• Behzad Barekat

  Author

• Zahra Kazemi Aliabad

  Author

V. S. Naipaul is one of the leading postcolonial writers whose influential works reflect the
problems ex-colonized nations struggle with after declaring independence. A careful
examination of Naipaul's novels and travel narratives reveals that he explores such postcolonial
themes as alienation, displacement, rootlessness, identity crisis, etc. to show how colonialism
continues to affect the life of the former colonized in the postcolonial era. Naipaul's latest novels
Half a Life (2001) and Magic Seeds (2004) are among the most famed postcolonial novels that
captivated many critics, and the present paper focuses on these two novels which recount the life
story of Willie Chandran who leaves his birthplace, India, for London to devise an identity of his
own, but experiences a chain of difficulties and disappointments on his path to achieve this goal.
Therefore, the researcher seeks to explore whether Willie suffers an identity crisis and if so, what
steps he takes to overcome this hardship and claim his own identity. Reading through the novels,
one can discern that Willie is always haunted by a sense of homelessness and non-belonging,
which prompt him to turn his back to his ancestors and start an arduous journey for selfrealization.
However, since he has no firm objectives or specific plans for his future, he lives in
futility and is not able to integrate into the different cultures he mingles with. At the end of the
second novel Magic Seeds, however, he seems to have finally defined a purpose for himself by
finding a job in an architecture magazine and choosing to live in a cosmopolitan society away
from central London. Overall, Willie is the representative of the marginalized diaspora that face
a number of challenges in their quest for identity and feel dislocated and homeless wherever they
go.

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