National or Personal Identity
Near the end of the book Second Person Singular, one of the main characters recounts his dorm situation when he entered college. Amir is Arabic, but his name can be mistaken as Jewish. Because of this, he was placed with a Jewish roommate. The roommate isn't happy about this, and immediately the university moves an Arab roommate in with Amir. After a very short discussion, Amir realizes that this new roommate is Christian, and he is a Muslim. Buy this roommate does not request a room change. He simply says "What does it matter-Muslim, Christian? At the end of the day, it says Arab next to both of our names" (Kashua 301). This passage compares national identity and religious identity. National identity is shown throughout the book to influence how people treat you, whether they hire you (Kashua 202-204), and what they expect you to act like (Keshua 292). The two main characters in the story address their identities in a different way, but they are both dealing with the same problem of national identity, and especially how it intersects with their personal identity.
The lawyer pursues a traditional way of addressing his identity. He does what he is expected to, moving to Jerusalem, quickly getting married, and pursuing a career as a lawyer, because he is expected to. However, this means he doesn't have a personal connection to anything in his life, even his wife. He has acknowledged to himself that he would be okay with her death (Kashua 141). This impersonal feeling is conveyed through his narration, which is always conveyed in the third person. The readers are never even given a name for him. The only time he refers to himself with a name is when he visits an Arab village like the one he grew up in. There he calls himself Mazen, but we have no way of knowing if that was actually his name (Kashua 255). He addresses his identity in the way he is supposed to, by forming his personal identity around what is expected from his national identity, but it separates him from the life he lives.
Amir first tries to remove himself from his national identity by pursuing a career in Jerusalem as a way to stay away from home. Eventually, he rejects his national identity completely and assumes a Jewish identity. He changes so much that by the end of the book he no longer recognizes the clothes he used to wear (Keshua 326). However, he ends up pursuing the life he wants. He is interested in photography, so he studies his passion. He is more in tune with his personal identity, which we can see through the fact that he narrates through the first person. This confident identity seems to come from rejecting his national identity.
The lawyer pursues a traditional way of addressing his identity. He does what he is expected to, moving to Jerusalem, quickly getting married, and pursuing a career as a lawyer, because he is expected to. However, this means he doesn't have a personal connection to anything in his life, even his wife. He has acknowledged to himself that he would be okay with her death (Kashua 141). This impersonal feeling is conveyed through his narration, which is always conveyed in the third person. The readers are never even given a name for him. The only time he refers to himself with a name is when he visits an Arab village like the one he grew up in. There he calls himself Mazen, but we have no way of knowing if that was actually his name (Kashua 255). He addresses his identity in the way he is supposed to, by forming his personal identity around what is expected from his national identity, but it separates him from the life he lives.
Amir first tries to remove himself from his national identity by pursuing a career in Jerusalem as a way to stay away from home. Eventually, he rejects his national identity completely and assumes a Jewish identity. He changes so much that by the end of the book he no longer recognizes the clothes he used to wear (Keshua 326). However, he ends up pursuing the life he wants. He is interested in photography, so he studies his passion. He is more in tune with his personal identity, which we can see through the fact that he narrates through the first person. This confident identity seems to come from rejecting his national identity.
Comments
Post a Comment