Identity Formation Of Oppressed Indians In Desai’s The Inheritance Of Loss As A Postcolonial Bildungsroman

Abstract

This study explores the identity development of the protagonist in The Inheritance of Loss (2006) by utilizing the affinities of postcolonial bildungsroman according to Golban and Benli’s approach (2019). The growth of Biju’s identity goes through three stages: ‘individual’, ‘intra-human’, and ‘professional’.  He falls into misrecognition of his indigenous identity and appears rootless in his early life, where he finds himself without a definite sense of belonging to his home. After immigrating to the United States, he begins to adopt anti-colonial views and leans toward indigenousness in terms of cultural rootedness and a sense of belonging. Biju's quest for a sense of belonging to his Indian home is a contemporary adventure demonstrating his anti-colonial tendency to regain his indigenous identity through decentering the West. To mark the dawn of Biju's 'self' recognition, he opposes a colonial policy of Westernization. This urges him to renounce the inherited Eurocentric perspective and assert his detachment from all colonial injustices to forge his postcolonial identity. His journey to the USA proves to be a pivotal moment in the decolonization process and formation of his postcolonial identity; thus, it is identified by the structural othering of the Western world that drives it from the center to the periphery.