“棕色的撒哈布”--《砖巷》中查努的身份追寻

“The Brown Sahib”: Chanu's pursuit of identity in Brick Lane

本文拟采用后殖民文化理论,从身份的视角分析莫妮卡·阿里的小说《砖巷》中以查努为代表的孟加拉裔男性在英国的身份追寻过程。在自我想象中,查努的身份与"棕色的撒哈布"不谋而合,而现实生活中的查努却是他人眼中的"东方他者"。这种"自我眼中之我"与"他人眼中之我"的反差导致了查努在西方社会身份追寻的失败。受挫之后,查努转向故乡的辉煌历史来重构自己的东方人身份,然而他所向往的故乡仍是基于西方殖民话语的想象性构建,并非现实。查努向故乡的回归注定是一场悲剧,他只能在想象与现实之间徘徊,成为东西方夹缝中的流浪者。

In Monica Ali's novel Brick Lane,the male immigrants have failed to pursue their identity in Western society,which is typically reflected by Chanu-Nazneen's husband. The comic color of Chanu's character cannot cover up his tragic failure of his pursuit of identity. The paper intends to analyze Chanu's pursuit of identity in cultural clashes and explores the reasons of his failure. Chanu dreams to be a "Brown Sahib",but is in fact an "oriental other"in the eyes of Westerners. His imagined identity contradicts his identity in real life. Unable to construct a unified identity,he turns to the glorious history of his motherland to avoid his sense of frustration,but his journey to Bangladesh also proves a tragic one,which turns Chanu into a tramp between the East and the West.