Distance From Homeland As Identity Loss

The thesis examines the theoretical relation between the concepts of identity and homeland through the example of the work Kassandra by Christa Wolf.Thus,it analyses a dynamic process through two phases,such as construction and deconstruction of the ego,both closely connected.Kassandra already shows a precious importance as narrative character and part of one of the oldest Greek myths,but in Wolf's work for the first time there is a new modern interpretation about it.Kassandra is the daughter of Priamos,King of Troy,and sister of Paris,considered the first cause of the Trojan War.Paris falls in love with Helen,the wife of Greek King Menelaus,and both run away to Troy.In earlier testimonies of Ancient Greece,as in Euripides or Aeschylus,the role of Kassandra is always marginal.However,her role is far more precious and dynamic,as she plays one of the most important parts of the above-mentioned myth.Kassandra is not just a Trojan princess,the daughter of the King or a noble birth girl;she is the first Priestess of the Greek god Apollo and then her Seer: she has in fact the ability to foresee and to predict the future as the most powerful divine gift for a mortal soul.Since the birth of her brother Paris,indeed,she knows the future: she foresees her homeland in grave danger because of her brother Paris,who will kidnap Helen for love,causing the Trojan War.In any case,Kassandra is never believed as a Seer: she has received the gift of foresight by Apollo,but at the same time she has rejected the God's love and thus she obtained a divine punishment.Since then,nobody listens to her words anymore and nobody can believe her anymore: she becomes the lost Seer,whose prophecy gift no longer has any value.Kassandra foresees the destruction of Troy and tries in every way to save her city,her family and her own inhabitants.Nevertheless,there is no hope: her help realises no solution because of the divine punishment.Even at the end of the battle,when the Greeks attempt a final treacherous strategy through the gift of the wooden horse as a symbol of peace,Kassandra claims not to accept the structure.Again,nobody believes her and when the wooden horse enters the city,the soldiers hidden inside finally go out to start the total defeat of Troy.Kassandra could also escape with other survivors,but she does not accept: she cannot leave her homeland,because the destruction of Troy already means her own destruction.For the first time Wolf's work reveals an important introspection,since the destruction of Troy describes the loss of identity too.Kassandra becomes finally the protagonist;she is no longer a secondary character like in the antiquity.She is at the same time the first narrative voice,since she tells her past through a long personal monologue and through a series of flashbacks.Moreover,this shows a deep relation between the concepts of identity and homeland;Kassandra is a Seer,she knows the time in all its forms,but in the same way every boundary would be broken: through the destruction of Troy,there is the loss of identity of Kassandra too.The semantic analysis of this work researches the rhetorical figures – especially epithets-to define the versatile identity of Kassandra in the best possible way.The thesis describes for example her birth identity through the roles of girl,daughter,Trojan princess etc.;her subjective identity through the role of priestess and Seer of Apollo,based on her personal choices;her collective identity through the role of victim,woman etc.However,through the destruction of Troy new powerful aspects emerge in the figure of Kassandra,especially her homeland's identity as a Trojan and above all her lost identity as a prisoner,slave and then as Nobody.She decides to stay in Troy until the very end: this confirms the intense connection between Kassandra and her homeland,whose analysis is the theoretical and pragmatic object of the work.There is first the construction of the identity by certain roles and then the deconstruction of the identity because of the own loss and defeat of the homeland.The process confirms the relation between subjective and collective identity of Kassandra from the beginning,based on her homeland's identity: the destruction of Troy defines indeed the total loss of her own identity.