Identity Crisis in Martin Amis's Money and London Fields

Abstract

Martin Amis’s novels are known for their representation of the dilemma of human beings in facing the problems of their age. Problems that may lead them to the status of crisis and expose them to sever psychological pain. This paper deals with issues related to identity and the traumatic conditions of the characters in two of Martin Amis's outstanding novels which are Money and London Fields. Using a descriptive analytic approach, I will be highlighting how these characters pass through a status of crisis while living in an era of material idolization and greed that results in death of love and human noble emotions which consequently lead them to the verge of apocalypses. Although the setting of these novels are United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (USA), the author wants to present the case as an international problem that may affect human life in different places of the world. Through a harsh language and a realistic manifestation, Amis is disclosing the true face of modernity which apparently is very attractive but deep inside is full of atrocities and disaster. I will also indicate how some of the main characters overcome the challenges they face and are able to find out their lost identities after paying high prices both emotionally and psychologically.

Keywords

• identity crisis
• martin amis
• modernity
• psychology
• trauma