This essay reads and analyses the novel The Lonely Londoners by Samuel Selvon through the lens of postcolonial theory. It examines the West Indian migrants who migrated to Britain in the 1950s, searching for a better life. They had been indoctrinated by the colonizers for decades of the prosperous life awaiting them in the Motherland. They arrived in Britain with high hopes and eager minds to find a possibility of abandoning the colonial oppression in exchange for alife in London. However, that did not become the reality for the migrants. The novel depicts the shattering of the sensation of self-worth and identity which they sacrificed in their attempts to adapt to and belong in English society. The migrants find themselves confused and ambivalentin this very harsh and cold British society. Further, this essay investigates the ways in whichmimicry and hybridity have been portrayed in the novel through analysing two of the main characters applying theories by Homi Bhabha, Frantz Fanon, Stuart Hall, and Edouard Glissant.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:kau-88243 |
| Date | January 2022 |
| Creators | Backlund, Sofia |
| Publisher | Karlstads universitet, Institutionen för språk, litteratur och interkultur (from 2013) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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