Becoming Who We Are: The Theology of Identity in G.K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare

G.K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday is, from start to finish, a novel of identity. As masks are donned and dropped, character and reader alike must explore the question of how we become who we are. Employing material from Chesterton's other works, his personal journals and correspondence, and the work of related authors, this article examines Thursday's exploration of human identity. In the novel, identity is (1) formed in communal relationship with others; (2) intimately related to one's role in the cosmic drama of creation, order, and chaos; and (3) made manifest only through the suffering and isolation one encounters through attempted participation in this cosmic drama. As the novel's title suggests, its protagonist, Gabriel Syme, must become Thursday. The harrowing adventures he encounters allow him to become who he is; they are ‘disguises which do not disguise, but reveal’.