Cultural Identity Within V.S.Naipaul’s The Mimic Men

V. S. Naipaul is a British writer of Indian heritage. Until now he has published over 30 books of fiction and nonfiction and is the recipient of numerous honors. In 2001 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Swedish Academy praised his work for having united perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories. The Mimic Men was written in 1967, which broke new ground for him. The novel is of both fiction and nonfiction, its language illusive and ironic, its structure whimsical, which all contributed to the winning of WH Smith Literary award in 1968.Research both abroad and at home on The Mimic Men turns out to be much less in comparison to Naipaul’s other works. But this is not to say this work is not important. When we read through most of Naipaul’s novels, it is easy to find that The Mimic Men marks a turning point in his writing career. Most of his early writings are comic. And because of the fact that The Mimic Men has not been translated into Chinese, it poses barriers to many scholars at home. Until now, studies on The Mimic Men are mainly concentrated on its theme, the postcolonial context and mimicry. Though many interpretations existed until now are focused on mimicry, which is fully elaborated in Homi K. Bhabha’s work, none but one has tried to interpret it in perspective of Bhabha’s theory in full scale. This thesis aims to analyze two main characters’ identity seeking process in the novel in perspective of three important concepts, mimicry, hybridity and the third space, in Bhabha’s theory. The characters’ identity seeking process will be fully revealed and analyzed in this thesis.This thesis consists of four main sections apart from introduction and conclusion.Introduction presents a general overview of V. S. Naipaul and his work The Mimic Men, including studies and comments on it both abroad and at home, the significance of this thesis and proposing a further reading of two main characters’, Singh and Kripalsingh, identity seeking process in this novel.Chapter one introduces briefly about Homi K. Bhabha, the world renowned postcolonial theorist and fully elaborated the main concepts of his theory. With Edward Said and Gary C. Spivak, the three of them have been known as the Holy Trinity in the field of post-colonialism. Being influenced most by Edward Said, Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault, his theory about cultural identity mainly focuses on three words, mimicry, hybridity and the third space, which he coined or borrowed from his predecessors in his work The Location of Culture.Chapter two provides a detailed analysis of the reasons of the main characters identity loss in the novel. Because of the education colonial people receives, it is natural for them to think that it is the only way for the colonized intellectuals to become ‘English’ in order to get rid of the abandoned position. To assert their identities, colonials usually undergo an inevitable stage of mimicry after the negation of their colonial identities. But rather than bring them into the mainstream of the dominant culture, it intensifies their sense of alienation and they find no place to anchor their identities, neither at home nor in the metropolitan state.Chapter three gives full description of the process of the two main characters’ identity seeking efforts. In a world whose culture has been constantly degraded the colonized intellectuals can find nowhere to anchor their identity, which, according to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, is one of the basic needs of human beings. In the end, only a few can stand out to claim that they have found their ways of salvation. This is just what happens to the characters in The Mimic Men. In this chapter, we will try to give an interpretation to their actions from the perspectives of three main conceptions: mimicry, hybridity and the third space, which come from Homi K. Bhabha’s theory.Chapter four comes to Singh and Kripalsingh’s identity awakening and analyzes their different ways of salvation. Singh has constantly moved between Isabella and London, in different time, he resorts to fleshly indulgence with woman, political involvement and finally awakens in the act of writing his memoir. Kriplesingh starts from mimicking the western missionary, when fails, he withdraws to his family and work as a government servant in the Education Department of Isabella country. After he falls into despair in his family, he comes to awakening but goes to extreme and becomes the leader of the old slave people.From the analysis and discussion above, conclusion points out the main characters’ typical identity seeking course: from “essence” to “processes”. And also the novel gives us a glimpse of the typical identity problems that the Third World people have encountered. In perspective of Bhabha’s theory we have a more profound understanding on this aspect.