On The Identity Ambiguity Of Ralph Singh In The Mimic Men From The Perspective Of Postcolonialism

V.S. Naipaul (1932-) is one of the most distinguished authors who are alive intoday’s literary world. He has received lots of awards in his life, such as the famousBooker Prize, the W.H. Smith Literary Award, T.S. Eliot Literary Award, and mostimportantly, the Nobel Prize in Literature. He is a typical postcolonial writer incontemporary. Bruce King called him “one of the most original, disputed, andoutstanding authors of our age.(Pan19)” It is because of that, Naipaul and his worksare welcomed by many scholars home and abroad.The Mimic Men (1967) is an autobiographical novel, which tells a story about thecolonial and postcolonial age, and the experience of a West Indian. In the novel,Ralph Singh is a middle-aged West Indian businessman and politician, who talksretrospectively about his experience in Isabella and his diasporic life in London.Though there is a lot of studies about V.S. Naipaul and his novels, most of thempay attention to these works—The Mystic Masseur (1957), Miguel Street (1959), AHouse for Mr.Biswas (1961), A Bend in the River (1979), The Middle Journey (1981).Up to now, for The Mimic Men, there are only a few studies. Many of them talk aboutthe writing background, culture, and the mimic behavior of Ralph Singh and hismarginal identity.This thesis aims at discussing the protagonist Ralph Singh’s ambiguous identityfrom the perspective of postcolonialism. In the novel, he is searching for and isperplexed about in his whole life, and the multiple self he always strives for is anuncertain answer. The author provides suspense for the protagonist’s identity in thenovel. It is this uncertain and ambiguous self that hurts Singh’s wandering heart andwins the readers sympathy. This thesis tries to discuss it in many parts. All in all, itdescribes Naipaul’s satire of the great harm for the individual caused by colonialismthrough Singh’s experience on one hand; on the other hand, it demonstrates theinevitability of multiple identities by analyzing Singh’s efforts he takes to constructhis own identity and search for the self. At the same time, it shows that any individuals like Singh who wants to be a real self under the colonialismcircumstances will have tremendous difficulty. For them, losing self is a kind ofnecessity.