Playboy of the Western World

Christy Mahon is a character that almost directly answers my question. His memories gave him the aspiration to transform his identity. He didn't like who he once was, and knew exactly what he wanted to be so he convinced himself he killed his father and then picked up and left his old life. The only problem for him though, what answers my question, is that his old life follows him. His father comes along and tells the town he is not what they believe him to be. His memories, his identity, can not leave him. He has the ability to shape his life but because of who he is he can not completely recreate himself. The past will always be a part of him, even if he is different than he once was.

Though Christy's façade is shattered, at the end of the play he admits to the town that they have even played a role in transforming his character, "Ten thousand blessings upon all that's here, for you've turned me a likely gaffer in the end of all, the way I'll go romancing through a romping lifetime from this hour to the dawning of the Judgment Day" (Synge 110). The events that occurred in the play shaped him almost as much as his memories of his early life. So maybe big events in life have the same impact as earlier memories; we either like the memories so we try to achieve that same feelings again, or we dislike the memories and act differently to try to change what has become. Maybe this is how the best of people can come from the worst of circumstances, in life and in literature. We choose who we want to be based on who we were. I would not necessarily argue that Christy ended up a 'better person', but from the events in his life and his memories he has decided who he wants to be/is. And isn't that all that really matters?