Colonial agents must adopt native identities while remaining permanently unable to think native thoughts.

Evidence

Lawrence had to behave as though the Arab national movement were his prime interest, and he did it so well that he came to believe in it himself. But then again he did not belong, he was ultimately unable “to think their thought” and to “assume their character.” Pretending to be an Arab, he could only lose his “English self” and was fascinated by the complete secrecy of self-effacement rather than fooled by the obvious justifications of benevolent rule over backward peoples that Lord Cromer might have used. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 564

Categorization

• DEFINE: Illustrates the self-effacement and identity-absorption required of the colonial agent embedded within the Great Game.
• XREF: Reads as an early example of colonial mimicry/performance of identity that later postcolonial theory (Bhabha’s mimicry) formalizes.