V.S. Naipaul’s Mimic Men: Analysis of Identity Crisis

V.S. Naipauls imitate Men Analysis of Identity CrisisAbstractThis term attempts to determine representation of identity crisis in V. S. Naipauls work mimic Men. And this article attempts to relate how this novel is replete with the theme of identity crisis. Furthermore, the digest of the novels genre and characters decl ar themes that ar coloured by postmodern trait of fragmentation, which is discussed on a theoretical base with a focus on the theme of identity crisis. V.S. Naipaul has always represented a denial of the third-world spirit, and has represented societies that withstand recently emerged from colonialism. He describes the way these societies character in the post- colonial order. Though imperialism has passed and the colonies have attained an independent status, that these nations of the Third demesne faces a lot of problems like economic, social and political, and these are emerged identity crisis in the society. As a post- colonial novelist, Naipaul c oncentr ates on major(ip) themes related to the problems of the colonized tribe. As an observer and interpreter of the ex- colonies, he clarifies the inadequacies of such(prenominal) societies. In his novels, The Mimic Men, the theme acquire a universality and observes and presents the fragmentation and alienation happen to be the universal localization of function of man in the present day world.IntroductionSome eminent Third human beings critics concentrate mainly on Naipauls development as a creative artist who picks up issues relating to the Third World. His works throw brighten on the Post-colonial and post- imperial realities that have shaped the contemporary societies and provides important insights relating to them. Naipauls novels lead to a better understanding of the problems that are faced by the post- imperial generations. In The Mimic Men, it has been observed that, as in the novels canvas in the introductory chapters, the characters as well as situations in The Mimic Me n are dealt with by an incertain approach. The larger emphasis, however, has been seen to be laid on Singhs attitude which creates ambivalence identity crisis by emphasising his seesaw relationship to Isabella and capital of the United Kingdom. For instance, in the attic scene, Singh has been observed to vacillate amongst the magic and the forlornness of the urban center, which is London, the heart of Empire. Then, in the forward scene, Singh on the one hand criticises his colonial island for being a transitional and make-do society that neglects order, and on the other hand, he describes London as the great disorder and the last emptiness. While Singh gravels the natural elements of London, such as the blow and the light of dusk gorgeous, he detests Londons dullness and drop of colour. Soon afterwards Singh has left Isabella with the intention never to return, he states that London has gone sour on him and that he longs for the certainties of his island, although this is t he place from where he once wanted to escape. These early scenes, then, which pass during Singhs stay as a student in London, tell nearly Singhs disillusionment with London, to where he has come, fleeing disorder, and to find the beginning of order. In a second flash-forward, however, as Singh arrives at Isabella, he calls his journey to and from London a double journey and a double failure. This ambivalent situation indicates that Singh is nowhere at home, and it is an indirect reprehension towards the colonizer, who can be said to be the original construct of Singhs rootlessness, identity crisis, because he has displaced colonial multitude like Singh. This phone line is reinforced by an example given by Singh, where, to write his biography, he prefers the dull suburb hotel of London to the ultoral cocoa estate on Isabella. Singh calls his return to Isabella a mistake, only he believes that the cause of his mistake has been the stigma inflicted on him by London, where he ca n never feel himself as anything but disintegrating, pointless, and fluid. This is another example that shows to what extent Singh has been affected by the colonisers practice of displacing people. Leaving Isabella, Singh feels relief. But as he arrives in London Singh feels he is bleeding. For the second time he senses the forlornness of the city on which he has twice fixed so important a hope. Twice he has come to the centre of Empire to find order, but twice he has been disillusioned.Identity crisisThe identity crisis that his characters face is due to the destroying of their past and those who eventually overcome the crisis are the ones who have recovered their past or somehow managed to impose an order on their histories and moved on in flavour. Naipauls attitude to civilization has always been progressive. It is the Third- Worlds subterfuge mimicry of the watt that he cannot stomach. He lashes out at the shortcomings of Third- World societies, which have their roots in thei r traditional cultures, but are unretentive of them in their blind following of the West. They are thus able to adduce a distinct identity. But for the generation born in exile, life in the foreign soil proves almost fatal, as they have not been blessed with the insularity of their forefathers, who went there from India. For the new generation, India loses the sense of reality that it had conveyed to their roots. The major themes that emerge from a reading of his novels are related to the problems of the colonized people their sense of Alienation from the landscapes, their identity crisis, the paradox of freedom and the problem of neocolonialism in the ex-colonies. The people who can no longer happen upon with a pagan heritage lose the assurance and integrity which the locating racial ancestor provides. In addition, the harsh conditions of colonialism have left the West Indian enceinte conditions under the burden of poverty and ignorance. Because psychological and physical con ditions correspond so closely, the unhouse, poverty stricken West Indian is so often culturally and spiritually dispossessed as well. His only alter inherent is to strive after the culture of his ex-colonial masters even though he is unable to identify with their traditions and values. In The Mimic men, however, Kripal Singh is not handicapped by poverty, ignorance, a lack of natural talent or the persecution of a grasping Hindu family. He has gained the material success, public eminence and apparent independence that Ganesh, Harbans and Biswas all longed to have. In addition, because of his university education and his exposure to a more sophisticated society in London, he is better able to recognize and articulate the many ills of his native back ground. but his clearly superior status and acute intellect do not make him any less vulnerable to the subtle, notwithstanding over powering consequences of his psychologically fragmented and confusing past. In fact, his ability to edi t his own condition sharpens rather than reduces his total alienation from his environment and his final rejection of an active life. The Mimic Men, however, is more than a mere elaboration of Naipauls previous West Indian novels it is a profound re enactment of the emersion and nature of the East Indian, west Indian psyche and its reaction to the third cultures, Indian, Creole and English, which influence it. In the process, Kripal Singh, the narrator, confessor and visionary, comments on power, politics, social and racial interactions, sex, education, displacement, isolation and identity crisis as experienced by the ex-colonial. Each topic is used to illuminate a facet of his mind.ConclusionTo summarise what has been argued above, Singh is disillusioned about both Isabella and London, because he is a member of a colonised people that has been displaced identity crisis on a colonial slave-island, with a racially and culturally mixed population. In the period before Singh comes t o London, he vacillates between his inclination to escape from the island, where he feels displaced and rootless, and the feeling that experience past on the colonial island nevertheless attaches him somehow to it. During Singhs political career, the ambivalent attitudes in Singh and Browne have shown that, while they seem to criticise the colonised and the colony, their ambivalent attitude actually indicates that the real source of the faults criticised in individuals and the society is to be found with the coloniser. Finally, Singh escapes from his artificial home to the imperial centre and claims to have found fulfilment there, but his ambivalent attitude again shows that these are not real fulfilments, but only excuses used by Singh to find a sense of attachment in a certain location of the earth. However, even during this seeming compromise, Singh makes his important statement that finally attaches him to his own culture and not to the one of the coloniser.ReferencesBongie, Ch ris. Islands and Exiles The Creole Identities of Post/Colonial Literature.California Stanford University Press, 1998.Harney, Stefano. nationalism and Identity Culture and the Imagination in aCaribbean Diaspora. Kingston University of the West Indies, 1996.Naipaul, V.S. The Mimic Men. London, New York, etc. Penguin Books, 1969. (Firstpublished 1967).