Akiko and Amanda Ngoho Reavey: Survival Through Identity Formation Nancy Canevari College

Amanda Ngoho Reavey’s Marilyn chronicles her survival and transformation following transnational adoption and the shifting of her identity. She asserts that “survival is not about hunger. Not nourishment. Not hope. Nor anger. Nor love. It is about curiosity” (Reavey 37), and in attempting to remain afloat in a life that’s constantly unstable, she dives into her past to reconcile who she once was with who she can become. Akiko, of Ruth Ozeki’s My Year of Meats, has a similar journey of survival in times when her very humanity is being questioned, but her journey stems from her pursuit of who she can become after years of being stripped of independent identity. While both Reavey and Akiko navigate survival through curiosity in regards to the formation of their identities, Reavey does so through curiosity about the home of her past and how that affects her future, while Akiko does so by plunging forward into an unknown future unburdened by the trauma of her past.

Reavey’s frequent changing of her name reflects how she grapples with her identity, and how her past pushes her to uncover who she is. Her birth mother names her Marilyn, which is a name that she carries with her through her first foster home, and a name that ties her...