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Galaxy: International Multidisciplinary Research journal
ISSN 2278-9529
Splitting of Identity in Time and Place: An Exploration of North-East
IndianWritings through their use of Flashbacks and Reminiscences
Shanu Shukla
Research Scholar in Psychology,
Indian Institute of Technology Indore
&
Amarjeet Nayak
Assistant Professor in English,
Indian Institute of Technology Indore
Abstract: This paper aims to break the linear projection of the central characters in selected
short stories from north-east India so as to throw light on the varied dimensions of identities
in the characters from a psychological point of view. Many stories in The Oxford Anthology
of Writings from North East India (2011), derive their impressions of the characters from
their oral and folklore traditions that shape the identities of the people of the region. Thus it
facilitates us in inferring the issues and crises that people are confronted with, by juxtaposing
their past ideologies with the present trend. It also enables readers in knowing the possible
coping mechanisms or the commitments that individuals develop while accepting or rejecting
new beliefs and roles. In order to reveal the identity of the people, the assessment of different
phases of a character’s identity will be shown through psychologist James Marcia’s
categorisation of identity, namely, diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium and achievement. Here
an effort is made to assess how these four types of identities move to and fro in time and
place among the north-east people through their writings. Do these identities blend with
modern thoughts to give rise to a split identity or head towards achieving solidarity? In other
words, to what extent does an identity from the past combine with the present identity to
influence their future roles and commitments? These phases of identities will be studied
through flashbacks and reminiscences embedded in the texts which will help in pointing out
the continuities and the splits in the identities of the characters with respect to time and place
when faced with a crisis. Through close readings of the texts, it will be our endeavour to
bring out the conflicts between traditionalist modes of thought pitted against modern trends
of thought in the minds of the characters, and how this conflict turns out to be an irresolvable
crisis for them while affecting their identities.
Keywords: identity, diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium, achievement, flashback,
reminiscences.
Literary writings of any geographical area, whether it is fictional or non-fictional,
often facilitate in identity (social/cultural/personal) disclosure of their inhabitants and
communities in general. However this disclosure can be carried out possibly in two waysFirstly, through an explicit means by anthropological narration of author and secondly,
implicitly through the autobiographical memories of the characters in the writings. This paper
attempts to make use of the second technique in exploring the identity(/ies) of the people of
the north-east India through their writings with the help of reminiscences and flashbacks.
These identities are explored within the purview of James Marcia’s categorisation of identity
into four types, namely, identity diffusion, identity foreclosure, identity moratorium and
identity achievement. However, before exploring the concepts of status and technique, the
notion of identity as a separate construct is discussed below.
Identity of a person is often seen to be connoted as self-reflection and
awareness of the self (Leary & Tangney, 2003). It reflects ego-centric viewpoint which
elucidates one’s persistent and voluntarily act of introspecting about one’s own perception,
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Galaxy: International Multidisciplinary Research journal
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action and interaction with others. However, in the article “Identity (social sciences)”, one
comes across Weinreich’s (1986a) idea that “a person’s identity is defined as the totality of
one’s self construal, in which one construes oneself in the present expresses the continuity
between how one construes oneself as one was in the past and how one construes oneself as
one aspires to be in the future”. Another psychologist James Marcia (1966) suggests that,
identity of an individual is evolved through the crisis and commitments that one undergoes
along with the impact of their personal and social traits. Both these concepts of identity in
unison could be located in the select stories from north-east such as Lummer Dai’s “The price
of a bride”, Saurabh Kumar Chaliha’s “Slaves”, Temsula Ao’s “Sonny”. In all these stories it
has been highlighted how the identity of a protagonist is influenced by their past experiences
which was filled with anguish, shock, cultural protocols etc., and affect their present identity.
Thus this “Denting in I” (I+ Dent +ity) in different time and place motivates individuals to
search for coherence between one’s past experiences and one’s present ongoing processes.
The resulting experience thus either provides the feeling of solidarity to the individual
sensing of the self or it further leads to crisis that can result in split identity. Thus identity
develops as an embedding quality of relational, contextual and temporal construct which is
fluid in nature.
Further, James Marcia’s notion of identity involves the dual concept of
crisis/confusion and exploration & commitment. According to Marcia (1966), crisis refers to
the period of one’s engagement in choosing among meaningful alternatives. It suggests that
crisis deals with that temporal phase of one’s life when confusion arises in one’s continuing
acceptance of one’s values and beliefs. This directs an individual towards introspection and
reappraisal of values. Marcia’s notion of commitment highlights the degree of personal
investment the individual exhibits. It involves an exploration and decision made by the
people in terms of their future goals and plannings. It points out that when a person meets
with a crisis or confusion, he, in response, makes commitments and decisions in life that
determines who that person will be. This approach of identity development finds its place in
the introductory remark of Tilottoma Misra on ‘crisis of identity’ where she points out- “This
crisis has been best reflected by the writers from the state in their works of fiction” (The
Oxford anthology of writings from North East India, 2011) How the varied nature of crisis
people of north east India are facing, persists or resolved, is something that will be explored
from their writings in the subsequent sections.
