An Analysis Of The Carnivalism In The Miguel Street

V S Naipaul, the winner of the Nobel Price of Literature in2001, is one of the mostinfluential English-writers in the world, and he is also an immigrant writer with multi-identity.His ancestor were from India but he was born in Trinidad and lives in Britain now. Thiscomplex background helps Naipaul shape the uncertainty and puzzle of his culture identity.Naipaul created many outstanding works and won numerous literature awards. Most of all, hehad finished his virgin work The Miguel Street when he was22years old. Regarded as themasterpiece of Naipaul, The Miguel Street won great honor for the writer. The novel waspublished more than ten times and won Somerset Maugham Award which made Naipaul astrong contestant for the Nobel Price of Literature.The Miguel Street is the memories of the writer’s childhood in Trinidad and it depicts thecondition of underclass people, which seeks joy amid poverty and miserable life under thecolonial rule. Studies at home and abroad on The Miguel Street mainly concentrate onpost-colonialism, the narrative strategy, diasporic literature and marginality of the novel, butfew scholars have ever discussed this novel in the framework of Bakhtin’s carnivalism. Afterreading The Miguel Street in detail, this thesis discovers Carnivalism infiltrated in everyaspects.Carnival is a term presented by the Russian Literature and Art Mr. Bakhtin that describesthe popular cultural resistance to the official cultural restraints. Carnival embodies a kind offolk wisdom and opposes all forms of authority. Carnival subverts the realistic rules andstandards to ensure everybody’s freedom and liberation. On the base of carnival theory, thisthesis interprets how the protagonists release their passions for life and stage some mad,absurd and ridiculous tragicomedies. However, carnival life is not eternal. After the passionsrestrained, these humble people have no choice but to accept their fate, trapping in painful lifewith broken dream. It is presented in some works that Naipaul concerns cipher’s passion andsadness. Therefore, one of the important themes in Naipaul’s writing is his concerns topeople’s existence and experience. According to the analysis of the words, structures andfigures in The Miguel Street, this thesis reveals a profound carnival in the world and the deepsadness in people’s life hiding in the carnival spirits.