Cultural Squabble in V.S Naipauls The Mimic Men

Abstract

V.S. Naipaul’s novels are exemplary for the ages of post-colonialism and post-modernity by the diversity of the intercultural images, discourses and dialogues that they move toward. Naipaul embarks upon is the detection of an ideal space for anchoring the identity of the postcolonial, postmodern spirit. This perpetual and never-ending search is like hallucination whose purpose is never completely reached and whose direction is permanently changed in an eternal search. The article aims to identify the ways of constructing comparison of migrant identities within the postcolonial context .In the fragmented and chaotic postcolonial world the characters feel estranged from the world around them and experience of a crisis of identity which leaves them hollowed and unable to reinvent themselves. His novelsMagic Seeds and The Mimic Men highlights the experiences of non -western protagonists and their cultural rootlessness.

Naipaul emphases on the ‘disorientation of 'culture' and 'identity' of the Caribbean people. The present day population of the area consists of many racial groups who came to the island as immigrants. In the world of cultural confusions, colonial Caribbean people without any roots in the island are more vulnerable to exploitation than those colonial societies who have their own 'stable' indigenous culture. In this area, the hybridization of different cultures often results in the mimicry of the colonial power.