Trey Knowles's Allegory Chronicles

When Absent Names Become Absent Character is an allegorical short story that follows a young boy whose true name is stripped away by a conquering empire. As he grows, he encounters elders from Hebrew, African, Indigenous American, Asian, and Pacific Islander communities—each bearing their own stories of names erased by colonizers.

Through their testimonies, he learns that renaming is not merely a change of sound, but a deliberate act of identity theft. The story reveals how Hebrew names lost their divine meaning under Greek and Roman rule, how enslaved Africans were renamed into property, how Indigenous children were forced into foreign names, and how island nations were renamed through colonial decree.

As the boy searches for his stolen name, he discovers that reclaiming it is an act of spiritual restoration. His personal awakening echoes a global movement:
to restore names is to restore memory, dignity, and character.

The story blends history, theology, and mythic allegory to show that colonization conquers not only land—but the soul. And liberation begins when a people speak their true names again.