The Exploration of Identity Crisis in Nothomb’s Fear and Trembling, Based on Karen Horney’s Psychoanalytic Theory

Every individual’s identity has personal and social dimensions and the process of identity formation in the constant interaction with environment worth studying. The migration phenomenon also results in the change in migrant’s identity, since he/she experiences a variety of environments and trends and tries to form his/her own identity, based on the target country’s culture. The socio-cultural gap between the source and target countries plays a decisive role in identity crisis. Nothomb has focused consciously on the emergence of this crisis in her works. Her novel, Fear and Trembling (1999), narrating the story of a Belgian girl, who travels to Japan for a while, in search of work. The differences and conflicts between the eastern and western values; inflicts Amélie with identity conflicts and duality. In this research, we explore and analyze the identity crisis in Amélie, the novel’s protagonist, based on Karen Horney's Theory. Horney explores the individuals’ internal conflict, through different factors and classifies them into three categories of needs: compliance, aggression, and detachment. But, what is the relationship between Amélie’s moral characteristics and social behaviors with her identity crisis and how has the writer presented this crisis in her relationship with the other characters in the novel?