A Reading Of The Buddha Of Suburbia From The Perspective Of Lacan's Theory

Hanif Kureishi(1954---)is an important Pakistani writer in the contemporary British,his works mainly discussed the living conditions of the marginalized people.The “hybrid identity” and “class and ethnics” are key words of his primary works.One of his representatives is the Buddha of Suburbia.The Buddha is a semi-autobiographical discusses the stories about the new generation of Pakistani immigrants in the context of 1970 s.Most scholars like to analyze the growth predicament from the perspective of post-colonial and initiation theme;others utilize Foucault's power theory and Cornell's masculine theory to analyze the images in the novel.All these researches can help readers to have a deeper understanding to the authors and the main idea of this novel.Seldomly has research analyzes Karim's physic world in his growth journey.Combining Lacan's theory with the personal identity theory to analyze Karim's experience between the suburbia and London will help people have better understanding to immigrants' mental stage in different period of self-pursuit.Lacan's theory will be embedded in this text in the following way.Three registers are constituted by the imaginary,symbolic and real.As a subject,Karim will encounter the mirror stage and form an “self-ego” in the imaginary order.When he realizes that the “self-ego” formed in the imaginary order is just an illusion,a positive exploration begins.In the symbolic order,the subject tries to master the authority of his father and utilizes the means of language to form the “ideal-ego”.The subject tries to express self by a “speaking-subject” but suffers a lot.Being threaten by “the name of the father”,the subject found the impossibility to reconstruct a“self-ego” and willing to back to the real order.In the real order,the subject completes the transient “self-ego” and moves into a new journey.Lacan's three registers correspond to the identity-crisis,identitypursuit and identity-reconstruction firmly which can help readers to understand protagonist's physic world in every period.The layout of the thesis runs in such a way that in chapter one has a brief introduction to Hanif Kureishi and his representative work the Buddha of Suburbia and literature review about the Buddha.In this chapter the author also overviews Lacan's mirror stage theory and Three Orders theory and set forth the significance of it.The second discussed Karim's confusion in the Imaginary Order,the Imaginary Order correspond to the “mirror stage”.Karim,being bothered by troubles from external word and inner world,was confused about his self-identity and unable to achieve self-ego.Thus,he always struggles to achieve the “dream-ego”.The third describes the process of Karim to pursuit his “ideal-ego”.In this stage,the protagonist will be threatened by the “Name-of-the-Father” and restricted by the laws and language.In the 1970 s in British,the white upper class is the representative of the power of the father.Karim wanted to approach them;he must cater their prejudice and arrogance.The last chapter uncovers the tortuous process of the subject to construct the “self-ego” in the Symbolic Order.Symbolic Order corresponds to the “post-mirror stage”.When the protagonist's “dream-ego” is being damaged in the Symbolic Order,he will try to back into the Real Order.The Real Order is not equal to the reality;it is not being constricted by laws and culture.The Real Order has a close relationship with “pre-mirror stage”.In the “pre-mirror stage”,he seeks assistance from the traditional culture,the spirit Karim inherited from his father benefits him a lot in the predicament.In the end,he built up the image as a “giver” and constructed the “self-ego”.In the conclusion,the author summarizes whole passage and points the significance and limitation of this thesis.In the context of post-colonial,Karim is the same as most of the immigrants,feels confused and puzzled about “person identity”.But even they realize the impossibility to construct the “self-identity”,they will never feel disappointed or discourage but pursuit the “self-ego” actively.Nowadays,the problem “personal identity” has been discussed repeatly,everyone has his own suspicion and pursuit to“self-identity”.Much of identity theories are constructed through the delivery of Language(a kind of conscious act).Lacan's theory offers new readings about identity construction through the unconscious way which promotes a more active subject.Lacanian identity theory gives more weight to how individuals interpret themselves as subjects who determine the choices of their identity-making,rather than as objects passively waiting to be determined by the environment within which they live.Combined Lacan's theory with Karim's intricate and distinctive growth journey to analyze the development process of “personal identity” will promote these two theories' application in the literary criticism.