A sense of belonging will often emerge from connections made with people, places, groups, communities, and the larger world. The Bourne Identity is a novel, written by Robert Ludlum. The main character of this novel is Jason Bourne, a broken man, not only in a physical sense, but also emotionally and psychologically. Throughout the novel we see a man who is trying to put the pieces of his life back together suffers from a sudden onset of amnesia. There are several ways in which this text relates to belonging and non-belonging, all of which become increasingly apparent as the novel progresses. Through memory loss every aspect of an individual's sense of belonging is completely removed, and as Bourne struggles to reclaim these aspects, he struggles to reclaim his sense of belonging. One of the main aspects of belonging is the connections that we as human beings make with other people, our relationships. Without this connection an individual cannot belong anywhere. At no point does Bourne share a connection with more than a handful of other people. He meets a woman named Marie St Jacques and while he initially only comes into contact with her to escape from a hotel “'I don't want to use this (a gun). I don't want to hurt you, but I will do both if necessary.' 'My God....' 'Silence. Do as I say and everything will be fine. I have to get out of this hotel and you will help me. Once I'm out, I'll let you go. But not before then." ”. However, the situation he finds himself in becomes more complex and so he refuses to let her go until he feels safe “'For the love of God, let me go!' 'Not yet.' He meant it; there was another exit somewhere, outside there were men waiting for the target from Marseille In the events that... middle of paper... all those who do not understand their own identity they have nothing in common with anyone, nothing that connects them to these groups, communities or the larger world. They cannot belong. Jason Bourne has his entire world, his memory, shattered into a million pieces results in a physically, emotionally and mentally broken man struggling to rebuild the life he once had. Through the connections he makes with people and places, a sense of belonging begins to emerge. Yet his lack of understanding, his connection with individuals like Carlos, groups like Treadstone, society and the world at large mean that Jason Bourne can't really belong anywhere “In a way, it's a functioning microcosm of all of us find out who the hell we are, right?” Works Cited The Bourne Identity: Novel, written by Robert Ludlum