“Self” (post 3) by Yann Martel: Voices of Alternate Personalities in Protagonist’s Head Make Identity-Switching Plot Plausible 

This novel did not sell well, because the author had failed to make it plausible. The reader was expected to believe that the protagonist suddenly changes his identity from “he” to “she” in his late teens for no understandable reason. And that later, “she” suddenly switches back to “he” after “she” is raped. But the reader needed some psychological explanation to make those radical identity-switches plausible.

What psychological explanation is supported by the facts of the story?

Multiple personality, which usually starts in childhood, and often entails both male and female alternate personalities, is indicated by the voices (of alternate personalities) heard by the protagonist since childhood: One of the protagonist’s earliest childhood memories had been “a voice inside my head” (1, p. 2).

As an adult, multiple personality is indicated by the italicized voice in the protagonist’s head: “He’s a man. This is homosexuality. I’m a homosexual” (1, p. 201).

Comment: Did the author understand that his identity-switching plot was plausible only on the basis of multiple personality? Probably not, since the author never mentions it. But I’d guess the author had heard his own voices due to multiple personality trait.

Search “voices” and “italicized voices” in this blog for past posts.

1. Yann Martel. Self (a novel). Toronto, Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 1996.