set after Enid and her best friend, Rebecca, graduate high school, it is a very odd time. You could consider it a 'ghost' time. You are neither a part of high school but you are not quite in the adult world yet, just like a ghost is no longer a human but not completely crossed over yet.

*Disclaimer: All pictures on this page are from The Daniel Clowes Reader, specifically Ghost World. Page numbers will be marked.

Enid's first look of the graphic novel is reminiscent of the stereotypical art curator - at least this is what I think of when I see this panel.

 (47)

In this panel, Enid is judging others. It is a recurring theme throughout the novel as Enid's main goal, whether she acknowledges it or not, is finding her identity. So perhaps she thinks she must criticize the ones that she has tried in the past or doesn't agree with so that she can cross it off the list of potential identities to try. 

Enid wants to experience as many different paths as possible so that she has a plethora of options. Early on in the story, she is obsessed with who she believes are Satanists and a self-proclaimed astrologists, Bob Skeetes, that regularly haunt the same diner she and Rebecca do. In the following panel, Enid drags Rebecca back to the diner in the hopes Bob Skeetes is there. I think her eagerness is due to her desire to see a potential lifestyle but also because Skeetes could read her future. If she could have Skeetes read her future, all the headache around her identity would disappear.

 (54)

However, after a disappointment at the diner, Enid is feeling down and reverts back to something she knows: her childhood possessions at her abandoned garage sale. We see that she has some foundation to her through the sentiment she finds in her old childhood belongings. Yet throughout the graphic novel, she is attempting to run from those roots.

 (58)

 (58)

In the next section of the novel, Enid has changed her look. She now has choppy, spiked, green hair (which you only know is green through Rebecca's comment on it in the third panel below) and a punk outfit. When Rebecca makes her hair comment, Enid fires back by saying that it is her "happening". I interpreted this by meaning that how she was feeling at the moment, which was punk, is who she is at that moment. 

 (59)

 (59)

 (60)

But soon after, Enid is explaining that her punk look wasn't permanent. She's heading in a different direction and it looks like she is trying to get rid of her green hair by the looks of the cap on her head. Either that or she just wants to hide it. But you can see through Rebecca's sarcastic question that she is used to Enid changing looks. 

 (63)

We soon see, you guessed it, another change in Enid. Her look this time is much more sophisticated and contemplative - sort of an art critic look yet again - which is seen as she drinks a glass of boring water at her usual haunt. She is much more toned down, showing the extremity of her fluctuations in identity.

 (68)

While she is at the diner, she over hears a conversation that includes what seems to be the only constant presence in her life besides Rebecca: Bob Skeetes. She is so stuck on this guy and his odd personality. She wants to find an identity for herself and she believes Skeetes can help with his astrology training.

 (69)

Yet soon, the story turns to boys and sexuality. Enid seemingly jokes that her and Rebecca should be lesbians. But with her identity being nowhere near concrete, I don't think she is joking. She really could be testing out the waters to see what Rebecca would say and if she said yes, then perhaps she would go along with it for two reasons: 1. to see if it is a good fit for her or 2. just to adhere to Rebecca's identity so that she can live how she does and so she doesn't have to wrestle with trying to find an identity of her own. We have seen through her obsession with Bob Skeetes and outfit changes that she is desperate for any string of identity she can hold on to and if that comes from some creepy astrologer guy or from her past punk days, then she will hold on for dear life. 

 (69)

But to no surprise, we see Enid has gone down a different path and is now describing the sort of guy she would prefer. However, she describes some guy that would only be found if she could build him herself. The fact that she creates this obscure guy that doesn't have really any real estate in any specific lifestyle (he is rugged but an adventurer but also funny but also mean) reflects that Enid herself does not have any real estate in a specific lifestyle. She is looking for it though yet can't seem to find it. 

 (69)

Next we see Enid coaxing her friend, Josh (whom she also kind of likes but maybe is only using as a crutch because she doesn't know who she is yet), into going into an adult store. I see this as another of her ploys to find a faction of society that she fits into. We see her wearing a dominatrix mask or something of the sort in the third panel here. Perhaps she is trying it out to see if she feels like it fits her. We also see her joking around with the products in the store and she seems to be enjoying herself.

