An Analysis of the Concept of Identity Crisis in Ali Bader’s The Tobacco Keeper

Abstract

The current study investigates the concept of Identity crisis manifested or reflected in The Tobacco Keeper, a novel by Ali Bader. The analysis of the novel is built on the concept of identity and identity crisis as suggested by Erik Erikson. Moreover, the study examines the main reasons that lead the protagonist, as an Iraqi individual, to experience what Erikson calls “Identity Crisis” that results from the failure of this character to achieve what is called the “Ego identity”. His failure, eventually, is related to the conflicts that govern the life of Iraqi people. This novel presents a panoramic view of the history of Iraq as it traces the life of Kemal Medhat for more than eighty years. The identity crisis that the protagonist undergoes is related to the political and ethnic conflict of the different groups that shape up the structure of the Iraqi society. The novel can be considered as a political criticism of the various regimes in Iraq. The paper is divided into three sections. The first section introduces the writer and a short summery of the story. As for the second section, it presents the concept of identity. The last section contains the analysis of the main character’s experience that causes his identity diffusion.

Keywords

• Identity Crisis, Erikson, Ali Bader