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Monday 7 July 2014

It’s A question Of Personal Identity.

    In Arrival, the Prisoner is given his identity, an identity card, along with a badge pinned to the lapel of his piped blazer. That identity of Six, his name is Number Six, which he instantly rejects. He refuses to accept or wear his number, he does not respond to his number. When he is called on the telephone and is asked is that Number Six, he tells the operator that it is the number of this place. That is up until that episode of ‘The Schizoid Man,’ when his doppelganger comes along proclaiming that he is Number 6! The Prisoner might have rejected his number, his identity of Number Six. But when push comes to shove, when someone comes along to try and strip Six of even that identity, one he has previously rejected, even he will fight hell and high water to keep it! And it is after that little episode, that Number 6 becomes a little more responsive to his number. Accepting his invitation to the Ball during the ‘Dance of the Dead.’ Using the number 6 locker in the gymnasium in ‘It’s Your Funeral,’ little things like that. Its not  a lot I grant you, but the events of ‘The Schizoid Man’ must have shaken him up a little when it comes to the question of personal identity!

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