Steven Millhauser's Disappearance Of Elaine Coleman

When getting to somebody, the saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover” really does hold true. In my life, I often come off as shy and reserved to someone who doesn’t know me. On the contrary, my friends describe me as a loudmouth who doesn’t stop asking unnecessary questions. As people I’ve known for some time, my friends know me for more than what first looks may tell. This theory is seen throughout society, far beyond the walls of John Jay High School. Social identity is not representative of one’s personal identity. Rather, until one gets enough exposure to somebody to reveal their true character, their social identity is simply a preconceived notion based on their appearance and social interactions.

One’s appearance often causes people

This leads to the conclusion that if one has no interactions, then they essentially have no social identity. In the short story “The Disappearance of Elaine Coleman” by Steven Millhauser, Elaine disappears from society and, since she did not have any meaningful social relationships, no one could track her or where she could have ended up. People that once knew her had only very slight recollections of who she was and what she had made of her life. In other words, she had no actual social identity. This is not to say that she wasn’t happy or had no life, it just wasn’t conveyed that way to others. While people thought she may have been happy alone, it is very likely that she really was suffering. If people has taken the time to get to know her, they would have understood what she was going through and she wouldn’t have gone unnoticed. According to “The Social Me” by William James, the lack of social interactions is the most intense form of pain, almost to the point of insanity. This concept ties into Elaine’s story very well. Since Elaine had no connections to other people, she was simply driving herself into madness. While this doesn’t answer the question about her disappearance, it leads to the conclusion that she was