Counter-Colonial Discourse And Identity Construction In A House For Mr. Biswas

A House for Mr. Biswas is a masterpiece of V. S. Naipaul, who is a Nobel Prize winner in literature. The novel describes the life of a Hindu family in West Indies from the early twentieth century to the end of WWII. This thesis tries to employ Homi Bhabha’s postcolonial theory to analyze how the colonized construct their identity through counter-colonial discourse strategies.The thesis is composed of five parts. The introduction part presents an overview of V. S. Naipaul and the novel A House for Mr. Biswas, followed by a summary of the criticism of the novel abroad and in China. According to the literature review, although the study of A House for Mr. Biswas has emerged in China since its publication, few scholars have noticed the relationship between counter-colonial discourse and hybrid identity. In the end of this section, an explanation of Homi Bhabha’s theory on counter-colonial discourse strategies including ambivalence, mimicry and sly civility is made.Chapter two examines Mr. Biswas’identity dilemma, which is analyzed from the aspects of religious belief, colonial education and Hindus family tradition. Ever since he was born, Mr. Biswas has undergone the teachings of Hinduism, the indoctrination of colonial education and the family manipulation. His fights against these respects represent his realization of his self-identity.Chapter three analyzes Mr. Biswas’actions and strivings of constructing his self-identity which can be interpreted with counter-colonial strategies. Facing the mixed culture of suzerain and Indian, Mr. Biswas has to fight against the suzerain cultural oppression on the one hand; on the other hand, he has to get rid of the dregs of traditional Hindu culture. The ambivalence of colonial discourse leaves space for the colonized to resist and appropriate; meanwhile, the abruption of traditional Indian culture provides them circumstances to fight and counteract. Due to Mr. Biswas’ambivalent attitude towards the two cultures, he absorbs as well as resists them. He attempts to construct his independent identity in the process of struggling. Mr. Biswas’behavior can be analyzed from the perspectives of Homi Bhabha’s counter-colonial discourse theories which including "ambivalence", "mimicry", "sly civility" and "hybrid identity".Chapter four delves into the formation of Mr. Biswas’hybrid identity. It is difficult to form a single national and cultural identity in the interstitial space of languages, religions and cultures. Trinidad is a converging point where varied cultures meet. The ideologies and cultures of the colonizer and the colonized are not impregnable but are negotiable in this interstitial space. Mr. Biswas inevitably forms his hybrid identity in Trinidad where the culture is mixed. The hybridity of the Tulsis religious belief and Mr. Biswas’ sending his son Anand to Britain to receive education even though he himself is contemptuous of colonial education. They perfectly demonstrate Trinidad’s hybrid culture and Mr. Biswas’ formation of hybrid identity.This thesis combines counter-colonial discourse theories and hybrid identity formation in attempt to analyze the subject of identity construction. The conclusion points out the colonized who attempt to seek single national and cultural identity in colonial countries inevitably form hybrid identities due to the collision and fusion of different cultures.