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Alex Gao
Hodges
AP English Literature
March 2014
How To Deal With an Identity Crisis
On Maslows hierarchy of needs, one of the most crucial components for the well-being
and survival of a person is a sense of belonging. Despite our societys constant push for
individuality and uniqueness, there is always the underlying desire to find others like oneself, to
find a group that we can belong and feel comfortable in. The reason for this psychological
theory is a philosophical one: the social-constructionist theory of self. As Erving Goffman, a
Canadian sociologist, claims, the self is constructed only in the context of a nexus of social
roles and is bolted down in social establishments (Erving, 252-53). The reason why we desire
a sense of belonging, as Maslow indicates, is because we understand, even on a subconscious
level, the importance of a societal role in creating our own identities as per social-constructionist
theory. If social-constructionist theories of self are followed, being alienated by society isnt
something trivial that merely affects us emotionally it affects the very way in which we
evaluate our own worth as human beings, our own identities as unique individuals. But is that
theory of self legitimate? Or are there other aspects to an identity? Franz Kafka, Albert Camus,
and Haruki Murakami all create characters that are alienated by society to describe a particular
process: understanding the identity society expects us to have, evaluating its legitimacy, and
creating an identity for oneself whether it be through a belief system, introspection of ones
subconscious, or the creation of interpersonal bonds.

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Franz Kafka, in The Metamorphosis, uses Gregors unexpected metamorphosis into a bug
as a metaphor for loss of humanity and attributes that loss to separation from society. Gregor
complains about his job, saying that it gives him contact with different people all the time so
that you can never get to know anyone or become friendly with them (Kafka 1). The solitude of
the job, and the fact that he never goes out in the evenings, come together to portray Gregor as
a fairly lonely person who doesnt have many close relationships with people (Kafka 5). The
only thing that he seems to care about and latch onto is his job; in fact, literally every single
thought he has upon awakening, save for one or two sentences, is about his job rather than the
fact that hes turned into a monster (Kafka 1-3). It would be humanizing if he cared about his job
because of some particular motivation, even if it was a negative one, like greed. However, his
internal dialogue indicates otherwise he seems only to have a strange obsession with timeliness
and avoiding his bosss anger (Kafka 6). Thus, although we can interpret his change into a bug as
completely random and absurd, we can also interpret it as a physical reflection of his identity
someone with no real human interaction, someone who is seen as a tool for a business, somebody
who is inhuman. Gregors physical metamorphosis is portrayed as a result of his onedimensional interaction with society as a worker rather than a person. This has the implication
that society assigns us our identity, and when society starts seeing us as less than human we
actually become inhuman, we become vermin like Gregor.
Albert Camus makes a similar point in that society assigns people certain moral
identities. In The Stranger, society expects people to have certain moral and emotional identities
and value systems to which Meursault cannot conform. This is shown primarily through the
Meursaults lack of reaction to events throughout the novel when we, as members of society
ourselves, are anticipating a reaction. The famous opening, Maman died today. Or yesterday

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maybe, I dont know is a fitting introduction to Meursaults general indifference (Camus 1). The
strangeness of this opening sentence is that despite his mothers death, he focuses first on
seemingly mundane issues, like when she died, rather than react emotionally as we would expect
somebody to. And merely two sentences later, he focuses on the details of how he had to skip
work for his mothers funeral. Similarly, after being asked about marriage by Marie, Meursault
claims that it didnt make any difference to me and we could if she wanted to (Camus 41).
Again, our expectations of love and care for others clash with Meursaults indifference, and the
reader (representative of society) feels that Meursault is somehow different, somehow
contradicting the values that we hold dear. Very obviously, our natural questioning of Meursaults
seeming apathy proves to us that we, as members of society, do have certain moral beliefs that
we expect to be followed.
We know that these expectations exist; however, why do they matter? Within the later
sections, as Camus elevates our questioning into condemnation by Meursaults society, Camus
shows the extent to which society forces its expectations onto others and defines their identity
completely by such moral constructs. The lawyer, upon hearing Meursaults lack of emotion
towards his mothers death, gave [Meursault] a queer lock, as if [he] slightly revolted him
(Camus 41). The choice to use the word revolted here shows that Meursault isnt just different
in a benign sort of way. Rather, his moral compass is disgusting and antithetical to what the
lawyer, a sort of metonymy for the entire legal system and our value of justice, believes is true.
When he is brought to court, the prosecutor claims that Meursault behav[ed] at his mothers
funeral in a way that showed he was already a criminal at heart (Camus 60). Meursaults lack of
feeling here is condemned and equated to conducting a crime itself. The implication of the
prosecutors judgment is that the moral identities that society assigns are absolute and

