The Interior, the Exterior, and Ultimately the Self
Nikki Samani
Abstract
This project explores how identity is shaped through the tension between internal experience and external forces, drawing on the works of Nikolai Gogol, Franz Kafka, and E.T.A. Hoffmann. Specifically, inspired by The Nose, The Trial, and The Sandman, I created a symbolic painting that engages with themes of absurdity, existential anxiety, and the instability of selfhood. In my written reflection, I examine how societal expectations, fear, and personal trauma influence one's sense of self, often distorting it or rendering it unknowable. My project ultimately questions whether we have true agency in forming our identities or are merely composites of external systems and internal struggles. Through visual metaphor and critical analysis, I aim to show that the self is shaped and obscured by the forces it resists and internalizes. Notably, everything displayed in the artwork emerges directly from my internal world, making the creative process an act of introspection into my mind and a critical reflection of the works of Kafka, Gogol, and Hoffmann. This journey was thought-provoking as I found pieces of myself in each character, learning more about who I am and working with the tools to overcome similar internal challenges that Kovalyov, K., and Nathaniel face.
“The Interior, the Exterior, and Ultimately the Self.” Artwork by Nikki Samani, 2025.
This painting holds a childlike innocence through its simplistic features and bright colors. However, this naivety contrasts with the sophisticated symbolism beneath its surface. This visual dichotomy aligns with the absurdity found in Nikolai Gogol's The Nose, where the story appears comedic at first but gradually unveils a profound critique of society's obsession with the value of identity defined by status. Gogol uses the nose to symbolize class and ego, showing how people accept these external markers as truths and lose sight of their authentic selves. In the absurd narrative, Kovalyov, one of the main characters of the story, loses his nose. He defines his entire sense of identity through this missing facial feature, which symbolizes social status and ego. Later, when his nose is inexplicably reattached, Kovalyov resumes his superficial life unchanged. In my reading, this highlights how one remains trapped in superficiality when clinging to ego and external validation. Identity rooted in such external factors is prone to distortion and ultimately gets lost in society's absurd norms.
Consequently, rather than presenting identity as a singular, unified figure, I've fragmented it across the page to question whether the self can truly be known as a single entity. For instance, the figure's hand is detached from its body as it points downward from a bureaucratic symbol into grey matter that seeps into the black opening of the figure's mind. The hand's authoritative gesture represents society's uncompromising demands, signifying the same forces that trap Kovalyov. The mind's black opening, absorbing beams of grey matter, reflects the self as an evolving mosaic continuously shaped by internal and external forces.
Furthermore, the rigidity of the grey matter symbolizes Josef K.'s fixation on his impossible dilemma in Franz Kafka’s The Trial. In The Trial, the protagonist Josef K. is arrested without explanation and trapped in a mysterious legal system that offers no clarity or resolution. Instead of seeking acceptance, he becomes absorbed by the absurdity of his situation and fear of oblivion. When we find ourselves powerless to change our circumstances and unable to make peace with them, true helplessness takes hold. Similar to how I depicted Gogol's critique of societal norms, I have illustrated Kafka's depiction of existential dread through the grey matter entering the figure's black hole, to demonstrate how these forces disrupt a person's sense of agency. K. allows these external pressures to dominate his interior world, reducing his identity to a mere product of circumstance, rather than asserting control over his sense of self, especially as those around him attempt to define him as someone he is not. The distinction between reason and emotion, like external and internal forces, becomes intricately intertwined.
Correspondingly, beneath the bureaucratic symbol is a clock ticking backward, allowing its grey matter to blend into the other beams absorbed into the figure's mind. This element is inspired by E. T. A. Hoffmann’s The Sandman, emphasizing that identity is not solely shaped by external forces but also by internal hardships. Nathaniel is repeatedly deceived because of his inability to separate objective reality from subjective experience, resulting from his deep-rooted childhood traumas from stories of the Sandman. However, Hoffmann notes that, “if we have a mind which is sufficiently firm, sufficiently strengthened by the joy of life, always to recognize this strange enemy as such, and calmly to follow the path of our own inclination and calling, then the dark power will fail in its attempt to gain a form that shall be a reflection of ourselves” (Hoffman 96).
In conclusion, through my exploration of Gogol's The Nose, Kafka's The Trial, and Hoffmann's The Sandman, a common theme emerges: the characters’ helplessness in their fragmented perception of self. These texts reveal how both internal and external forces continuously obscure the truth of one's identity. However, despite this instability, human fate and agency rest in the hands of the beholder. In my painting, the pink colors branching from the heart, halted by the figure's detached hand, suggest that no matter the societal pressures working against the authenticity of identity, it is ultimately up to the individual to take agency in perceiving the world and the self. Rather than the heart being reflected in the mirror, grey matter returns, symbolizing a self at odds with itself. After all, as the creators of societal structures, we also hold the power to dismantle them. The self is constantly molded and questioned, and perhaps in the end, remains unknown even to itself.
Works Cited
Gogol, Nikolai. The Nose and Other Stories. Translated by Susanne Fusso, Columbia University Press, 2019.
Hoffmann, E. T. A. “The Sandman.” Tales of Hoffmann, translated by R. J. Hollingdale, Penguin Classics, 1982, pp. 85–125.
Kafka, Franz. The Trial. Translated by Breon Mitchell, Schocken Books, 1999.
Nikki Samani is an undergraduate student studying International Relations at the University of British Columbia, with an interest in the Middle East. Beyond academics, she is drawn to art, especially poetry and literature as a way of exploring the human experience, which shapes how she engages with global politics and culture.
Picture: “The Interior, the Exterior, and Ultimately the Self.” Original artwork by Nikki Samani. 2025.
