When reflecting on “Slow River,” everyone is obviously interested in what the book has to say about identity. Lore constantly struggles with her inability to ever truly inhabit one of her three characters. “I slept for nine hours and woke up feeling stiff and sore, as though my body had tried to rearrange itself physically to fit three people inside one skin. (294)” The persona of Bird seems rather insignificant to me because while this is the PIDA Lore has adapted, she never really replaces Bird’s place in the world. The taking on of Bird’s identity is a purely technical process. Lore never actually becomes Bird in an emotional sense - she knows nothing of Bird’s history in regards to family and relationships. While in the work environment Lore does consider what Bird’s actions would be, she never succeeds at suppressing her knowledge, as proven by Magyar’s quick suspicions.

From my reading, Lore is Lore of the van de Oest family, Spanner’s Lore or Magyar’s Lore. Her personality and actions are dependent on the people who surround her. When growing up with her family, Lore is always bending over backwards to please her parents. Lore’s desire for Katerine’s approval is what drives her work ethic and ultimately blinds her to her mother’s horrific behavior. Lore’s life goals were decided for her at birth and she has little say in the matter. She is disgusted by Stella’s rebellious ways and does not realize till it’s too late that Stella was actually trying to define herself as a separate entity from her family.

Undoubtedly, Lore proves her strength and grit when she attacks her kidnapper and escapes. But then Spanner takes her under her wing and forms Lore’s new identity. Lore takes on a life of crime and deceit. At her worse moment, Lore is under the spell of not only Spanner, but also the drug that she consumes in order to tolerate the prostitution Spanner has forced her into. While Lore continually feels shame for the acts she commits, she does not have the confidence in her own identity to break away from Spanner. She loses respect for herself and eventually projects this onto Spanner.

When Lore finally does leave Spanner, she quickly finds someone else to base her personality off of – Magyar. Lore’s relationship with Magyar is a sharp contrast to her certainly dysfunctional relationship with Spanner. While her time with Spanner was greatly defined by sex, Lore’s connection with Magyar is much more rooted in emotions. She tells Magyar, “I’ve never had any romance, ever. But how could I? I’ve been so many people, I never knew which ones were real. I want to find that out before you and I… before we go any further. (300)” At this moment, Lore is expressing that she wants to recognize her true self before being defined by her bond with someone else. Yet I doubt that she ever really does this. Magyar is the one who forces Lore to face her demons and attempt to reconstruct her life by contacting her father. Who knows if Lore would have ever found the motivation to call her father if it weren’t for Magyar and Spanner. I found the final sentence to be sweet but also disturbing. After just reclaiming her identity as Francis Lorien van de Oest, Lore walks with Magyar and thinks, “When I met my family again, I would introduce them to both of us. (343)” Clearly, Magyar is a positive force in Lore’s life but what happened to her claim that she was going to find herself before progressing the relationship? Shouting out your name does not mean you know yourself. The fact that she wants to reconnect with her family with Magyar by her side implies that she has not really discovered herself. Rather, she is still depending on a stronger partner to carry her through life’s discomforts.