| Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul(1932—)is a British writer and the winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in literature.In his novels Naipaul pays special attention to the history and current situation of the Third World,depicting all kinds of postcolonial problems.As one of Naipaul's most famous works,A Bend in the River depicts cultural conflict and identity crisis faced by people in a postcolonial Third World.This thesis adopts Homi Bhabha's postcolonial theory as its theoretical framework in exploring and analyzing the theme of cultural conflict and identity-formation of the novel.The thesis finds that in A Bend in the River the Third World people live between Western modernity and African tradition and experience acute cultural conflict and identity crisis.The protagonist Salim wanders between African culture and Western culture,failing to form his cultural identity.Indar worships Western culture and hopes to integrate into Western society,but ends up as the "Sick Child" of the West.Ferdinand chooses to guard native culture after imitating various kinds of people around him.Their obsession with identity formation,to a large extent,reflects that postcolonial countries' people are eager to form their own cultural identity and reconstruct their spiritual home.In addition,in the process of identity formation,almost everyone in the novel blindly mimics Western culture.The Big Man wishes to build a vibrant new Africa by mimicking the Western-style governance.Common people want to become successful and live a better life by mimicry of Western Culture.However,the country falls into severe turbulence again in the end.The writer concludes that blind mimicry and evasion can never help postcolonial countries realize genuine independence.Mimicry will only lead to hopelessness for the Third World people.To achieve true independence,a sense of belonging and identity formation,the Third World people must abandon mimicry and face the reality and crisis bravely. |
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