Anil's Ghost Identity

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Identity is constantly in flux and is continuously being constructed, reconstructed
and deconstructed. In Anil’s Ghost by Michael Ondaatje, Anil and Sarath uncover
Sailor’s identity by piecing together information to shape past experiences from not only
Sailor’s life, but also the lives of the innocent Sri Lankans victims. Anil’s identity is
shaped through her insight into both the Eastern and Western culture which has a
striking impact on the person she becomes. Many aspects of Anil’s life are combined to
define her altering identity. In Michael Ondaatje’s novel, Anil’s Ghost, identity is a
combination of different traits that piece together to make up one’s identity.
Anil and Sarath take little pieces of the skeleton’s life and information …show more content…

Anil and Cullis form a relationship that spans the cultural definition
between East and West. Cullis’ lack of freedom is implied when Anil tries to “strip off his
carefulness [and tries] to unbuckle his worried glances” (263), which display the
constraints imposed on him by a fixed cultural identity; however Anil’s transnationalism
offers no struggle in disobeying these boundaries. Anil’s uniqueness is empowered by
both Western order and Eastern disorder, all of which work together to make up her
identity. Throughout the investigation in Sri Lanka, Anil begins to identify with the people
again, showing that she is finally finding her identity in the East. At the hearing in the
Armoury Auditorium she says “I think you murdered hundreds of us” (272). This
statement shows how Anil includes herself in the group of innocent Sri Lankan victims.
Sarath thinks to himself, “fifteen years away and she is finally us” (272). Demonstrated
by the word ‘finally’, Anil’s quest to identify herself among the Sri Lankan people has
ultimately ended. Through her varying insight into both cultures, Anil’s identity is shaped
by piecing together the cultures she has grown and developed in.
Anil’s identity is revealed in three phases. It is the combination of these …show more content…

It is the blurred boundaries of Anil’s gender that
gives her the empowerment that she seeks. As Anil works through phases of her career
choice, her literal name change and her blurred gender, she pieces together the fluid
whole that becomes her identity.
In Anil’s Ghost by Michael Ondaatje many aspects of one’s life are pieced
together to form an identity. Anil and Sarath uncover Sailor’s identity when pieces of his
life are combined to shape the past which also allows the countless other innocent Sri
Lankan victim’s identity to be shaped. Anil’s exposure to both the East and West is
combined with the many phases of her life to reveal her true identity. It is the
everchanging aspect of Anil’s life, such as her varying insight into both the East and
West and her three phases in which she develops, that shape her true identity. This is
parallel to the idea that as one ages, their thoughts and ideas change; opinions and
behaviours differ from that of what they once were at a younger age. These changes

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