The identity of a person is associated with the individual personalities or traits that make

a person unique.Identities are mostly connected with self concept ,self image,self esteem ,

and one’s mental mode of oneself . In studies like sociology importance have been given

to collective identity in which an individual identity is associated with the role –

behaviour or the collection of group members that define them .According to Peter

Burke who is a professor and historian “Identities tell us who we are and they announce

to others who we are “. The Neo – Erikson identity status paradigm which emerged in

1966 driven from the work of James Marcia focusses on the exploration and commitment

concepts.The idea that had been presented through these concept is that an individual’s

sense of identity is determined by the degrees to which a person has made certain

exploration and the extent to which they have commitments to those exploration or a

particular identity .The situation that a person had undergone also connected to one’s

identity which will make them into another individual . Identity is a core element in the

life of an individual. One’s action shape their identity and in turn one’s identity shapes

one’s actions . The theory of social identity states about how individuals create and define

their place in society . According to the social identity theory three psychological process

are central that is : Social Categorisation ,Social comparison and social identification .

Social Identity can be defined as an individual’s knowledge of belonging to certain

groups together with some emotional and valuational significance of that group

membership . Thus while one’s personal identity indicates who they are in terms of the

groups to which they belong . As considering an example the weakest individual had

turned themselves into a much stronger person because of the situation which they had

gone through and from there one of their identities has been changed.
The identity of the character in an anime is defined as the personality that transforms

them according to the surrounding or the nature in which they live. While analysing the

character’s identity we came across many questions like who the character really was ?

what are the characteristics that would never change in their life until their end ?How the

character sees themselves and how others see themselves irrespective of shape ,

colour ,race ,belief .Inorder to identify the character’s identity the creator of the anime

has settings has been presented before the audience. And later through various

conflicts,rising actions the character sometimes fail to identify their real identity and

comes to a confusion about what a person they are and what’s their purpose. Coming to

other genres like literature which include books which are fictional and non fictional

where the identity of the writer or the character in his books has been identified in the

way who is against the social constructions which are dominant in the society. In

literature the identity has an important effect on it’s readers because it’s help their reader

to see the problems that happened in the society and helps to solve their problem in their

own perspective. Sometimes the reader can relate the character in the novel to their own

themselves and their identity. An identity of a person refers to how we want to perceive

ourselves and how others want to perceive us .

While analysing the aspects of identity we understood that a person will have

multitude of identities such as culture , religion , ethnicity , gender ,profession ,hobby

and so on . The people who are living in the same locality may have different identity
based on gender ,culture and religion. NAME is also considered as an important aspect

of identity.” They carry deep personal, cultural ,familial and historical connection .They

also give us a sense of who we are ,the communities in which we belong and our place in

the world . It is a through a name one can gain and lose other’s attention .The most

important anchorage to our self identity throughout life remains our own name “(Gordon

Allport , 1961 ). From the day an individual born he states himself through the name and

it envoke certain images to the person who hears the name, as an example while we hear

the name of APJ ABDUL KALAM ,the contribution which had had given for the welfare

of the mankind came to our mind.The image of the renowned persona will reflect in our

mind. The identity of Abdul Kalam as an honourable person will always be there.

Likewise the name and identity of a person is correlated .An article which was published

1996”NAME AND BEHAVIOUR “ by H.EDWARD DELUZIAN describes about the

relationship between name and behaviour which is a part of identity .While analysing the

culture of japan and going through the studies about Japan we acknowledge that names as

essential part of their life and their identity , it has also been reflected through various

anime like SPIRITED AWAY AND YOUR NAME where losing or forgetting their name

has been considered as a metaphor of losing their own true identity. The significance is

that finding one’s identity is more important to self actualisation that having a home to

returing to . If a name and therefore an identity can be retained then a character can find

their home anywhere .PLUTSCHOW writes in his 1995 book “JAPAN’S NAME AND

CULTURE “ that “Given the identity of man ,territory and name”,”People treated names

as sacred and surrounded them with taboo .In Japanese Animated movies especially in

HAYAO MIYAZAKI’S films where names are part of themselves which reckon who
they are and their own self . In Miyazaki ‘s Spirited Away we can see different an

young girl Chihiro has been enter into a world of spirits . Later she need to work there

inorder to find a way to get back to her home parents who were turned into animals due

to their own fault . She is unaware about such a place and frightened to work in a world

of spirits . She finds work in a bathhouse ,while working at their she also searches for the

way to get back to her home . Each and every one who is working in the bathhouse had a

name and the fact is that name has been given to them by the owner of the bathhouse a

spirit witch named yubaba .Yubaba is taken the names of her employees inorder to make

them under her control . By taking the names of them they are losing themselves as who

they are and forgetting about their true self .Yubaba makes the employees to sign an

employees contract and gave them a new name .Yubaba also made Chihiro to sign such

an agreement and chihiro was given a new name as sen . Most of the characters have

loss their names and they are working under yubaba by losing their identity .In the movie

itself it says that “if you forget your name then you will never find your way home

“.Along with other characters in the anime there emerges a character whose is referred as

‘no name ‘ ,by seeing the greed of the employees in the bath house the character no name

had changed into a monster but after identifying his true self he steps out from the

monstrous behaviour . Miyazaki introduced several characters in the anime ,most of the

characters had a connection with the mythology which was prevailed in Japanese culture .

All the characters had forcefully taken another name by actually forgetting their original

true self .If they recalls their real name they can get back to their own world by breaking

the chains in the hand of yubaba who is controlling them as puppets in her hand . The key

message of Studio Ghibli which animated the spirited away is that we must respect nature
or face our own destruction .In this anime also we can see that due to the fault of her

parents made Chihiro in a dangerous situation .

Multiple Identities can also been seen in the anime ,as in the starting

Chihiro was expressed as a reluctant ,weak girl who doesn’t like the decision which has

been taken by her parents .In that instance Chihiro is identify as young girl who is having

a weak Identity . But going through the whole plot of the anime we can see the changes

that happened in the life of Chihiro. On account of the love that she had for her parents

and realising her obligation she turned into a valiant girl .Here we can see that the nature

and the surrounding has been responsible for the change that happened to her. With the

self determination she survived from all the circumstances ,whatever or whoever tries to

part her away from her responsibility she stayed as a brave girl without forgetting her

responsibility .While looking at the beginning we can see that her words are not taken in

account by her parents . In the first shot we can see that chihiro is not at all interested in

changing her school and she is frightened into a place which was unknown to everyone

but she accompanied her parents . They behave as not as mature person’s which changed

their life and made their life into a dangerous situation .But Chihiro because of scare in

herself made her reluctant from doing things ,but later when she searches for her parents

she realised that her parents had changed into pigs and the only way she can save them

from their present situation is only through her by staying there . Her parents did not give

much importance to Chihiro and her desires ,they do things in the way which they

like .When the parents entrapped in a situation the audience witnessed a tremendous

growth of Chihiro throughout the film . She discern that being a fearful girl who is
having a weak identity would not be able to protect or save her parents from the crisis

they get into . If she doesn’t come upon in such a situation she may not be able to identify

the true identity which was inside her .Therefore through the studies and through the

anime it may clear that the situation helps to bring out the true identity and also there can

be multitude of identities . In the beginning as a sullen ,apathetic character and ending as

a strong and confident heroine by discovering her true identity .