The Quest for Identity in V.S. Naipaul’s A House for Mr.Biswas

Abstract

 V.S.Naipaul,  the sooth sayer and   the owner of  the prophetic voice , colours the picture of  Indian immigrant’s trauma, their problems and their every day difficulties  in order to maintain their dignity and self respect in the world. By providing  new outlook  to see and feel the heart rending traumas of the diaspora people  this great novelist has carved an eminent place for himself.  The novelist focuses on the social injustice and indifferences through his novel,A House For Mr.Biswas. Naipaul adopts an  observational and  subjective approach towards the problems  of alienation and uprootedness of the expatriates.  His writing has a focal theme of  the quest of self identity and self belongingness.  Through his writings he ponders  on  his own experience of chaotic world of Trinidad in his novel . In his novel, A House For Mr.Biswas, the merging of  the  two cultures-South African and Indian,is very beautifully done. His individual experience of the painful and traumatic life found vent through his writings. The present paper examines this novel keeping in view  of the immigrants fight in the quest of identity and their continuous effort to restore their lost dignity. The paper attempts to throw light  on the issues   like agony and pain  of an expatriate struggling hard for the meaning of his existence.The alienation,uprootedness, emotional turmoil  and the  nostalgia of the immigrants are other issues to be examine in the present paper.