Out of these crises and commitments four statuses of identities emerge (Jarred James
Breaux, 2009). Firstly there is identity diffusion, which refers to that state where individuals
have not experienced any crisis in their life. They have yet to analyze meaningful possible
choices and commitment towards their roles and beliefs. The second one is identity
foreclosure where people have committed on a decision, but they have not affronted with an
identity crisis. Individuals have accepted what others have chosen for them. Thirdly, in
identity moratorium, individual is in an actual state of crisis. He or she is actively searching
to find his or her identity but has not yet made a commitment. Finally, in identity
achievement phase an individual has gone through a psychological moratorium state of
identity and made his or her decision for his or her life.
Since the north-east writings are heavily influenced by folklore and oral literature, it is
assumed that the identities of characters emerging from the stories reflect to some extent
deeply rooted identities of the inhabitants of the various parts of the north-east. Keeping in
mind these four kinds of identity, it is the intent of the paper to locate the identities of the
characters which in turn reflect the mindset of the author and in general, provide insight in
the identities of the inhabitants. For this purpose, the paper tries to explore the techniques of
flashbacks and reminiscences used in the stories. There are two reasons for choosing these
techniques; firstly, they belong to a domain of autobiographical memories which deals with
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Galaxy: International Multidisciplinary Research journal
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the memories about events in one’s own lives (Baron, 2002) and its close relationship with
the identity. Katarina Labudova in the article “Houses, Clothes and Pregnant Women. ReConstruction of Memory and Identity in Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace” establishes John
Locke’s view that “a person’s identity extends to whatever his or her past he or she can
remember” (262). In a similar fashion, Stanley B. Klein and Shaun Nichols state that Hume
“acknowledges the force of memorial experience in giving the impression of identity across
time” (2). Thus idea of self identity can be ascertained in terms of hierarchy of bonded
memories. It means that the most critical event of one’s life is recalled more often and thus
increases the desire to resolve it in the present frame of time. This amalgamation of emotional
intensity and memory can be one of the shaping factors of the individual’s identity. Secondly,
in-depth analyses of north-east writings reveal an author’s exuberant use of flashbacks and
reminiscences. This aids in accomplishing the core objective with more precision. Though
both these processes assist individuals in attaining a sense of coherence and self sufficiency,
they differ in certain aspects. On the one hand flashbacks represent vivid memories of what
one was doing in the emotion-provoking events (Baron, 2002). It thus permits the person to
engross in the past vicariously and facilitates in assimilating and comprehending the depth of
one’s feelings and thoughts. For example, Bimal Choudhury’s story “Riot” reflects flashback
in the following manner:
“His mind was suddenly transported back to his childhood days when on one such rainy day,
he and his dear Amma had been sailing in a pond with lots of such aquatic flowers.With
childlike excitement, he was frequently leaning over the boat’s edge to reach for the flowers
and a helpless Amma was trying hard to dissuade him from doing that. At last she clasped
him to her bosom, lest he slipped into the water”. (273)
Reminiscences involve a process whereby an individual recollects and consolidates his
or her past memories and then shares them with others so as to cherish them. Thus it
associates an individual with another and enhances a feeling of social bonding among them.
It thus acts as a defence mechanism which helps in mitigating damages or wounds to one’s
own self identity. For instance, Jamay, one of the characters in Lummer Dai’s story “The
price of a bride”, points out “I get angry with people like my father when I think all these
things. If my father had not sold me in my childhood, I too could have gone to school like
you”. (6)
Thus both flashback and reminiscences act as tools to dig out our past role and
experiences and facilitate us in engraving our present and future commitments and beliefs.
Now with the help of these techniques the psychological perspectives of split identities in
selected short stories from the north east can be studied as follows:
In Lummer Dai’s story “Price of a bride”, a twelfth class rural girl who initially aspired
to study more and was confident of herself, meets with a crisis, when she comes to know that
she was married in her childhood according to their traditional customs. Reminiscences of
other girls also influence her. Through her flashback- “Gumba vaguely recalled a visit to a
distant village, long ago in her childhood.” (9). Thus she suddenly meets with a state where
her values and beliefs are being re-evaluated. She actively starts searching for the values she
could call her own. For instance, when Gumba’s father asked her to keep quiet, she retorts by
saying “I won’t. It is important for me to know when and how I was married”. (10) This
depicts her identity in the state of moratorium. But later on, one finds that her present belief
and knowledge or plainly modern thoughts of development and equality overcome her past
experiences and she starts challenging the traditional practices like, “Is it possible for a child
in the womb to fall in love?” (9) or “Go ahead and do whatever you want, father. Gumba
challenged him”. (10) This highlights Gumba’s inclination towards the commitment of
achieving independent identity. Thus caught between the crises, Gumba continues to struggle
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Galaxy: International Multidisciplinary Research journal
ISSN 2278-9529
between her existing moratorium phase and her desire to move towards identity of
achievement.
