VOLUME-I, ISSUE-III
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Hybridity of Cultures and Perplexity of Identities: A Diasporic Study of V.S. Naipaul’s
The Mimic Men
Mr. Shrikant Rambhau Susar
Asst. Prof.in English,
Arts Commerce and Science College,
Satral, (Maharashtra)
Abstract
A Unique identity and a uniform culture is a mirage for an immigrant. Cultural integration resulting in identity
crisis is an inevitable factor in the life of a diaspora. He makes a constant attempt to inhabit the cultural
practices and conventions of the host land while having his own culture already internalized. This
multiculturalism or hybridity affects irrecoverably to the notion of identity. Identity of a diaspora is in a
constant flux as it shifts from one location to another. V. S. Naipaul therefore maintains antagonistic approach
to hybridity. The present paper is an attempt to probe into the perplexed identity of a diaspora caused by the
attempts of acculturation in the host land with reference to Naipaul’s The Mimic Men. Besides, it underscores
the fact that identity is always formed in binary opposition and multiplicity of identity naturally possessed by a
diaspora keeps him under the threat of extinction from society, homelessness and exclusion.
Key words: Hybridity, Culture, Diaspora, Identity, Cultural disparity.
Hybridity, creolizaiton, double identity, inbetweenness, and diasporas are some of
the most employed and most disputed
terms in Postcolonial studies. The term
hybridity refers to the integration or
mingling of cultural signs, practices and
often the identities from the colonizing and
colonized cultures. The multifaceted
notion of hybridity involves the racial
hybridity, cultural hybridity, linguistic
hybridity, hybridity in national identity
and so on. In her excellent book
Colonialism / Postcolonialsim, Ania
Loomba described “colonial hybridity” as
a “strategy premised on cultural purity,
and aimed at stabilizing the status quo.”
(1998: 174). The perplexed concept of
hybridity is proved very important for
diaspora people since they belong to more
than one culture. Acculturation occurs
naturally when one is away from his home
but the culture left behind is not obliterated
altogether, it revisits. Thus, cultural purity
is contaminated, and the fixed identity is
diluted. The hybrid identity therefore, is an
equivalent to non-identity. The departure
of the diasporas from their origin, roots,
culture, nation, and their attempts of
assimilation in the new culture cause them
anonymity. Initially colonial empires
engendered the biological as well as
intellectual hybridity as the covert means
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of colonization but later the proximity of
colonized subject to the colonizer subject
alarmed the colonizing nations since it
challenged their central locations and
superior positions.
The assimilation and adaptation of cultural
practices, the cross-fertilization of cultures
can be seen as positive, enriching, and
dynamic, as well as oppressive. Hybridity
or multiculturalism, in Naipaul’s view, is
the weapon of colonization which deals a
deathblow to the individual identity, and to
the original “home”. His disapproval of
cultural hybridity and racial heterogeneity
is evident in his earlier novel, The Mimic
Men. The setting is an Island of Isabella,
the post independent Caribbean Island
which is an emblem of multiculturalism,
the results of which are seen as the lack of
peace and order. The people there are
married to the interracial partners who are
not bound by the sense of affinity or
affection. The divorce between Ralph, a
Caribbean diaspora, and Sandra, an
English girl, is the consequence of the
incompatibility between different cultures.
Homi K. Bhabha, being a radical
postcolonial theorist, briefed on the other
side of the notion of hybridity. Bhabha
celebrates it as an anti-colonial strategy in
his collection of essays, The Location of
Culture, Bhabha views hybridity as “a
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MULTIFACETED AND MULTILINGUAL STUDIES
problematic of colonial representation
which reverses the effects of the
colonialist disavowal so that other denied
knowledges enter upon the dominant
discourse and estrange the basis of its
authority” (1994: 05). Moreover, the
production
of hybridization not only
expresses the condition of colonial
enunciation but also marks the possibility
of counter- colonial discourse. Hybridity is
inherently deconstructive as it breaks–off
any possibility of a stable binary
opposition. Whenever, hybridity is
introduced the discrimination between
gender, race and religion disappear.
Bhabha, thus, challenges the ethnocentric
idea and the notion of fixed national
identity. While dealing with the inbetweenness of a diasporic figure Bhabha
asserts that the boundary is not the place
which only separates but the place “from
which something begins its presencing”
(1994: 05).
