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- Title
HOW TO BECOME A "RUDEBOY": IDENTITY FORMATION AND TRANSFORMATION IN LONDONSTANI.
- Authors
TURAN, AYSEGUL
- Abstract
Gautam Malkani's first novel Londonstani (2006) revolves around the story of Jas, the narrator, who has recently joined a gang formed by three teenage boys of South Asian origin. The novel, on the whole, depicts the problematic transition from boyhood to manhood within the multicultural framework of Britain. Although the story focuses on the gang, it also presents a broader perspective about ethnic diversity and its consequences, especially in experiences in daily life. That the characters live in a highly multicultural environment complicates the process of self-definition and foregrounds the difficulty of establishing one's identity on solid grounds in the midst of several competing factors. Several elements such as cultural background, religion, and socioeconomic status appear as external sources of both stress and comfort for them. As the novel portrays their attempts to establish their identity, language and gender, greatly influenced by the external factors just mentioned, emerge as the main constituents of this process. The performative aspect of both language and gender plays an influential role in the formation and transformation of the main characters' identities. Indeed, the novel puts special emphasis upon Jas' self-conscious attempts to re-define his identity in accordance with the model imposed upon him. This essay aims to look at how the performative aspect of gender and language emerges as the driving force behind identity formation process and its significance within the context of the novel.
- Subjects
LONDONSTANI (Book); IDENTITY (Philosophical concept) in literature; METAMORPHOSIS in literature
- Publication
Textxet: Studies in Comparative Literature, 2015, Vol 79, p233
- ISSN
0927-5754
- Publication type
Article