In thinking about the assumption behind Don Draper’s decision to
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steal his dead superior officer’s identity I’m trying to remember exactly what advantage that gave him re his motive.
It’s wartime. He’s young and abroad in the world. He has no wife and no children and the police aren’t after him. Other than saying bye bye to his mother and brother, and acquiring the moderate sums were in the dead officer’s bank account what exactly is he gaining with this masquerade? Everything he subsequently acquires appears to be through his own charm, hard work and acumen.
I’m not getting the burning necessity to switch identities in the 1940’s US many men of modest means and poor backgrounds were making their fortunes. He wasn’t compelled to tell anyone he was the son of a prostitute, he could have just gotten on with life.
Operationally what was the burning need to do this?
I think the main motivation was that he wanted to escape his abusive family. Sure, he was an adult and he could have just left, but this way his family would believe he was dead and he could completely cut all ties with what he felt was a shameful past. He was ashamed of his family and of who he was, so when given the opportunity to become someone else, he took it.
Also, I don’t remember clearly, but I believe that the original Don Draper was at the end of his tour and was soon to be shipped home. Dick Whitman decided he didn’t like war so much, and so another advantage to taking Don Draper’s identity was being released from service.
Hehe… yup. He joined the Army to get away from his dirt farmer existence. He then realized that war sucked and so stole Draper’s identity to get out of Korea.
Edit: Pyper is right. Real Draper mentioned that he only had a very short stint left before going home and guarding that ammo depot was his last assignment.
Changed title from “Question about Don Draper’s motive and decision to steal dead superior officer’s identity in Mad Men.” I also added spaces to remove spoilers from the mouse-over preview. Please don’t give away spoilers in thread titles.
Don Draper wanted to get out of Korea without being killed. Period. The fact that he had no love for his name or his “family” certainly freed him to make that very hasty decision.
There is no evidence that he took anything from Don Draper other than his name, his discharge & some medals–which were handed to him. And none of which Original Don needed any more. Original Don had an engineering degree that New Don never used. We know New Don went to night school for a while–not using GI Bill education money to go full time. Showing up to claim any vets’ benefits would have been a bit risky. Besides, all he wanted was a fresh start–out of Korea.
He had no way of knowing that Original Don was married; the guy never mentioned a wife. When Anna Draper located him, she said her husband had really wanted her sister. New Don supported her–perhaps giving her what an Unremarried Widow would have received. So she kept his secret–but she felt little grief for Dead Don & had real affection for New Don.
Don may have regretted that hasty decision. He could have survived Korea & gone on to college on Uncle Sam’s dime. There really was nothing to force him to go “home.” But there was no way he could undo that one lie.
Question–why do we have to add space for the mouse over preview? Presumably someone who doesn’t want it spoiled for them wouldn’t bother to mouse over.
If your mouse gets anywhere near the title before you notice the topic, including right upon loading up the forum, you’ll pop up that mouseover box and might be drawn to read it without even knowing what it’s about.
Ideally, nobody sees a spoiler without choosing to do so - so we ask they be left out of thread titles and preview fields. You can definitely view a thread title or leave your mouse in the preview field without knowing what episode is being talked about, and then the episode is spoiled for you.
One of the more notable ones: He brought home the body of “Dick Whitman” to his actual family and was on the train ready to get off when he saw his family at the station. (Don’t know how he was going explain why he was alive and there was a dead guy with his name on the train.) But he panicked and took off.
Apparently fleeing his family is a key motivation.