An Analysis Of A Bend In The River From The Perspective Of Cultural Identity

The formation of the post-colonialism theory can date back to the end of the 1970 s, which takes the publication of Orientalism of Said as the sign. Since then it has gradually become the focus of attention in the field of critical theories, especially in the field of literary criticism. Edward W. Said, Gayatri C. Spivak and Homi K. Bhabha, these three most famous post-colonialism theorists are named after the “Holy Trinity”. Though they have different ideas from one another on some issues of the study of the post-colonialism theory, they express a common concern towards the cultural collision caused by power relations between the mother country culture and the culture of colonizers and the crisis of cultural identification of individuals under such circumstances.The winner of 2001 Nobel Prize for literature Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul(1932-) is a significant and controversial post-colonialism writer. The reason of his being awarded is that “for having united perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories”. A Bend in the River is his second African novel after his novel In a Free State, which means the story happened in a newly-independent country in Africa. The novel reveals the dilemma of Africa between the native culture and the western civilization. The background of the novel is set in a small town of a newly-independent African country. The protagonist called Salim narrates what has happened since the independence in the town from the perspective of an outsider. Salim is an Indian immigrant who comes from a Muslim family, managing a small shop in the town. In the newly-independent town, he has realized the vacant behavior of people in the newly-independent country when faced with the conflict between the mighty culture of the colonizers and the weak culture of their own. The crisis of cultural identification of individuals makes the town which is the representative of the whole country fall into the predicament of poverty, chaos and insecurity.The thesis has studied the novel A Bend in the River and analyzed the issue of cultural identification of individuals reflected on the novel in the post-colonial society from the perspective of post-colonialism in the theory relevant to the cultural identity of Homi Bhabha. According to Homi Bhabha, the cultural identification is neither be regulated by the racial tradition nor be defined for the identity of colonizer or the colonized. The individuals living in the post-colonial society cannot choose their fixed cultural identity while constructing their own cultural identification when faced with the conflict between different cultures. The cause of crisis of their cultural identification lies in the ambivalence of their cultural identities. Blind imitation of the western culture is the manifestation of crisis of cultural identification. They can only choose to exile for their inability of finding their own cultural belongings.There are three parts of the thesis, which includes introduction, main body and conclusion. The introduction gives a brief introduction on Naipaul and his works and the practical significance of the thesis. The main body is composed of five chapters. Chapter One introduces the theory of Homi Bhabha, which is the theoretical base of the thesis. Chapter Two analyzes the cause of crisis of cultural identification. It refers to the ambivalent identities. There are two main reasons. One is the cultural displacement between the mighty western culture and the weaken native culture and the other is the hybridity produced by the conflict between the native culture and the western culture. Chapter Three describes the manifestation of crisis of cultural identification. It refers to the blind mimicry. It will be analyzed from three aspects. The first part is the political imitation of the Big Man. The second part is the mimic of immigrants. The third part is the imitation of the ordinary people of the country. Chapter Four analyzes the aftermath of failure of cultural identification. There is no choice for the individuals but to exile. For the unique life experience and distinctive cultural background of Naipaul, the theme of diaspora presents frequently in his works. A Bend in the River is no exception. The writer has created several vivid characters of diaspora. Chapter Five gives an interpretation of the symbols which symbolizes the conflict between different cultures. The conclusion concludes the above five chapters. The cultural identity cannot be regulated or be divided by the race. The individuals cannot choose one fixed cultural identity and they have to live in the space between cultures. However, the marginal perspective produced by the post-colonial cultural identification is meaningful for the communication in nowadays. All in all, the thesis is an analysis of the crisis of cultural identification in the post-colonial society in the theory of Homi Bhabha.