Beyond a Charted Identity

Abstract

National identity is usually considered an important part of our human existence. Each of us lives in a specific geography and holds specific socio-historical memories; these memories could create a sense of belonging and as this sense of belonging grows and one’s nationalism becomes evident, it can cause conflict, war and violence against other human beings in the name of protection and upsurge of nation-states (many present conflicts around the world are the fruits of such belonging). Michael Ontajee’s The English Patient skillfully questions the reality and limitations of such imaginary sense of belonging. Following the life of the English patient as a survivor of the World War II, the novel longs for a cosmopolitan state where everyone free from restrictions and definitions of nation-state could live and die freely. War and violence in this sense become media that show us the vulnerability of our human condition and the impracticality and dangers of identification with nation-state and a geographical territory.