Reconstructing Identity in the Postcolonial Era – Salman Rushdie’s Saladin Chamcha Cover Image

Reconstructing Identity in the Postcolonial Era – Salman Rushdie’s Saladin Chamcha
Reconstructing Identity in the Postcolonial Era – Salman Rushdie’s Saladin Chamcha

Author(s): Cerasela Baston-Tudor
Subject(s): History, Language studies, Language and Literature Studies, Theology and Religion
Published by: Editura Casa Cărții de Știință
Keywords: postcolonialism; identity; stereotype

Summary/Abstract: The present paper focuses on the manner in which Salman Rushdie analyses Saladin Chamcha’s process of identity transformation which is specific to the postcolonial era. The character of The Satanic Verses made a choice in his childhood to follow a British cultural model and to deny his Indian roots, but the journey to his native country helps Saladin recover his identity and the U.K. citizen Saladin Chamcha becomes once more Salahuddin Chamchawalla, the inhabitant of the hybrid city of Bombay. At this point, the character acts and reacts according to the pattern of the postcolonial era, reconstructing his reality and his identity.

  • Issue Year: 11/2010
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 29-38
  • Page Count: 10
  • Language: English