Titles

We come into this life with very little, a name is one of those few items.  To say that names are irrelevant or play little role in defining a person would be fallacious.  The countless painstaking days and months expecting parents spend combing through copious baby name books is a testament to their importance.  Thus Roberts decision to change his name upon his departure to California is just as momentous a moment in life.  "In California, he would be Robert or, better yet, Bob.  Bob with a martini and stingy-brim hat.  It was modern and hip, and it suited the new version of himself as the leading man in his own motion picture."  Roberts name change reflected a shift in paradigm.  An abandonment of all of the past experiences that had composed Robert and an adoption of a new moniker, Bob, and all of the "motion picture"-esque exposure that would come with it.  I feel as if many would misread this as an attempt by Robert to become someone new or forget who he was, and i think they have failed to look further into his reasoning.  The change had already occurred in Robert before the name change, he recognized the abject poverty and decrepit circumstances in which he lived and dreamt of more.  He was mesmerized by the glamour and splendor flashing across the cinema screen and vowed to obtain it.  Robert was consumed by the desire to live as an equal.  By changing his name to Bob, Robert simply acknowledged his dream to become something greater.