Recitatif by Morrison and Sonny's Blues by Baldwin: identity's symbolic position in society

Never has there been a subject that has aroused as much discussion as identity's position within society. Identity is a set of characteristics gathered to allow people to differentiate themselves from others. "Recitatif" wrote in 1983 by Toni Morrison and "Sonny's Blues" wrote by James Baldwin in 1957 deal with the difficulty of understanding between the human being. "Recitatif" is more focused on segregation atmosphere while "Sonny's Blues" translates the sibling relationship. Both narrators are adults and internal to the story. Moreover, the protagonists have a common past and are separated because of drugs problems or racial discrimination. Indeed, their social classes, cultures and personal opinions divided them. Throughout these two different stories, authors imply that identity can be affected by external factors. This paper will demonstrate first of all cultural identity's capacity to identify people to a specific community through the religion.