The Study Of “Identity” In Michael Ondaatje's Novels

Michael Ondaatje(1943-)is the most influential representative writer in contemporary Canada.He stands out in the Canadian literary world with his profound ideological connotation and skillful postmodern creation techniques.As an immigrant writer,Ondaatje has personal experience of the cultural life of the East and the West,especially a deeper understanding of identity.He integrates his own thinking of identity into his novels,writes about the living situation of ordinary people in a multi-cultural background,and expresses his distinctive concept of identity in a literary way.This thesis takes many of Ondaatje's novels as the research object,combines with the relevant theories of identity,and starts from three aspects of time and space,family ethics and power to make a deep analysis of identity issues in Ondaatje's novels,in order to make a detailed exposition of Ondaatje's concept of identity.This thesis consists of three parts:introduction,text and conclusion.The introduction introduces Michael Ondaatje's life and his main works,combs the current situation of research at home and abroad,and expounds the ideas and significance of the thesis.The text is divided into four chapters.Chapter 1 defines the basic concept of identity and discusses the origin of Ondaatje's writing of identity from two aspects:immigrant status and the context of the times.Chapter 2 interprets the symbolic meanings of the main spatial images in Ondaatje's novels from the perspective of time and space,showing the changes of personal identity and cultural identity in different time and space.Chapter 3,from the perspective of family ethics,focuses on the relationship between father and son,husband and wife in family ethics,reveals the identity problems encountered by individuals in the family,and indicates the writer's identity view beyond boundaries.Chapter 4 examines the power relations implied in history,culture and war violence from the perspective of power,reveals the important influence of power on individual identity,and shows the illusion of artificially established identity.The conclusion summarizes the main contents of each chapter and Ondaatje's multiple identity conception.The formation and development of identity are a process of dynamic construction.Ondaatje's open identity view is not only a theoretical understanding based on his own experience,but also a positive response to the contemporary multi-cultural coexistence of the context of the times.Ondaatje's writing of identity places more attention on the plight of human existence,reflecting his sense of social responsibility and humanitarian concern as a writer.