An Analysis Of The Construction Of Immigrants’ Cultural Identity In The Lonely Londoners

As a famous Caribbean immigrant novelist,Samuel Selvon created prolific immigrant works.In his "Moses trilogy",The Lonely Londoners received public attention as a typical work which depicts West Indian immigrants’ lives and exploration in the U.K.This thesis analyzes the construction of immigrants’ cultural identity in The Lonely Londoners through applying Stuart Hall’s cultural identity theory.There are five parts in total in this thesis.The first part introduces the novel The Lonely Londoners and its author Samuel Selvon briefly and narrates the background of the novel.The second part categorizes the various perspectives that domestic studies and studies abroad that have been taken on the novel.Part three introduces Stuart Hall’s cultural identity theory including the three Presences and the two definitions or statuses of cultural identity construction.The next part elaborates the situation in which West Indian immigrants are alienated as "the other" in the British society under the background of WWII by using Presence Africaine.Moreover,the conflicts between English local Whites and West Indian immigrants in terms of economics and politics are analyzed by using Presence Europeenee under the context of colonial imperialism.Finally,in Presence Americaine with the characteristic of change,West Indian immigrants are able to construct a hybrid cultural identity in the English society.However,along the process of constructing hybrid cultural identity,there are two statuses which present immigrants’ different reactions and attitudes toward English culture.The behaviors of those images in the novel show that despite of the oppression and colonial activities in England,West Indian immigrants will finally shape a new,hybrid cultural identity through exploration,collision and integration with the mainstream English culture under Presence Americanie.The last part is the conclusion of this thesis.This thesis proves that it is possible to construct a diverse and hybrid cultural identity for West Indian immigrants in the imperialist England.In addition,when confronting with the issue of cultural identity selection,immigrants could better survive in the culture of "the other" through understanding and learning local culture and furthermore,integrating the essence of the local culture into their own cultural traits.The study of how colonized immigrants survive and construct hybrid cultural identity in the colonial state would help to provide certain experience for the current immigrants about the problem of cultural identity selection.