The thesis deals with the theme of identity crisis in the novels Escape and Đuka Begović. Identity answers the question of who I am, and certain interlocutors are crucial in the process of establishing identity. An identity crisis occurs if a person does not know who he is, since he lacks a framework within which things can make sense, and there are people who have lost their moral orientation. The mentioned novels were created in the period of Croatian modernity, during which the central theme becomes the penetration into the depth of the human personality and the discovery of his existential meaning. Modernists believed that literature should show the rich and complex inner life of man. That´s how Milutin CIhaler Nehajev and Ivan Kozarac portrayed the complex inner life of their protagonists who are going trough strong identity crises and in their souls there is a sickness of will and pessimism. The main character of Nehajev´s novel Escape, Đuro Andrijašević, goes through a sexual identity crisis, a moral identity crisis, an educational and teaching identity crisis, a literary identity crisis, a socialization identity crisis, an intellectual identity crisis, and a philosopcial identity crisis. The main character of Kozarč´s novel, Đuka Begović, goes through a sexual identity crisis, a moral identity crisis, a reveler identity crisis and a socialization identity crisis. The paper lists the potential causes of their identity crises. Their „disease of the soul“ and their non-acceptance of social conventions are described in detail. This resulted in their not being adapted to the social environment. Among them are characterswho especially despised the hypocrisy of society and did not find satisfaction in traditional „values“. In the end, there are characters whose emotions overcome reason, which is why the fail to achieve success, since they are also sabotaged in this by an overly calculated social environment.