Postcolonial Identity Crisis in the Mimic Men a Novel by V.S.Naipaul

This paper investigates the concepts of Identity and estrangement in the postcolonial novel entitled The Mimic Men by V.S. Naipaul. In Naipaul’s The Mimic Men, Ralph Singh has showed different aspects that reflects his nature of a “prototypical colonial character” who is quite commonly estranged with the biased and pluralistic society he has inhaled most of his breaths in it. For Ralph, identity is a core issue that is depicted by his mimicry of European or Western views on different aspects of life. Also, Ralph’s self identification is in strong conflict with that of the Western world. For following the footsteps of colonialists, he has abandoned his home, family and even his self-identity only for the sake of mimicking the West. He has married an Englishwoman and has gone through formal education in the West. The alienation of his identity has resulted in the scattering of his personal being thereby leading towards vulnerability and corruption of his inner self.