Arab Muslim immigrants' crisis of identity in Aboulela's “the ostrich” (2005)‎ and Soueif's “1964” (1983)‎

Abstract EN

The present paper probes into identity crisis and its effects on the psyche of Arab Muslim immigrants as it is depicted through the two short stories The Ostrich by Leila Aboulela and 1964 by Ahdaf Soueif.

Undergoing acculturation and displacement, Arab Muslims in the diaspora, develop crisis of identity.

This issue, which proves to be too problematic, lays a series of crucial questions as: How do immigrants deal with the new culture of the host land? Do they experience high levels of identity crisis? How do they manage to assimilate the foreign identity? Does identity crisis cause them severe psychological pain? Do they find alternatives to get some relief? Based on a psychoanalytic approach, this study provides tentative answers to all the aforementioned questions; demonstrates that all the three main characters --namely Majdy, Sumar and Aisha—are homesick and alienated and suffer from varying degrees of identity crisis as a response to dislocation and lack of belongingness, which in turn creates symptoms of stress and depression.