Hybridity entails the idea that we might
belong to many communities or cultures at
the same time. Bhabha suggests that
literature concerning migrants, the
colonized or political refugees could take
on the task of unhousing received ways of
thinking about the world and discovering
the hybridity that exists within. However,
Bhabha’s optimistic interpretation of the
term though seems theoretically alluring it
is equally difficult in practice. V. S.
Naipaul’s proposition regarding hybridity
as a means of colonization embedded in
his The Mimic Men seems more
convincing.
The Mimic Men demonstrates and
examines the disastrous effects of
colonization in a once colonized but a
newly independent country in the
Caribbean, the island of Isabella. A close
analysis
reveals
that
the
racial
heterogeneity, colonial education and
cultural colonization make the formerly
colonized people of the island unable to
establish order and govern their own
country. The loss of identity, origin, and
home is represented by the protagonist,
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Ralph Singh who lives in exile in London
and
narrates
his
experiences
in
chronological disorder symbolizing his
crippling sense of dislocation and
displacement.
Ralph’s search for his home, his identity
begins from the childhood. He is in
constant attempt of creating a positive
identity for him. The colonial experience
causes him to perceive himself as inferior
to the colonizer and he prefers to live in an
imaginary world, in an imaginary
homeland. He never feels at home on his
island and fantasizes that he is landed there
in a shipwreck. The feeling of the
descendent of the disadvantaged, idlers,
failures and oppressed becomes the cause
of his deep and silent shame. His idea of
civilization is associated with the wealth.
He, therefore, relates himself to the family
of his mother, the owner of the cocoa
estate.
In his school days, the tacit discrimination
between oriental and occidental keeps him
under the threat of extinction. He
competes, compares, and envies his
racially superiors. He changes his name
from Ranjit Kripalsingh to Ralph Sing to
establish his proximity to the English
people. However, this constant shift in
identity leaves him anonymous. In his own
hemisphere Ralph feels proud of having
his origins in Rajputs and Aryans. His
flights of imagination takes him to the
past, perhaps, an unsuccessful effort to
“reclaims his own past” and to research his
origin. Moreover, apart from the fantasy of
the ancient Indian Homeland he envisages
that freedom lies in escape from the colony
to the true home, England. He assumes no
sense of belonging to the Island and
associates the place in which he is born
with chaos as he says, “to be born on an
island like Isabella, an obscure new world
transplantation, second – hand barbarous,
was to be born to disorder” (118). Ralph
develops a strong dislike for the island
when he knows from his friend, Browne,
the secret that Isabella is an artificially
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created society, designed for colonial
profit.
The fact that refusal of or rebel against the
colonizer is futile is exemplified by the
failure of Ralph’s father in developing the
movement for the rights of the dock
workers. The ephemeral success of the
movement and the new identity of his
father as Gurudeva causes Ralph only an
embarrassment in his imperial school.
Ralph is already alienated from his family
and then follows his estrangement with his
schoolmates. The loneliness makes him
feel the urgency for the escape to his
dreamland, London. It is interesting to
note that before leaving for London Ralph
meets Mr. Deschampsneufs, the father of
his friend of French origin and observes
the hesitation of Mr. Deschampsneufs in
shaking hand with him. He says, “Did old
Deschampsneufs genuinely not see when I
attempted to shake hands? I attempted
twice and when he did give me his hands it
was only two fingers.” (175).His decision
of migrating to London strengthens after
this incident.
Ralph reaches London in search of identity
and the ideal landscape only to realize that
the city does not promise anything to an
East Indian colonial subject as he can
never identify himself with it. Arriving in
London only intensifies Ralph’s sense of
not having arrived anywhere. He says “I
knew that my own journey scarcely begun,
had ended in the shipwreck which all my
life I had sought to avoid” (7). Shipwreck,
here is a metaphor of homelessness or
exile from a true home. He is disillusioned
and his idea of an ideal landscape is
shattered. London where he was seeking
the order was itself disordered. The hope
for flowering and extension was in vain. In
various ways, even by mimicking he tries
to give himself a personality which is a
futile effort because of the fact that a
Diaspora cannot have a fixed identity. In
London, Singh realizes that one has to
born in England to be an Englishmen. He
remains “almost the same but not quite”.
The book shaped room, the tall window,
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and the glittering light could not make a
home for him. The desire for the mythic
home in England is subverted by Ralph’s
experience of mundane and an anonymous
existence in London. He says, “I no longer
dream of ideal landscapes or seek to attach
myself to them. All landscapes eventually
turn to land, the gold of the imagination to
the lead of the reality”(10). Restless in his
heart, Ralph migrates to his own island
Isabella.
