The Bourne Identity

Numerous names and nicknames are used for characters throughout the novel, serving as a motif that develops the theme of Memory as the Foundation of Identity. Ludlum frequently avoids using characters’ names, instead referring to them by a nickname, job, or title, often leaving them unnamed throughout the text. For example, the informant who repeatedly visits Carlos in the church is often referred to as “the informant” or “the beggar,” and his true name is never given. Similarly, Villiers’s wife is not named until much later in the novel, and several government agents are simply referred to by their title. By withholding names, Ludlum emphasizes the value of these characters to Bourne himself. The beggar is seen by others only as a poor man, hiding the true value that he serves to Carlos’s operations. Villiers’s wife is only important to Bourne insofar as she is a liaison to Carlos and married to the person he is working with; her name only becomes known late in the novel when her relationship with Carlos is discussed. Similarly, the government agents’ lack of names emphasizes the roles they serve: Each is just another government agent carrying out operations, and they will be replaced by other nameless bureaucrats.

The lack of formal names for most characters is a stark contrast to Jason Bourne, who has used several names over the last several years, including Bourne, Cain, Delta, and David Webb. Each of these names represents an identity—some real, some false—forming a labyrinth of information that Bourne must navigate as he seeks his true self. As he frequently shifts his physical features and changes his name to operate covertly, his true identity remains buried beneath.