Awakening, Mimicry And Hybridity:a Thematic Study Of Cultural Identity In V. S. Naipaul’s Novels

Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul (1932-), the2001Nobel Prize Laureate in literature, is considered as one of the leading novelists in postcolonial literature. As a Trinidadian by birth, an Indian by origin and a Briton by citizenship, Naipaul’s writing mainly concentrates on the colonial natives’ quest for cultural identity in the changing postcolonial context.Jean S. Phinney’s "A Three Stage Model of Ethnic Identity Development in Adolescent" provides a solid theoretical basis for this thesis. According to this model, it involves three stages to form one’s cultural identity:unexamined cultural identity, cultural identity search and cultural identity achievement. Naipaul’s protagonists experience similar three stages in constructing their cultural identity. As postcolonial subjects, they either conduct colonial mimicry after their awakening from unexamined cultural identity or enter the Third Space through acquiring a hybrid cultural identity.As representative novels at different stages of Naipaul’s writing career, A House for Mr. Biswas, The Mimic Men and A Bend in the River present colonial natives’ progressive experiences in exploring their cultural identity in different phases. Chapter one concentrates on the rebellious generation’s awakening from unexamined cultural identity in colonial Trinidad. Biswas, protagonist of A House for Mr. Biswas, pioneers the rebellion against traditional Indian culture through attempting to acquire a house of his own. Though his rebellion does not yield a satisfactory cultural identity achievement, Biswas successfully awakens his wife Shama as well as his peers from unexamined cultural identity.Chapter two examines the mimic generation’s cultural identity search on transitional Isabella. Deprived of traditional Indian cultural roots and born as a minority on multi-racial and multi-ethnic Isabella, Singh attempts to form his cultural identity through mimicking the West, only to end up being a Recognizable Other. The West instills Singh the belief that mimicry could enable him to gain an independent cultural identity, yet his mimic behaviors reduce himself to a more dependent position. Therefore, Singh’s colonial mimicry turns a harsh irony that undermines what the West has touted to colonial subjects. Eventually, Singh resorts to writing as a means of reflecting his failure in cultural identity search.Chapter Three interprets the hybrid generation’s cultural identity achievement in the postcolonial context. As an Indian Muslim located on the Coast of Africa, Salim keeps re-defining and re-negotiating his relationship with both Indian culture and the European culture. Thus, Salim succeeds in entering the Third Space and eventually forms a hybrid cultural identity by incorporating the essence of traditional Indian culture as well as that of the European culture.As a novelist who himself encounters cultural identity confusion, Naipaul makes unremitting exploration of how colonial natives form their cultural identity in the changing postcolonial context, gives progressive resolution at different stages of his writing career and further vitalizes the discussion concerning cultural identity.