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unshakeable to him; even if Meursault had not yet done anything wrong, the rejection of this
moral identity already made him a criminal, another monster to be executed on death row.
Through such vehement judgments by the lawyer and the prosecutor, Camus emphasizes not just
the existence of our moral expectations but also the incredible conviction that society has in
them, a conviction so strong that it uses mere expectations to define others humanity and
identities.
Murakami, through Kafka on the Shore, also uses an alienated character like Gregor and
Meursault to discuss societys role in creating identity. Kafka Tamura, a 15 year old runaway
boy, is a quintessential Murakami protagonist who is self-absorbed, alone, and interacts little
with society, much like Gregor from The Metamorphosis (Strecher 18). Hes alienated from
society, having built a wall around me, never letting anybody inside and trying not to venture
outside myself (Murakami 9). As a result of that alienation, he sees himself as having a different
identity than those in societys fold, and at some points even desires to have a similar identity to
those faceless hordes of people (Murakami 57). For example, he upon observing the other kids
his age heading to school, concludes that hes alone, going in the opposite direction. Were on
different tracks in more ways than one (Murakami 34). The assertion that they are moving in
different directions from a metaphorical standpoint indicates that he does not have the same
identity as society would typically have assigned kids his age. In fact, he begins to wonder, Am
I really doing the right thing? The thought makes me feel helpless, isolated. I turn my back on
the school kids and try not to look at them anymore (Murakami 35). Kafka Tamura is self-aware
that his isolation from society prevents him from being like the school kids, prevents him from
having a concrete identity, leaving him helpless. By alienating Kafka Tamura from society and

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describing a painful identity crisis that results, Murakami shows, like Kafka and Camus, that
society creates our identities.
However, the legitimacy of those identities is called into question. Albert Camus chooses
to categorically reject these moral identities as false constructions, created to deal with the reality
of an absurdist universe. Society imposes them because of its own desire for an order that does
not and cannot exist. Meursault, portrayed as enlightened, makes the point that we all implicitly
know the meaningless nature of life, when he tells the chaplain that nothing, nothing mattered. I
knew why. So did he (Camus 75). In reality, life has no real meaning of its own, and internally,
we all know that. The implication is that because we all know such a thing, we turn to the
creation of strict moral codes, such as religion. For example, the magistrate claims, if he were
ever to doubt [God], his life would become meaningless (Camus 62). The main point made is
that the magistrate does not believe in God because God is somehow objectively real he
believes in God because it gives his life meaning. Likewise, the entire moral system, the courts,
the idea of justice those moral codes arent somehow objectively true, arent truly meaningful
rather, they serve to fill the void left by a lack of meaning in everything we do. By extension, the
identities that society creates for us, founded on these false constructs of a value to life or
morality, are similarly false.
Murakami likewise condemns the identities that society creates. As Kafka sits in the train
station and observes the students and workers walk by, we see that theyre characterized as
faceless hordes (Murakami 57). That can be taken as a criticism of societal identities as not
only illegitimate, as Camus shows, but also homogenizing. Furthermore, these students and
workers, all happily fulfilling their identities as society views it, are implied to be unable to grasp
larger, metaphysical concepts. The stations packed with people streaming in and out, all of

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them dressed in their favorite clothes, bags or briefcases in hand, each one dashing off to take
care of some pressing business...In a hundred years everybody herewill have disappeared from
the face of the earth and turned into ashes or dust (Murakami 56). These people, tied to their
societal identities, are characterized as shortsighted and always trying to take care of some
inconsequential concern. Kafka, as one who is outside of society and has thrown off the identity
society assigned him, sees the transience of those concerns, of that pressing business.
Murakami implies that if we create our identities solely around our social roles, as per the socialconstructionist theory, it is not only homogenizing it limits our ability to think in the bigger
picture and recognize the importance of more abstract concepts outside of our societal roles.
Since a huge portion of our identities is tied to society, as Kafka and Camus indicate, it
may feel hopeless to realize that these societal identities are illegitimate and even destructive. In
that case, how are people supposed to respond, faced with a newfound lack of identity? Do they
create their own? Is such a thing even possible?
Camus partially answers this question by continuing the development of his absurdist
philosophy and showing us that even though Meursault doesnt seem to have many emotions,
even though he doesnt have any moral identity that is familiar to us, he is still happy. For the
first time, the first, I laid my heart open to the gentle indifference of the world. To feel it so like
myself, indeed, so brotherly, made me realize that Id been happy, and that I was happy still
(Camus 76). This section is absolutely crucial to understanding the difference between hopeless
nihilism and a hopeful preservation of an individual identity. Despite losing everything material
to him, despite nothing in the universe mattering, despite his lack of identity from societys
perspective, he is somehow content. The message here that Camus sends is ultimately a positive