Similarly, in the story “Sonny”, Temsula Ao has shown how the identity of a girl
suffers a split in loving a militant named Sonny. Through her frequent flashbacks it can be
assessed that she continuously lives with an invisible person in her flashes. For example she
wrote- “The spectre of ‘sonny alive’ and ‘sonny dead’ haunted me with grief, frustration,
anger and remorse so relentlessly that a few times I almost choked on my suppressed
screams”. (247) After Sonny left, adjusting to new life was very confusing and scary for that
girl as she wanted to live normal person’s life but simultaneously she couldn’t stop herself
from loving a militant. Thus she continuously lives in the state of identity moratorium.
In “Hunter Story” by Monalisa Changkija, it can be seen how the reminiscences of
hunter Chuba helps in preserving and reinforcing his humanitarian identity as opposed to his
earlier foreclosure identity. Previously he was committed to a goal of hunting but was not
acquainted with the ethical values associated with it. But when he encounters with the forest
dwellers he re-examines his hunting choice and becomes committed towards humane attitude
of not killing animals. This can be clearly seen from this sentence: “...he would recount his
experienced with great humility and advise everyone not to hunt since the Almighty created
all creatures because all of them are necessary for each other’s survival”. (253)
In Saurabh Kumar Chaliha’s story “Slaves”, it is assessed that initially the narrator’s
identity seems to be diffused, with no crisis and no commitments regarding his roles and
values. For instance, when asked by his German teacher about the value of diploma, he
thinks, “What answer could I give to such a question? I just wanted to get the diploma so that
I could take it back and flaunt it before my countrymen”. (63) Narrator’s continuous
flashbacks about his home place and pitiable condition of his family members drive him in
committing his more responsible roles towards them. When confronted with his teacher’s
view regarding the maintenance of cleanliness in nearby houses, he just cannot resolve this
crisis as the flashes of his dirty home cities haunt him. Thus with time and place his diffused
identity moves towards certain commitments, but these values are handed down to him
through his society. This becomes clear when he writes, “The smell that assails one’s nostrils,
I will leave to you to imagine”. (68) He is therefore unable to imagine beyond his own
prescribed roles and values. This reflects his foreclosure state of identity.
From the above exploration of a handful of stories from the geographical area of northeast India, one can safely argue that the crisis embedded in many protagonists of these stories
indeed arises from the modern and enlightened notions of progression, equality, humanity
etc., but they are not sufficient in producing any profound significant influence towards the
development of achievement identity. In today’s time also a person’s identity is influenced
and shaped by their dated past experiences, flashbacks, society’s mores and customs etc.
Thus these emerging modern knowledge and thoughts are heading towards more splits in
identity. But the increased reference of crisis in the stories and the frequent exposure of
flashbacks where an individual compares and explores his past with his present time or shares
his frightening and emotional reminiscences with other people can be taken as a welcome
move towards the progression of a stable identity for both the individual and society.
Works Cited:
Ao, Temsula. “Sonny”, The Oxford Anthology of Writings from North-East India. Ed.
Tilottoma Misra. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2011. 238-248.
Baron, R. A. Psychology. New Delhi: Pearson Education. 2002. Print.
Changkija, Monalisa. “The Hunter’s Story”, The Oxford Anthology of Writings from NorthEast India. Ed. Tilottoma Misra. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2011. 249-254.
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Galaxy: International Multidisciplinary Research journal
ISSN 2278-9529
Chaliha, Kumar, Saurabh. “Slaves”, The Oxford Anthology of Writings from North-East
India. Ed. Tilottoma Misra. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2011.60-68.
Choudhury, Bimal. “Riot”, The Oxford Anthology of Writings from North-East India. Ed.
Tilottoma Misra. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2011. 269-277.
Dai, Lummer. “The Price of a Bride”, The Oxford Anthology of Writings from North-East
India. Ed. Tilottoma Misra. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2011. 1-11.
Klein, S. B., Nichols, S. Memory and the sense of personal identity. Mind. 121 ( 2012), 677702.
Leary, M. R.; Tangney, J.P. Handbook of self and identity. NewYork: Guildford Press. 2003.
Print
Misra, Tilottoma. “Introduction”, The Oxford Anthology of Writings from North-East India.
Ed. Tilottoma Misra. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2011.xi-xxx.
Marcia, J. E. “Development of ego identity status”. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology.3 (1966). 551-558.
Web Sources:
Breaux, J. J. (Aug, 2009). “James Marcia and the four identity statuses theory”. Retrieved on
April 12, 2013, from http:// www.helium.com.
Lebudova, K. “Houses, Clothes and Pregnant women. Re-Construction of Memory and
Identity in Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace”. Retrieved on April 13, 2013, from
http://www.academia.edu/2060328.
“ISA Concepts and Their Meanings”. Retrieved on April 13, 2013 from
http://www.identityexploration.com/ISA_concepts_and_their_meanings.asp.
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