An Analysis Of Ugwu's Identity Reconstruction In Half Of A Yellow Sun

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a new generation of young writers in Nigeria.Her representative novel,Half of a Yellow Sun tells stories of Ugwu and other two protagonists in the Nigerian civil war,describes the changes of the ordinary Nigerians in the war,and explores the issues of race,gender,morality and ethnic in this history.Based on the post-colonial concepts of “mimicry” and “hybridity” of Homi Bhabha,this paper delves into how the protagonist Ugwu sheds his Other identity,gets rid of the colonial shackles,and reconstructs his hybrid identity.Hereby,this paper explores its referential significance to the local cultural identity and the colonial cultural identity.First of all,this paper analyzes Ugwu's identity of racial otherness,cultural otherness and social otherness.Based on mimicry,this paper explores Ugwu's mimicry of language and behavior.Moreover,it discusses the identity dilemma of Ugwu caused by his alienation from the native community and his incompatibility with the colonial culture.Secondly,this paper analyzes the awakening of Ugwu identity from the perspective of self-awareness and identity transformation.Under the guidance of hybridity,this thesis explores the hybridity of Ugwu's identity,and its promotion to voice for the Nigerian culture and the subversion of the colonial discourse hegemony.Thirdly,this paper further explores the revelation of Ugwu's identity reconstruction to the native cultural identity,the reflection on the colonial culture,and the enlightenment of cultural identity in cultural exchange in the era of globalization.Through the above analysis,this paper finds that in post-independent Nigeria,Ugwu cannot return to the pure original identity,nor can he survive through his mimicry of the Western hegemonic culture.Only through dynamic hybridization to establish a new identity,can he adapt to the living environment of the society in the era of globalization.The enlightenment of Ugwu's identity reconstruction is that in the process of cultural exchanges,participates should abandon their prejudices,face up to Self and Other,enhance cultural understanding,respect cultural differences,and boost cultural integration in exchanges and complementation.