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one: even though the identities society assigns us are illogical constructs, it is still possible to
find meaning and identity on a personal level.
What, however, constitutes that personal view of identity, and how can it be found?
Albert Camus, in his essay The Myth of Sisyphus, claims that upon recognizing that there is no
objective meaning to life, the individual ways in which we invent some kind of meaning to strive
for constitutes our personal identities. And it is this recognition of something to strive for and
enjoy, while still recognizing that its unreal, that ends up defining Meursault at the end of The
Stranger. Right after Meursault goes on his rant about how nothing matters, he awakes to the
sounds of the countryside, the cool night air, veined with smells of earth and salt, the
marvelous peace of the sleepbound summer night that he feels flooded through me like a
tide (Camus 75). Despite the meaningless of it all, he shows a propensity for enjoying the
physical feeling of the world around him. This, coupled with his feeling of happiness at the end
because of his brotherly kinship with the universe, indicates that Meursaults personal and
individual identity became built around sensation and enjoyment of the physical world. This also
fits right in with his enjoyment of sex and physical, but not emotional, intimacy; his enjoyment
of swimming and physical activity; and his hobby of observing people from his balcony. In
Albert Camuss interpretation, all thats needed to develop an individual self is a rejection of
societys identity and an adoption of a personal value system. Meursault, having done both these
things, is happy. He has found his self.
Murakami has a different, but not mutually exclusive, way of finding the self. He claims
that the process of finding a unique identity is both inward and outward inward in the sense
that there needs to be a reconciliation of conscious and subconscious, and outward in the sense
that we can define ourselves through strong interpersonal relationships.

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To establish the role of the conscious and subconscious in solidifying an identity,
Murakami parallels Kafka Tamura with a secondary character, an old man called Nakata.
Decades ago, Nakata and his classmates all suddenly fell unconscious on a mushroom picking
trip. While all his classmates woke up, he remained catatonic for weeks before waking up with
his mind wiped clean. Nakata claims that my head was completely empty, like a bathtub after
you pull the plug (Murakami 51). With no memories or skills retained from before his coma, it
can be inferred that Nakatas subconscious had deserted him, leaving behind the physical, the
conscious, leaving behind for a time the fleshy container (Murakami 67). This causes his
shadow, according to a cat called Mr. Otsuka, to be faint only half as dark as that of ordinary
people (Murakami 51). His shadow, symbolic of his identity, is faint indicating that his
identity is somehow lacking, presumably because he had lost his subconscious self entirely. As
Nakata searches for the other half of his shadow, he claims that without it, Nakatas empty
inside, like a library without a single book (Murakami 308). The thing that gives a library an
identity beyond simply being a building is its ability to hold books a library without books is
just a plain old building without a unique identity. By making Nakata without a subconscious
analogous to a library without books, the importance of a subconscious self to an identity is
emphasized even further. Without his unconscious, Nakata cannot have his own ideas, his own
meaning in short, his own identity (Murakami 307).
Kafka Tamura is a bit different he has a subconscious, unlike Nakata, but he attempts to
run from it and ignore it as much as he can despite it being an integral part of his identity.
Kafkas demented father, a sculptor, sculpted an Oedipal curse into Kafkas subconscious as a
child, a curse that Kafka refers to as the omen which claims he would kill his father, sleep with
his mother, and rape his sister. Kafka makes any attempt he can to run as far away as he can from

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that omen, despite the fact that it is buried within the deepest reaches of his subconscious, despite
it being fulfilled in inexplicable ways. For example, Nakata kills Kafkas father, and right after,
Kafka wakes up covered in blood, having dreamt of killing his father. While this goes into the
realm of the metaphysical nature of dreams, which we wont cover, the takeaway is that despite
all attempts to run from his subconscious, Kafka cant. It is part of him and manifests itself on
reality, even if it has to act through dreams. In the creation of ones own personal identity,
Murakami shows that the first step is to understand ones subconscious, their innermost desires
and proclivities, rather than to repress them similar to how Meursault acts unabashedly on his
own desires rather than repress them and adapt to societys interpretation of morality.
Miss Saeki, a librarian in Kafka on the Shore, is similar to Nakata. She lost half her
shadow (which we previously established to symbolize identity) at the age of twenty. In this
case, however, it was not because of any inward subconscious/conscious conflict. It was because
of the death of her lover, the loss of a strong and emotional bond. Here, Murakami makes the
point that in the discussion of identity, of the shadow, outward bonds to people we care about
are just as important as inward understandings of our subconscious (Garguilo 38). Through Miss
Saekis story, he develops this second aspect of identity, and strengthens this second aspect
through Kafka Tamura. Kafka stops running and accepts his subconscious, his omen, as fate.
After he does so, new relationships open up to him indicating that an inward acceptance
leads to the formation of the outward identity, too. To make a long story short, he indeed does
sleep with his mother but thats because hes actually also Miss Saekis lover who died two
decades ago in some strange metaphysical twist (I wont burden you with the convoluted plot
points here). Loving and creating a close bond with Miss Saeki not only heals Miss Saekis
shadow (again indicating that identity is made strong through close relationships) but also

