The Predicaments Of Hybrid Identities In Michael Ondaatje’s Anil’s Ghost

Michael Ondaatje (1943-) is one of the representative ethnic writers in contemporary Canada. He has published many books of poetry and prose works, among which The English Patient won the Booker’s Prize in1992and made him world-renowned. Michael Ondaatje was born in Sri Lanka (Ceylon), studied in Britain at eleven and resided in Canada since he was nineteen. The immigrant experiences exert great influence to his writing style as well as the theme of his works. Filled with exotic images like people and events in Southeast Asia, Europe and western America, his works show strong postmodern characteristics. The explorations of identity issues also appear frequently in his work.This thesis studies Anil’s hybrid identities in Anil’s Ghost. The novel sets in Sri Lanka in1990s when the fierce civil war was ongoing. The protagonist Anil was born in Sri Lanka, studies in Britain and works in America, whose immigrant trajectory is very much the same as that of Ondaatje. In the novel, Anil has to deal with issues of war, human rights and ethnic crisis in her once homeland Sri Lanka. Critics have analyzed this work from perspectives of post-colonialism, psychoanalysis, gender studies and identity. Based on the research made by the critics, this thesis analyzes the influence of Anil’s hybrid identities on different aspects of her and argues that the ambiguous hybrid identities trouble her self-recognition, her research work and her challenge to the local hegemony, preventing her representation of Sri Lanka. The hybrid identities in this thesis refer to the coexistence of Anil’s eastern background and western living experiences and the following emotional and psychological influence in her. Hybrid theory becomes more and more popular among the postcolonial critics represented by Homi Bhabha, who deems that hybridity provides a third space for people to locate themselves and works as the power subverting the colonial dominance. But it should be noticed that hybridity is not free from problems. It also means misunderstanding, contradiction and conflicts in certain specific context. These conflicts are particularly reflected during Anil’s first return after fifteen-year’s absence.In an age of globalization when people move easier and more frequently, more and more people have multiple life experiences and hybrid identities. Ondaatje portrays a character having similar immigrant experiences like him and describes the problems in the process of getting along with the Western people and Sri Lankan natives, showing readers the potential difficulties of hybrid identities and Ondaatje’s reflection about this issue.