GLOBALISATION AND THE SENSE OF HOME, GENDER, IDENTITY AND RELIGION: A DIASPORIC STUDY OF MONICA'S ALI'S BRICK LANE

Abstract

In an era of globalisation and mass migration, the domain of diasporic study has gained much traction in the global academic arena. Literature has been a mirror to society since time immemorial, and therefore it is no surprise that the echoes of such social, religious and cultural practices can be felt in the literary works. The paper, therefore, is an attempt to analyse the struggles of women in diasporic communities of the 21st in carving an identity for themselves through a detailed study of Monica Ali’s novel Brick Lane. It studies the predicament of people who live beyond the boundaries of their homeland as they can neither hold onto their roots nor their status as immigrants. By grappling with their national and self-identity, they embark on a journey of self-knowledge. The paper focuses on how Nazneen, the protagonist of the novel Brick Lane, creates an identity through the challenges she faces in an unfamiliar place with different cultural codes and backgrounds.