Author(s): Tahsin ÃULHAOLU
This paper demonstrates that V. S. Naipaul’s autobiographical novel The Mimic Men posits a way of constructing an authentic and dignified identity for a post-colonial individual. This way is self-criticism, decolonization of the mind, and writing. The protagonist Ralph eventually faces and embraces his reality of being a colonized, gains mental independence by breaking the shackles of the epistemological prison he is put in, and reconstructs his fragmented personality by writing his memoirs. While Ralph constructs an independent identity through writing, Naipaul simultaneously constructs an authentic writing style. Writing transforms both Ralph and Naipaul by giving them the chance to create, and in the end they manage to make themselves a home and a whole self in the realm of writing.
The Journal of International Social Research received 7760 citations as per Google Scholar report
