In the novel The President, Miguel Asturias shows that fear controls personal identity in a totalitarian government. He explains that the fear of death and punishment controls a society and alters the unique way of life. Personal identity is the unique set of emotions, experiences, and lifestyles that make up an individuals life. Religious devotion and Christian resignation becomes apparent in a life dominated by fear and paranoia. True feelings and emotions can be hidden by fear. Fear and paranoia of the surrounding environment can cause a person to live an isolated life.

Fear causes people to pray for salvation and have Christian resignation because of the hope they gain from it. Christian resignation refers to the submission of a person's life to Christian ideology of salvation and life everlasting. The Christian idea of life everlasting provides an excellent escape from the present life of fear and paranoia...