Identity and the Self

The novel explores the complexity of identity and the self by way of Sadie Smith’s life and experiences as a secret agent.

Since taking convert assignments for various private and government agencies, Sadie has been able to don and discard identities on a whim. Her work therefore keeps her from confronting, acknowledging, and owning her true self. When she moves to the Guyenne Valley and becomes involved with Lucien Dubois, Pascal Balmy, and the Moulinards she is “a thirty-four-year-old American, with a sex appeal,” a graduate degree, and a cultured, worldly background (52). She assumes this persona with ease as it is part of her job and because it allows her to disassociate from her past versions of self and her former experiences. The author uses these aspects of Sadie’s character in order to suggest that contemporary notions of the self are...