After reading Running in the Family, written by Michael Ondaatje, I was very puzzled and fascinated. Specifically, the format of this book was unexpected to me. I heard it is a memoir, but unlike Persepolis, Running in the Family, does not have chronicle order, instead this book has series of poetries and short stories. Some stories are related to author’s father and other family members, on the other hand, other stories were recorded through author’s perspective. Throughout his book, I was able to see that author is on the gray zone between two culture, both Canada and Sri Lanka (Ceylon), which were used to express his own identity.

The concept of identity appeared throughout chapters in this book. Personally, one of the most important part is where author illustrates and describes his own perspective of Asia, such as “I was already dreaming of Asia” (pg. 4) and “Asia. The name was a gasp from a dying mouth. An ancient word that had to be whispered…” (pg.4). He kept describe and emphasize Asia as a foreign land, which explains that he does not have strong relationship with only one culture from his homeland.

From his book, I started to think about my own identity in various perspective. I lived in Korea around 18 years, but studied in Canada for two years (grade 5 to 6) and international school for four years (grade 9 to 12). Since I was influenced by my family and education, I never felt that I am part of one single society.  Also, after coming back from Canada, a middle school that I went was very conservative towards other culture, even though there were large number of students who studied foreign countries. As a result, I did not have chance to think deeply about my identity. I was stuck in a gray zone.

After going to international school, I was exposed to teen-culture from other countries, which gave me second chance to understand  and explore other culture. Studying with teachers from many different cultural background (most of students were Korean…but speak english) again, I have reached to the point where I get concerned about my identity. Now, since studying Canadian University, it is inevitable to stay in gray zone of two different culture or might be more than two depends on what I choose to work. However, as Ondaatje wrote about his identity, someday I will be able to tell others about my own ‘mixed identity’.