User:Dead&Gone/The Bourne Identity (novel 1980)

The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum was first published in 1980. By the time this novel was published Ludlum was already a well known thriller writer and it was a hit around the world.

The main character is Jason Charles Bourne, the protagonist. He is a fictional character working for the American govenment.

Jason Bourne is the main character of The Bourne Identity. His life begins on the island of Ile de Port Noire in France. He was rescued from a storm by a fishing trawler and brought to the island where Dr. Geoffry Washburn attended to him. Jason had bullet wounds in his body and head. While Jason, or Jean-Pierre, as Dr. Washburn calls him since Jason cannnot remember his name, is Dr. Washburn's patient the doctor keeps detailed accounts. Dr. Washburn deduces Jean-Pierre to be in his middle 30s, has amnesia, and underwent surgery.

Surgery marks:

Jason's eyes had changed and took on different colours, just like a chameleon. His cheeks and chin were changed as well.

Where Jason was shot after found at sea:

Left shoulder, lower chest, below ribs, left thigh, above knee, below hip

Jason's eye colour changes (green, grey, blue, brown) depending on what he wheres and what is around him. He really is like a chameleon.

Languages Bourne speaks: English, French, several Oriental dialects (root Vietnamese), German (chap. 16)

Dr. Geoffry O. Washburn befriends Jean-Pierre, the name he gave Jason becasue at this time Jason had no memory. He is in his middle 30s and has a drinking problem as Jason says to Marie "He does not drink, he is a drunk."

What happens in Marseilles, France?

Jason Bourne, still under the name of Jean-Pierre, aquires money to go to Zurich, Switzerland. Here, Jason realizes he can fight, evade people, move unnoticed, has a good mind for plotting, notices detail, and pays attention to everything around him. All very admirable traits.

Here Bourne has the passport given to him by Dr. Washburn altered slightly with his photogrph replaced. Resourceful.

In Marseilles Bourne meets someone from his past ‘someone who thought he was dead – wanted him dead – knew he was alive.’ (The Bourne Identity chapter 3)

What happens in Zurich, Switzerland?

Bourne goes to his the Zurich bank and removes some of the cash. A man working there, a Treadstone, man notifies his superiors and tells them Bourne is there. In his hotel Bourne meets Dr. Marie St. Jacques. She was to give a conferece, but Carlos' men were after Bourne so Bourne used her as his hostage. The movie is significantly different. Marie is a drifter. In the novel, however, she is a French-Canadian with a stable life.

Carlos' men, assassins, capture Marie when she escapes from Bourne. They use her to get Bourne and then get rid of her. Bourne ultimatly gets away and saves her. The assassins were going to throw her off the Guisan Quai bridge. Bourne kills them and the two of them escape!

Dr. Marie St. Jacques

Marie is a French-Canadian born and raised in Alberta. She has auburn hair, dark eyes, and farm skin. She went to McGill University and Pembroke Collage. When Bourne used her as a hostage in Zurich Marie was working for Canadian government Treasury Board Department of Nation Revenue.

Peronality: methodic, factual, spuky, exuberant, childlike quality (chap 10)

She lived with a man named Peter for 2 years but it didn't work out. They are still friends, which was perhaps his undoing. Marie helps Bourne because she wants to believe he is a good man. He saved her so she saves him ‘false gratitude’ Bourne calls it. (chapter. 10)

Next stop, Paris, France

Paris is where Carlos is. Paris is where the trouble really begins.

'''Treadstone 71 aka. T-71 X'''

Treadstone 71 was a trap to kill the assassin Carlos. When Bourne doesn't make contact for six months the Monk and other people involved in Treastone think Jason Bourne has made a pact with Carlos because Bourne took all the government money from his vault in Zurich, Treadstone thought he killed men linked to the operation when it was actually Carlosdoing. (Chapter 34)

The Treadstone location is house number 139 on East 71st street in New York City, New York. (Chapter 30)

Cain

Who is Cain? Cain is really Jason Bourne, who is really Delta, who is actually David Webb. There is really no Cain. Cain was a trap for Carlos called Treadstone 71.

Cain was invented by the Monk (David Abbott). To get ready for the part of playing this killer Bourne studied Carols’ every move, and everything there was to know about him. He did this for 3 years. When he was ready Bourne underwent surgery. His face was changed and his eyes. (chap. 19) ''“…you were right…There is no Cain. He’s an invention, a trap.”''

Cain was wanted by the government, police from Asia to Europe, assassins, Carlos, and Treadstone. As Philipe d’Anjou says: he is a ‘mythical killer with (an) unending list of contracts that never existed.’ View of Cain in the eyes of the public

Cain is a hired assassin who kills soley for profit. The assassin comes from South East Asia but is a white American man. He is known as a brutal and ruthless killer prone to violence and fits of raging temper. Described as a chameleon.

