Volume 18, No. 6, 2021
Diasporic Identity And Female Subjectivity In Monica Ali’s Brick Lane
Anupama Devi
Abstract
The white race in colonized nations has greatly transplanted European forms of thinking, language and culture. Their so called ‘civilizing mission’ led to the creation of diaspora as a common phenomenon during colonialism. The paper titled: “Diasporic Identity and Female Subjectivity in Monica Ali’s Brick Lane” intends to explore the ambivalent position of the dislocated diaspora sentiments of people in the migrated land where they seem to be constantly juggling with ‘to be or not to be’ kind of desire to belong, within the context of Monica Ali’s The Brick Lane. Monica Ali as a Bangladeshi novelist uses memory and imagination as the only means to conquer the sense of alienation and keep the roots of one’s original home alive. Brick Lane is an eye opener text representing the cultural, racial and gendered prejudices of the Eastern diasporic communities in the West. The study endeavors to negotiate the challenges of a bicultural identity of people in an immigrant land, especially women who go through doubled marginalisation in terms of culture and gender. Although the novel reflects the question of Bangladeshi diasporic community in London, the central focus is about the personal development of the female protagonist, Nazneen as she undergoes various challenging moments of being culturally displaced and finally transforming herself from being a simple village girl to becoming an independent woman having an agency over herself. The novel thus emphasizes on the need to respect and accept every individual equally beyond geographical borders and origins and aims to reclaim women’s absolute sense of selfhood and freedom.
Pages: 447-453
Keywords: Diaspora, alienation, marginalisation, culture, gender, independent, selfhood