 (71)

 (72)

 (71)

At one point, Enid tells Melorra, a girl she knows from high school, about losing her virginity. In this recount, we are able to get a glimpse of what Enid's identity was like in high school. Her hair is green, which she briefly returns after graduation, and is in the punk look that she also returns to. 

 (74)

Enid brushes off the experience like it was nothing exciting but I think this is one of the moments that hinders her from finding herself. The guy she loses her virginity to, Allen Weinstein, is a punk/obscure guy which seems to be the look she is going for in the previous panel. I think she was trying to adhere to his lifestyle. So when her first time amounts to no fireworks or amazing feelings, she begins wondering about both the identity she is currently portraying and her sexuality. 

 (75)

Once she leaves Allen's place - and may I point out that she is in a very conservative outfit - she feels strange and different. She no longer is in her punk outfit, which is one sign of a change, but like I said before, she is also in a very conservative top and skirt that completely cover her. Only a few inches of her calves are showing. But her thoughts show she is hinging the whole experience on what Rebecca will think of it. It doesn't matter what she thinks about losing her virginity, it matters what her friend thinks about it. Enid is not reacting to what is supposed to be a very emotional and special experience and is rather waiting to find out how to react through what Rebecca thinks. Her identity is not only hinged on various lifestyles she sees but also on what other people think of her and her experiences. 

 (75)

Next, we see Enid in an outfit that looks like she is in the witness protection program. This look is never really explained but I can only guess that she is in between identities and this is the result. This panel is the beginning frame of Enid taking Rebecca to the very bad 1950s diner called Hubba Hubba that she wanted to check out. 

 (77)

Enid loves how apparently "clueless" the place is with its bad replica of a 1950s diner. This may be the only thing Enid can truly relate to because the diner is unable to imitate a specific style and neither can she. She goes in with no punk or sex-shop look but rather as a plain person with some odd accessories which makes her non-adherent to any specific style. 

 (77)

Once inside, Enid expresses how she hates the "super-serious" people who care about politics who is coincidentally enough, someone like her father. She has no significant relationship with her father besides him pushing her to go to college but she doesn't really want to which is probably a source of her irritation towards both him and people like him. But in saying so, she distances herself from a potential identity. 

 (78)

And instead, Enid begins talking about insignificant television that only seems to interest her because in the following panel she explains that a woman killed a man for showing affection in an odd way. Enid simply likes the odd stuff and wants to see Rebecca's reaction to things so that she can figure out a way to react herself. 

 (79)

At the end of the visit to the bad diner, Enid states that "This place is god." while looking at the waiter who looks like hes from the 1980s and hearing old 1950s music. None of it is coherent and is what she can relate to because her struggle for identity is not coherent in the least. 

 (80)

To feed her endless apetite for finding something that suits her, Enid wants to play a prank on a poor, unsuspecting guy by answering his ad for a date and then going to the place to see his reaction when he doesn't find the woman he thought he would meet. This immature prank puts Enid in the category of 'still growing up'. Along with not being able to find her identity, she is unable to grow out of her adolescent phases and continues to nurture them through pranks such as this one. 

 (80)

Josh seems to be the only person in her life with any maturity but she doesn't follow his example at all. He does not want to drive them to the meeting place to see the reaction of their victim. His hesitance does not dampen Enid and Rebecca's hopes and he eventually gives in.

 (81)

Once she sees that she hurt a harmless man, she feels sad and I would guess embarrassed as for what she has done. All those feelings result in a growing experience for her. It may not be a big one but she sees how her actions effect other people. 

 (84)

Back at their usual haunt, Enid and Rebecca run into Melorra who tells them that their usual diner has become her usual diner. This means the place is no longer obscure and unpopular enough for Enid. We have seen that she does not want to be a part of the mainstream crowd so once the diner becomes exactly that, it is no longer her place. 

 (86)

Next we see Enid and Rebecca on a bench with Enid looking sullen and stating that she won't go to college. It seems that she had been debating it with herself for a while as her dad had been pushing her to go but she gave her definitive answer (although, not really) to Rebecca who had been pressuring her not to go. Once again she is looking to someone else for an answer on how to go about her life. 

