Home Boy: A Case of Identity Crises and Transformation

Abstract

Colonial legacy has been very influential in postcolonial literature and its characters always remain under the shadows of painful past. Identity crises is a major concern in Postcolonial literature. South Asian literature especially focuses upon issues of identity, cultural clash, ambivalence and duality of people who have been under foreign rule and still live in a system that perpetuates the colonial ideology. Postcolonial literature doesn’t pose any solution to such ambivalent issues but tries to make individuals and characters reconcile with such issues. This paper deals with suffering, crises and reconciliation of Chuck with his identity issues in H.M. Naqvi’s Home Boy. It also explores the root causes and systematic oppression of neocolonial system that put Chuck into an ambivalent situation and finally he reconciles with his newly found identity.