“Lonely Londoners” by Samuel Selvon and “Brick Lane” and Monica Ali: Hybrid Identities

Background

During the course of recent decades, the fact that ethnic immigrants often experience a hard time, while trying to integrate into Western societies, has gained a status of particularly troubling social issue. Nowadays, in such large Western megalopolises as London, Paris, Berlin, New York and Los Angeles, hardly a single day goes by without recently immigrated representatives of racial minorities indulging in socially inappropriate behavior, such as setting cars of fire, participating in gangsta shootouts and indulging in different forms of civil disobedience. Given the fact that Western societies take pride in being multicultural, the behavioral inadequateness on the part of representatives of ethnic diasporas, does not make much of a sense – after all, had Western large cities been truly ‘wicked’, as some social activists claim, there would be very little reason for people from Third World to strive becoming these cities’ residents, in the first place.

Thus, the clearly visible dichotomy between the proponents’ of multiculturalism officially proclaimed goal of increasing the levels of societal tolerance and the fact that multiculturalization of Western societies resulted in something entirely opposite, had created an objective precondition for social scientists to strive to come up with a variety of different theories as to what accounts for conceptual inconsistencies of post-colonial multiculturalism in its present form. These theories can be formally classified as neo-conservative, post-colonial and psychological.

One of the most prominent proponents of neo-conservative sociology is Samuel Huntington. In his now famous article, “The Clash of Civilizations?”, Huntington had attempted to explain the attacks of 9/11, and consequently the inability of Muslim immigrants to integrate into Western societies, by historically predetermined animosity between West and East: “The fault lines between civilizations are replacing the political and ideological boundaries of the Cold War as the flash points for crisis and bloodshed… The kin-country syndrome groups or states belonging to one civilization that become involved in war with people from a different civilization naturally try to rally support from other members of their own civilization” (Huntington 45). According to Huntington, the process of world’s decolonization did not result in former colonizers and colonized becoming affiliated with so-called ‘traditional values’ to any lesser extent.

In its turn, this had brought author to conclusion that metaphysical incompatibility between Western and Eastern mentalities dates back to the time of Crusades, which is why the outbreaks of politically motivated violence on world’s map may as well be discussed within the context of an ongoing confrontation between Christianity and Islam.

It appears that such author’s suggestion rests on his essential belief that Christianity continues to define Westerners’ existential mode: “The European Community rests on the shared foundation of European culture and Western Christianity” (Huntington 30). Yet, Huntington could not possibly be further from the truth, in this respect, simply because, as time goes by, Western societies become increasingly secularized. As of today, the number of practicing Christians in such EU’s countries as Denmark, Sweden and Norway accounts for less than 2% and there are good reasons to believe that in 10-20 years from now, the death of Christianity in Western countries that feature world’s highest standards of living will be recognized as something self-evident.

The post-colonial approach to dealing with the issue of ethnic immigrants’ lowered ability to act as productive members of Western societies is being primarily concerned with its proponents’ continuing strive to blame all the evils of the world on just about anything they associate with euro-centrism. According to post-colonial social scientists and authors, the ultimate reason why newly arrived immigrants from Third World often experience a particularly hard time, while trying to gain social prominence, is that they are being confronted by subtle racism, on the part of native-born White Westerners.

In his article Yuppie Racism: Race Relations in the 1980s, Richard Lowy states: “A variety of beliefs about race relations are upheld by various segments of White population which, when analyzed and compared to factual data, turn out to be ideological smokescreens for the perpetration of racism. Racism does not vanish when Whites are able to convince themselves that they are no longer villains, consciously promoting negative attitude about minorities” (Lowy 453). Richard Tarnas’s book The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas that have shaped our Worldview, provides us with another example on how adherents of post-colonial multiculturalism go about substantiating their view of euro-centrism as the fundamental cause of racial tensions within Western societies:

The Western mind’s overriding compulsion to impose some form of totalizing reason – theological, scientific, and economic – on every aspect of life is accused of being not only self-deceptive but destructive… Disenchanted eyes are now cast onto its destruction of indigenous societies throughout the world, its arrogant insensitivity to other cultural traditions and values, its cruel abuse of other forms of life, its blind ravaging of virtually the entire planet (Tarnas 400).

Nevertheless, the conceptual fallaciousness of these types of suggestions often appears visible even to a naked eye – if anything, it is namely Western rationale-based science, which accounts for ever-increased levels of tolerance within post-industrial Western societies and also for these societies’ environmental friendliness. The reason for this is simple -in post-industrial societies, the insurance of society members’ well-being does not depend solely on the abundance/shortage of natural resources, as it is the case in Third World, as an ongoing technological progress in these societies predisposes manufacturing industries’ being able to sustain their full feasibility, while continuously reducing the amount of raw materials, utilized in the process of manufacturing a particular product or enabling a particular social service. The same progress makes post-industrial agriculture highly effective – as of today, Denmark’s agricultural sector alone is fully capable of supplying all Europe’s supermarkets with freshly grown fruits and vegetables, on annual basis. People, whose basic economic needs nave been fully satisfied, are being automatically more tolerant and more environmentally friendly, as opposed to those whose daily lives can be well discussed well within the context of ‘war of everybody against everybody’, originating out of banal shortage of food.