 (90)

Continuing on, Enid expresses that she hates when she can't find what she wants. She is talking about buying something but I believe this goes much deeper. She cannot find what she wants in any other person around her even though she continues to look to them for guidance. This is like how she may continue to look for whatever product she wants even though it is not there and may very well never be there.

 (93)

In the next frame, it is still the same scene as the previous one but Enid is instead talking about how a guy told her that she is always trying to look cool. He was attacking her constant changes in looks (note the outfit she is wearing here, very schoolgirl-cool if I may so call it but also reminiscent of the very first outfit of the novel) which results in her understanding that someone has seen through what she is trying to do: find her identity.

 (96)

But when Enid uses a word Rebecca doesn't understand or think is too high-falutin for them, she becomes angry and chastises Enid for it. Rebecca becoming upset with Enid for studying for a college entrance exam and using that knowledge outside of it shows Enid that what she is doing is not coherent with what Rebecca wants which puts Enid at a crossroads of what to do.

 (96)

 (97)

After her fight with Rebecca, Enid goes over to Josh's place. They almost have sex but it doesn't get that far. He attempts to tell her that he has feelings for her but she cuts him off and leaves not long after. She had just had an emotional fight with Rebecca meaning she potentially lost one of her crutches but she is perhaps still confused about her sexuality. Going to Josh's may have just been a confused reaction to the fight.

 (99)

After her and Rebecca make up, they are sitting in their usual diner talking about college. Rebecca suggests she could move to Enid's college town with her. Enid thinks its a little weird because she had been getting used to the idea of her living on her own, and thus discovering herself. I think she had finally realized after the fight that she needed to find herself on her own and not use other people, like Rebecca for a crutch. 

 (109)

Next thing you know the two girls are on a road trip in Enid's hearse to a place she had visited when she was little. Her odd choice in car represents her struggle to not adhere to a mainstream identity.

 (110)

Once there, Enid says she is having a semi-religious experience. I think that she is rather experiencing something like deja vu since the face of this statue looks sort of the like waiter in the bad 1950s diner they went to. That or she is actually finding some part of herself in her road trip experience with Rebecca. Perhaps she is reconnecting with the child that she had been when she first visited the place.

 (111)

Enid finds out once her and Rebecca return from their trip that she did not pass the college entrance exam. She is upset because it was her chance to get out there and find herself. She had worked herself up to being able to get away from her crutches and discover who she is but when she can't, she experiences the very real and deep emotion of sadness and to an extent, loss. 

 (113)

Since she is not going to be driving to any college, Enid's hearse is put up for sale. This signifies the end of her attempt to get out of town to find herself but also the end of her odd and wacky personas. 

 (114)

After this, it seems as though both Enid and Rebecca have grown quite a bit. Enid looks more mature in the following panels and so does Rebecca. They have parted ways and Enid is seen in this panel looking contemplatively out on the water. 

 (115)

But because the story needs to come full circle, Enid sees someone she had placed a lot of importance on at the beginning of the story: Bob Skeetes. She approaches him and has him read her future. 

 (115)

But instead of getting to hear about her future, Enid gets an identity. 

 (116)

An identity that she follows with the appropriate haircut and clothing. Perhaps this is finally what suits her best.

 (117)

But she leaves her town anyways. She leaves behind her dad and Rebecca. But she leaves with her new identity. As she is going to the bus stop, she sees Rebecca in their usual diner. She looks much more mature and Enid comments on that. 

 (118)

 (118)

If this is her final identity, we do not know. She leaves town in her 1930s attire and the story ends. But no matter if it is her final identity or not, she is freeing herself from a place that simply was not working for her. 

 (118)

Enid's journey shows the struggle many people have: who am I? She has no concrete plan for the next phase of her life after graduation and no concrete identity to help guide her. She evolves over the graphic novel but does not wrap it up with a bow since she leaves both her town and the reader without any sign of a fixed identity. 


Questions: What is your interpretation of the end of the novel?

Do you think Rebecca shows any changes throughout the graphic novel? If so, what are they?


Works Cited
"Ghost World." The Daniel Clowes Reader: A Critical Edition of Ghost World and Other Stories, with Essays, Interviews, and Annotations, edited by Ken Parille, Fantagraphics Books, 2013, pp. 47-118.