Abstract
Other Voices, Other Rooms was published by Random House, Inc., New York, in 1948, and made Capote famous as enfant terrible. The theme of it is Joel's establishment of identity, and in the process of it, he takes five trips as follows: the trip to Skully's Landing to see his father; the trip to the creek with Idabel; the trip to the Cloud Hotel with Idabel; the trip to the “Outside” with Idabel; the trip to the Cloud Hotel with Randolph. These trips are the rites of passage that help him to establish his identity. In this paper, I discuss how Joel establishes his identity.
Joel goes to see his father to alleviate his loneliness and establish his own identity, but he fails because his father can neither speak nor move. Then, Joel desires Zoo to give him motherly love and Idabel to give heterosexual love, but he fails. As a result, he awakens a limited consciousness, and consequently he begins to discover motherhood in Randolph. Joel takes his last trip, setting out for the Cloud Hotel with Randolph. Through this trip, he establishes his identity, and comes to understand Randolph. Randolph's room where Joel arrived at finally is a safe and protected place like the womb, and for Joel it is a symbol of womb-phantasy: it is the place where Joel belongs.