'''The Monk aka. David Abbott'''

The Monk had to be exterminated because he made too many mistakes. He was a very secritive man, manipulative, and told many lies. (Chapter 20)

Carlos

Carlos, the mysterious man that no one seems to have seen. He keeps is identiy well hidden, much like Jason Bourne. Carlos' real name is Ilich Rairez Sanchez and he comes from Venezuela. His schooling took place primarily in Russia, he trained in Novgorod, and worked for the KGB for a couple years. Carlos is partly Spanish and his mother was Russian.

Carlos is known for shooting someone in the throat if that person broke a code of silence or refused to tell him information he wanted.

Carlos is an infamous assassin who sells guns and country's secrets. One of the more common disguises Carlos uses is that of a priest or religious man. Bourne catches a glimpse of Carlos outside the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in Paris.

There was one woman, Angelique, whom Carlos loved dearly. They were lovers since she was 14 years old. The two of them were a team and trusted each other explicitly. When he finds out Angelique is killed he is absolutely livid.

David Webb

David had a Thai wife, a son, and a daughter. They were killed while playing by the docks on the Mekong River in Phnom Penh(chapter 22 and Epilogue). A plane bombed the river and David snapped. He also had an older brother, Major Gordon Webb. He was killed by Carlos’ men in New York.

This is the scenario Alex Corklin gave Mo Panov about the situation David was placed under: “’A man is placed in a highly volatile, maximum stress situation for a long period of time (3 years),'' the entire period in a deep cover. The cover itself is a decoy - very visible, very negative, constant pressure applied to maintain that visibility. The purpose is to draw out a target similar to the decoy by convincing the target that the decoy’s a threat, forcing the target into the open.”’''

David was the best foreign service officer in the Orient and a decent man.

People who were Part of Medusa

The Monk Alexander Conklin David Webb aka. Delta Philippe d’Anjou aka. Echo

Delta One

When David became Delta of Operation Medusa he, '''undertook missions - risks - no sane man would accept. Yet he never asked anything. His was filled with so much hate.’''

When David became Delta he also became a borderline case. He was a hard man with little mercy.

Jason Bourne was a man who betrayed Delta. ‘He took the name of the man who’d betrayed him.’ (Epilogue)

After Medusa ended he went to teach at a small collage in New Hampshire. He was picked for Treadstone 71 because he was the best of the best and had no family. Jason Bourne: ‘''What a man can’t remember doesn’t exist. For him.’'' (chap. 23)

P. d’Anjou on Delta: an ''“’Educated, oddly quiet man who could transform himself into a lethal weapon in the jungles. Who stretched himself and others beyond endurance for no cause at all. We never understood.’”'' (chap. 30)

On March 15, 1968 Delta executed Jason Bourne in Tam Quan and took is identity.

Philippe d'Anjou

An older man who worked with Delta in Medusa. He was called Echo. For a while he worked for Carlos as a switchboard man. He is French and appears in the second novel. Paris, France

General Francoise Villers is an imporant man Jason Bourne tries to find out more about. In the beginning he believes the General is involved with Carlos. It is actualy the General's wife, Angelique, who is helping Carlos using General Villers. The two of them become friends and the General helps Bourne find Carlos.

The General ends up killing his wife becasue he cannot stand her being Carlos' lover. He cannot stand the way she used him. '''Angelique Villers’ bronzed head was resting on the pillow, her eyes wide, bulging out of their sockets. Her throat was swollen, the flesh a reddish purple, the massive bruise having spread throughout her neck. Her body was still twisted in contrast to the upright head, contorted in furious struggle, her bare legs stretched out, her hips turned, the negligee torn, her brests bursting out of the silk - even in death, sensual.’''(chapter 34)

Carlos' People Philippe d’Anjou (chap. 27)

Alfred Gillette

Angelus Domini

Monique Brielle

Jacqueline Lavier

Angelique Villiers

Carlos and Bourne face to face

Carlos and Bourne fight in NY on 71st street in the sterile house. Jason wounds Carlos and Carlos slices Jason’s chin and neck. Then Carlos traps him in a net. He is saved eventually by his government.

Ending

“My name is David” David Webb tells Marie.

List of Characters in the novel

Jason Bourne: Jean-Pierre – George P. Washburn – J. Bourn – Jason Charles Bourn – Cain – David Webb - really David Webb who snapped and became Delta One who killed and became Jason Bourne and then hired to make Cain come alive - LIVES

Marquis de Chamford - LIVES

Dr. Geoffry O. Washburn: befriends Jason Bourne - LIVES

Marie St. Jacques: Jason's love - LIVES

Carlos: assassin - LIVES

'''The Monk aka. David Abbott:''' dies by the European's gunshot. Worked out of Washington D.C. - DIES

Alfred Gillet: died by the European's gunshot. One of Carlos' men - DIES

Alexander Conklin: once a friend of Daivd's family. He knew his kids and wife. They used to drink together - LIVES

General Crawford: Part of Treadstone - LIVES

Director of Consular Operations: Part of Treadstone - LIVES

General Francoise Villers: helps Jason Bourne fkind Carlos - LIVES

Angelique Villers: She was Carlos' lover - DIES

Philippe d'Anjou: A Medusan French man - LIVES

References: The Bourne Identity by: Robert Ludlum