Problems With Postcolonial Revolutions In V.S.Naipaul's Novels

V.S.Naipaul,who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001,is one of the most representative postcolonial writers in literature.An Indian by blood,a Trinidadian by birth,and a Briton by citizenship after four years of studying in Cambridge University,he has a complex cultural identity.As an outstanding postcolonial writer,Naipaul has an abiding interest in the history and current situation of the third world countries,and spares no effort to criticize the social problems of those countries in the postcolonial period,which has provoked a lot of controversy.Some people criticize Naipaul as a traitor of the third world by singing praises of Western civilization,but others say that Naipaul calmly and objectively exposes the reality of the third world countries,thereby forcing people to face up to and try to solve the problems of the third world.Naipaul's works,mostly being set in India,Trinidad,Africa or other Caribbean island countries,reflect the social,political,economic situation and people's living conditions of the third world countries from various aspects.The problems faced by the third world countries in the postcolonial era,such as economic hardship,political unrest,racial violence and identity crisis,are fully exhibited in Naipaul's novels.Although Naipaul has tried his best to avoid over-politicizing his literary works,he not only directly describes the political problems of the third world countries in his works such as Magic Seeds and Guerrillas,but also focuses on the core issue of politics—"revolution".Since the early 1970s,the newly independent countries have been more and more troubled by the influence of neocolonialism.In many former colonies,independence has not brought about essential changes.Hierarchy of power still exists,and the value system of former colonists is still popular.People there are still living with great sufferings.As a result,a series of revolutions aiming at pursuing freedom and democracy broke out in the postcolonial countries,such as the Black Power Movement in Guerrillas.The author of this thesis argues that Naipaul's novels expose the hypocritical nature of these revolutions and the true face of the revolutionaries,destroy the illusion of revolution,and try to explore an effective way for postcolonial countries to achieve decolonization.The thesis consists of five chapters.The first chapter introduces Naipaul and his novels at the very beginning,then gives a literature review of Naipaul studies and finally explains the focus and structure of this thesis.The middle three chapters are the body of the thesis.The second chapter discusses the major social problems faced by the third world countries after independence in the postcolonial period,such as social unrest,political subordination,economic dependence,and cultural identity crisis.The discussion in the second chapter serves as the basis for the evaluation of the postcolonial revolutions in the third chapter.Chapter Three focuses on the revolutions depicted in Naipaul's works.It exposes the falsity of the pseudo revolutionaries,criticizes the inappropriate means of revolution such as violence,reveals the mimetic nature of the revolutions,and exhibits the failure of the revolutions.The fourth chapter explores the implication of Naipaul's writing about postcolonial revolutions.On the one hand,Naipaul's novels show the futility of the imitative revolutions,and convey to readers that such revolutions cannot rid the third world countries of colonial influence and solve their problems.On the other hand,the novels imply more feasible ways for postcolonial revolution—cultural resistance.The fifth chapter is Conclusion,which summarizes the previous discussions and the major arguments of the thesis,and reemphasizes the significance of studying the postcolonial revolutions in Naipaul's novels.