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prevents Kafka from losing his identity. Kafka journeys deep into a forest and ends up at a place
beyond the flow of time (249). In this place, where the walls are plain and white, where there
are no distinguishing features anywhere, Kafka finds himself drifting away, away from his
identity, wanting to stay in a place where we do not have names here (419, 422). He is on the
verge of losing his identity before Miss Saeki calls him back. It is because of Kafkas bond of
love, his outward relationship, that his identity is preserved.
Franz Kafka reaches a similar conclusion about the true definition of self as being
defined by strong bonds in Gregors case, familial bonds. In the later sections of The
Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka shows the ultimate destruction of Gregors identity comes not with
the loss of his connection to society, but with the loss of his connection to his family. The drastic
physical transformation belies the human part of Gregor that still exists although his father
drives him back into his room with stamping and hissing, Gregors reaction is to plea and
humbly turn his head, rather than react violently or fearfully as we might expect a real bug
to do. Clearly, his loss of humanity because of societys rejection is only a surface level loss on
the inside, he still thinks and acts like a human.
The deterioration of his true identity comes with repeated rejections by his own family
like the example shown above. Although he was previously the breadwinner and an older brother
to his child sister, his family takes on roles that replace his (his father working once again, his
sister working and assuming other household duties), representing an erosion of his position
within the family. After his position in the family his challenged, the very notion that he has any
relationship with the family itself is questioned. He simply feels pain towards his sisters
services, since Gregor cannot speak to his sister and thank her for everything she had to do for
him (29), indicating that he is more of a fixture in a household, analogous to a shelf that has to

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be dusted, rather than a reciprocating member of the family. In a pivotal scene, Gregors family
is contemplating removal of furniture from Gregors room. The symbolism here is quite clear
the furniture is a tangible anchor that keeps Gregor tied to any semblance of humanity, since his
family has already written him off. Gregor trusts in the beneficial influence of the furniture on
his state of mind, which is why he reacts so aggressively to this removal (36). This is a moment
of lucidity he feels his gradual dehumanization and wants to stop it. It is only when Gregors
family takes action that Gregor truly realizes the gravity of his situation and starts to become
concerned about his identity. Ironically, however, it is this lucidity that leads to his ultimate fall.
Driven into a frenzy and attempting to stop his furniture from being removed, he runs out of his
bedroom into the middle of the living room (symbolic of leaving isolation for socialization), only
to have an apple thrown in his back that eventually kills him (36). It is not the lack of interaction
with society as a whole that ultimately destroys him, although it was the first step. It is the slow
rejection by his family replacing his role in the family, fraying his relationship to the family,
and ultimately removing the furniture in a symbolic gesture that causes Gregor to truly panic.
By then, however, it is too late.
Trying to define the self and send a message about what constitutes identity is a
difficult task, and it shouldnt be surprising that we dont end up with perfectly clear cut answer.
Theres a distinction between society as a construct and social relationships; while basing our
entire identities on societys standards is shown to be fallacious, as we see with Meursault, our
close social relationships still have the potential to define us in a positive light, as we see with
Gregor and Kafka Tamura. Our identities and conceptions of the self are incredibly complex
things, at a nexus of conscious and subconscious thought, of loosely assigned roles and strong
social bonds. However, out of this complexity arises beauty. Meursault finds himself enlightened

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and not fearful of death. Kafka finds love and finds himself part of a brand new world, seeing
his world through new and hopeful eyes (467). Sure, Gregor dies. But thats because he was
deprived of that complexity, deprived of conscious or subconscious, without any social role or
familial bonds. Instead, Grete, his sister a girl who suddenly finds herself thrust into a family
role, with more duties and responsibilities, going through shared conflicts with her mother and
father undergoes the real metamorphosis and blossoms into a well built and beautiful young
lady (41). All of us, in some way or another, find our identities at this nexus. Although Franz
Kafka, Albert Camus, and Haruki Murakami describe different ways to establish our identities,
none of them exclude each other in fact, once removed from the world of paper and ink and
placed into the real world, we may need to utilize all such methods in search for our self.

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Works Cited
Camus, Albert. The Myth of Sisyphus, and Other Essays. New York: Vintage, 1955. Print.
Garguilo, Maria. "The Existentialist World of Murakami Haruki: A Reflection of Postmodern
Japanese Society." Thesis. University At Albany, 2012. Print.
Goffman, Erving. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1959.
Print.
Strecher, Matthew Carl. Dances with Sheep: The Quest for Identity in the Fiction of Murakami
Haruki. (Michigan: The Regents of the University of Michigan, 2002)