Identity Crisis In The Goose Girl

In Shannon Hale’s book, The Goose Girl, an identity crisis smoothly relates the world of the Books of Bayern and the real world. The main character Anidori-kiladra Taliana Isilee, or Ani, is born Crown Princess of Kildenree, but is sent away as a peace offering to become the neighboring prince’s bride. During the journey to the neighboring kingdom, Ani’s handmaiden, Selia, and her followers murder all of the guards loyal to Ani, unwittingly letting Ani escape to the country. Ani manages to get to the palace, but once there, “She glared down at herself, leaning against the wall in travel-crumpled clothing, nearly last in a line of patient peasants, hungry, with feet aching on the soft soles of Finn's boots. This is not who I am, she thought. So who am I? She did not answer her own question.”
By not answering her own question, Ani is saying that she does not

While the identity discovery might not be as severe, crucial, or alone, readers will remember what it was like once they discovered it. This might be as simple as figuring out one’s favorite color, or song and picking out one’s own clothes when going shopping. Figuring out oneself is part of growing up, an idea that Hale may wish to convey to the readers. During Ani’s journey, she is growing up and no longer is the child she was in Kildenree. She discovered it was perfectly fine to create her own identity, no need to be somebody else’s copycat for the rest of her life. Ani thinks “She was little like her mother, though that was all she had ever longed to be. She lacked the gift of people-speaking, that power to convince and control that laced every word her mother uttered. She did not possess that grace and beauty that all in a room turned to watch. But had the queen ever told a nursery story to a room of captivated listeners? Or handled fifty head of geese? I've done that much. What more can I do?” That is part of what growing up