CULTURAL IDENTITY IN MONICA ALI’S BRICK LANE: A BHABHIAN PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

This paper discusses Monica Ali's Brick Lane (2003) in terms of cultural identity, concentrating on Homi Bhabha's ideas of hybridity, mimicry, third gap, and ambivalence. However Ali's novel has been addressed in the sense of western post colonialism, it has not been extensively analyzed from a Bhabhian viewpoint. This essay builds on the work of many other cultural identity theorists including Edward and Stuart Hall Said, in addition to Bhabha's ideas, to stress its focus on a Bhabhian approach. It examines how the main typescript in Ali's novel fail to understand their unique cultural identity in their have unique ways, based on Bhabha's theory of cultural identity. The novel heroine, Nazneen, and the creation of her cultural identity are given special attention.