V. S. 나이폴의『비스와스 씨를 위한 집』의 자아의 공간

A Place for the Ego in A House for Mr. Biswas. The Discourses of the Colonized as Personal Experience

This paper investigated the quest for the individuality in A House for Mr. Biswas by V. S. Naipaul. V. S. Naipaul was a Nobel laureate for literature in 2001, and has been recognized as an illustrious British novelist from Trinidad and Tobago, a former British colony. On the other hand, some post-colonialists including Edward Said have adversely criticized Naipaul's attitude on Colonialism. This is caused by Naipaul's cynical and pessimistic description of the post-colonial situations, which led to Said's assertion that Naipaul misses and advocates the former British rule. However, Naipaul's and Mr. Biswas's abhorrence toward Hindu groupism and the quest for their ego as writer and individual can also be interpreted as a way to understand the colonial situation that they experienced personally. Mr. Biswas was a descendant of the Indian immigrants hired by the indentured labor system under British colonial rule. He and other Indians in Trinidad were in the state of 'exile'. They were rooted away from their homeland and thrown unwillingly into the new land. They tried to adhere to the communitycontrolled by traditional orthodox Hinduism to keep their old Hindu identity and to survive at a different and fast-changing society. At the same time, their groupism was helpful for them to face the hard reality under colonial rule and a drastic change from the feudalistic life into the capitalistic one. The Tulsis, the main source of Mr Biswas's agonies, is a symbol of this groupism, and his efforts to have his own house signify the quest for his ego, or individuality. The process of his quest goes through mimicry, self-awareness, and distortion or change of archetype.