Personal Identity

In The Black Book, Orhan Pamuk develops the idea of personal identity being fluid. The subplot to Galip finding his wife is the discovery of who he truly is and how to be himself. The first steps he takes toward creating his own new identity come in the form of taking on other personas through phone calls. "He altered his voice when he made his calls, or he assumed other identities - a school principal, a theater manager, a building superintendent - but none of it helped him to track Rüya down" (61). Though it begins as a way to hide the truth of his wife deserting him, it quickly becomes something that he enjoys. The unhappiness that he feels in his personal life goes away when he is playing the part of another.

This is the same reason that people enjoy going to the...