Identity Crisis: A Postcolonial Critique of A Bend in the River

Abstract

This research paper studies Naipaul’s A Bend in the River through the lens of postcolonial concepts like Othering, Hybridity, Exile and Dispossession. Naipaul depicts postcolonial diasporic literature which exhibits mixed feelings marking the lives of émigrés through the essential dichotomies. The contradiction between Self and Other, hybridity, nostalgia, sense of alienation prevail throughout the novel in one way or another. The relevance of the study is Naipaul’s postcolonial perception and to understand the typical postcolonial halfness which gets a fair response through the hands of the author. The postcolonial jargon makes Naipaul penetrate deeper into the lives of the colonized affected by the colonizers. The so-called civilizing mission’s absurdity is exposed in the novel.  This research paper tries to explore the theoretical nuances of postcolonial terms in the perspective of Naipaul’s novel A Bend in the River. Naipaul has presented a condemned, fragmented society that lacks creative potential, a society that is black and cannot govern itself, a society that is ruled by an external power. The conclusion is not different from the racist ideology of colonialism that justifies the occupation of other lands and defends the so-called human face of western colonialism.

Keywords: Identity Crisis, Postcolonial Critique, A Bend in the River, Othering, Hybridity, Exile