Cultural Clash and Identity Remapping in Monica Ali’s BRICK LANE

Abstract

This thesis analyses the representation of cultural clashes and identity remapping in Monica Ali’s brick lane. The analysis basically starts from the encounter between the West and the East, reflected by the main environment of the novel itself, Brick Lane, a street in the East End of London, now known as Banglatown, as it is mainly inhabited by the BangladeshiSylheti community. This encounter may be seen as a continuous conflict between different cultures or a clash between cultures, or as a continuous negotiation, with ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ who exchange places. It is a conflict that takes up different forms: sometimes it is either an open conflict, when two different groups attack one another, or, most of the times, it is an unspoken interior conflict that manifests itself within one individual with one hybrid identity. The main purpose of this study is to see to which extend cultural clash can change the lives of immigrants who long for their roots and try to cope with the new life style at the same time . Therefore , the results support the following theses: immigration creates a difference in identity that exists between the first and second generation which may lead to the creation of a whole new identity. The phenomenon of Diaspora in the postmodern century is affecting not only the life of Diaspora who struggle to accommodate into the fabric of host society but also the broader notion of identity. Henceforward, in the present analysis of Brick Lane (2003) the author pronounces the dynamic notion of identity to see to which extend the member of the immigrant community are no longer looking backward to the lost shores of mother nation but are making strides in the adopted nation to build a new identity.