Ralph’s return to Isabella cannot fetch him
any comfort. His marriage with an English
girl Sandra meets a tragic end for the fear
of displacement and insecurity grow in
Sandra and she ceases to have the
confidence, ambition, and rightness, the
very qualities he seeks in the English
landscape. The emptiness once again
knocks his life. Their own house in
Kripalville which is under construction
remains awaiting to be turned into a home.
As a result of his psychological need for
identity and fulfillment, Ralph becomes a
politician. His political career begins in the
disordered and chaotic conditions of
Isabella where he tries to achieve order,
meaning, and success as a political figure.
Politics for him is a means by which he
can satisfy his ego. While Ralph is in
impression of his being in active politics
and powerful position, ironically his acts
and decisions are controlled by the
metropolis center. There seems only the
illusion of order and stability. Inevitably
his political activity turns into the
“drama”. Ralph realizes that he has
become separated from his people and has
to play a role to preserve his position. He
also participates in creating the illusions
and thereby fulfilling the psychological
need for power and ownership. He says,
“So, I went on, naming, naming, and later,
I required everything – every government
building, every road, every agriculture
scheme – to be labeled” (215). It suggested
drama, activity. It reinforced reality. Ralph
is well aware of the fact that the drama has
not brought peace and order to the island
but only created a dramatic illusion of
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order, and that island society still suffers
from social unrest and from economic
problems. Under such conditions the
government decides that nationalization of
the sugar estate, owned by upper class
Englishman called Lord Stockwell, is the
only way of solving the economic
problems
and
uniting
people.
Consequently, Ralph is sent to England to
carry out the negotiations. However, he
fails to persuade the English to help his
government. He realizes the strength of
imperial power and the status of his island
as a still colonized region. In London,
neither he is treated as a political figure,
nor is the importance of his task
acknowledged. He is reduced to an inferior
status and dehumanized as a colonial
subject. He is frustrated by the sense of
political dislocation and failure. It occurs
to him that politics does not have any real
meaning on the island that has been
controlled, ruled and exploited by the
empire. Ralph’s sexual relationships and
marriage fail to provide the security and
connectedness that he yearns for. His
alienation in the metropolitan center leads
him to seek a temporary refuge in
anonymous flesh.
Ralph, the rejected politician of Isabella,
migrates to London. The colonial
education has intoxicated him in the trance
of which he envisages England as the
mother country, a symbol of order. He
comes to London with the intense desire to
establish himself as a distinguished
personality, to transform his anonymity
into recognizable identity. However, his
assumptions prove to be illusory and the
sense of Shipwreck and exile revisits him.
Ralph’s fantasy that reality is located in
the assumed solidity of English identity
and English tradition is constantly
subverted by the exposure of his otherness
and by the fragmented identities of the
English characters themselves.
In London, Ralph’s homelessness is
underlined when he narrates “I traveled
from small town to small town, seeking
shelter with my sixty six pound and of
luggage, always aware in the late
afternoon of my imminent homelessness”
(249).
Finally, in a London Hotel in exile, Ralph
reevaluates his life in the hope of
achieving order. His activity of writing a
memoir is a way of gaining selfknowledge and provisional order. He
realizes that to be colonial is to be in a
state of exile which is the result of the
separation from his original home. He
attempts to organize himself, his
personality by the means of writing, and
views writing as the form of
decolonization.
In conclusion, Marianne Hirsch requires to
be quoted. She says, “Colonial subjects
even as they do not live through the
trauma of their parents remain always
marginal, or exiled, always in the
Diaspora”. (1998:28).
References:
Bhabha, Homi. 1994. The Location of Culture. London: Routledge.
Hirsch, Marianne. 1998. “Past Lives: Postmemories in Exile” in Exile and Creativity: Signposts,
Travelers, Outsiders, Backward Glances, (eds),Susan Robin, Suleiman. Durham: Duke University
Press.
Loomba, Ania. 2007. Colonialism/Postcolonialism. London and New York: Routledge.
MacLeod, John .2007. Beginning Postcolonialism. Manchester and New York: Manchester U P.
Naipaul, V. S. 1967. The Mimic Men. Handsmonsworth. Middlesex, England: Penguin Books.
1st December 2014
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