We Need New Names

The theme of identity plays a major role in the narrative, especially once Darling moves to America and begins to assimilate to her new country. Bastard foreshadows the consequences of moving, and the concept of troubled identity, when he mentions early on: “I don’t want to go anywhere where I have to go by air. What if you get there and find it’s a kaka place and get stuck and can’t come back […] you have to be able to return from wherever you go” (16). Although Bastard is mostly being mean to Darling and the others who dream of leaving, his observation is an important one. The reader finds out later in the narrative that Darling, like so many other immigrants from Africa and other countries, cannot return to her homeland because she lacks both the money and immigration documents to do so. For Darling, this separation causes homesickness and nostalgia for the things she once had and experienced.

Darling’s homesickness and nostalgia cause her to seek out her old friends and family. At the same time, however, Darling finds herself identifying more with America and her new American friends, a realization that worries her.