Thus, the psychological methodology of addressing multi-racial inconsistencies of post-industrial living appears to be the most sensible of all three. Its proponents suggest that the main reason why representatives of racial minorities often find themselves socially disadvantaged, while living in Western countries, is that their essentially rural mentality does not quite correlate with urban mentality of those people who were born and raised in Western large megalopolises – whereas; urbanites celebrate the values of intellectual open-mindedness, tolerance, and existential individualism, people endowed with rurally based collectivist mentality, profess essentially the opposite values of strong religiosity, highly ritualistic spirituality, psychological authoritarianism and tribal intolerance.

In her study The Limits of Cultural Hybridity: On Ritual Monsters, Poetic License and Contested Postcolonial Purifications, Pnina Werbner provides us with the insight onto metaphysical irreconcilability between the concepts of urban and rural living: “In small-scale, face-to-face societies, the nature of authority is very often not in doubt, even if the incumbency of specific rulers is; whereas in our (Western) societies, with their large complex structures, the very constitution of authority is a matter of intense struggle” (Werbner 137). Nevertheless, after having lived in Western countries for some time, ethnic immigrants slowly learn to assess surrounding reality in terms of rationale. This process is being absolutely irrespective of these immigrants’ racial affiliation. For example, just as it is the case with today’s Muslim immigrants to Western countries, rurally minded Irish immigrants to America, in early twentieth century, often had to deal with animosity, on the part of native-born Americans (as it is being portrayed in the movie “Gangs of New York”), simply because they were not quite adapted to cosmopolitan realities of living in America’s big cities. Throughout the course of 20^th century, the same problem has been experienced by rural-dwellers from Southern Italy, who were coming to Italia’s Northern cities in search for jobs. Nowadays, people from Ukraine’s rural areas, which come to Moscow in increasingly larger numbers, are also being held by native-born Muscovites is very low regard – there is nothing unnatural about the fact that rurally minded individuals often experience an emotional discomfort, while trying to win their place under the sun in urban societies, just as there is nothing unnatural about the fact that, as time goes by, these people grow more and more adapted to the realities of urban living. And, while becoming adapted to these realities, immigrants get to be gradually endowed with a so-called ‘hybrid identity’, which is being reflected in their increased ability to utilize their initial ‘otherness’ within the context of trying to attain social prominence. However, as today’s post-industrial realities indicate, there are still many Westerners who think of ethnic immigrants’ behavioral hybridism as such that poses some danger to Western civilization.

As Werbner had pointed out in her study: “In a globalizing society, I argue, hybridity and transgression, while being potential tools of resistance which upturn taken-for-granted hierarchies, play dangerously on the boundary and can thus become a source of offence. In post-colonial diasporas, minorities often draw on culture strategically to fight for recognition and against discrimination and oppression. But this raises the question, what are the creative limits of cultural hybridity?” (Werbner 138). The fact that the realities of post-industrial living imply that it is impossible for an individual to go about trying to gain social prominence, while actively exploring its religiosity and its ethnic uniqueness, has also been recognized by another theoretician of ethno-cultural hybridity – Hommi Bhabha. In her article “The Interstitial Perspective: A Review Essay on Homi Bhabha’s The Location of Culture”, Gillian Rose had succeeded in articulating Bhabha book’s foremost thesis in rather straightforward manner: “Narratives of origin, journey, and destination can no longer be heroic myths of conquest; traditions can no longer be understood as articulating the essence of pure identity; cultural difference can no longer be seen as a panorama of multicultural diversity; class and gender can no longer be used as singular categories. Origin, authenticity, and essence are for Bhabha all dead tropes” (Rose 367). Thus, it is namely Werbner and Bhabha’s perspectives on what accounts for ethnic immigrants’ existential identity, which we will utilize as this paper’s theoretical basis.

The condensate of both perspectives can be formulated as follows: just as any infantile individuals, most newly arrived ethnic immigrants are being especially sensitive to different emanations of naked force. And, what is it that is being associated with such force in today’s world? Modernity/technology. During the course of European colonial expansion, the ancestors of these immigrants have learnt that one British soldier with a machinegun was worthy of thousands and thousands of horsemen with spears and bow-arrows in their hands. Therefore, the concept of hybrid identity, on the part of ethnic immigrants, appears to have clearly defined subtleties of spatial/timely relativism, which explains why it is quite impossible to come up with a comprehensive definition as to the essence of this concept. However, we can still describe such identity is being concerned with ethnic immigrants’ irrational strive towards modernity, as the ultimate proof of their affiliation with tradition – whatever the improbable it might sound.

Nevertheless, the process of interacting with modernity changes the very essence of immigrants’ existential psyche. After having lived in Western countries for sometimes, these people eventually grow to accept Western values of freedom and individualism as their own – thus, becoming endowed with hybrid mentality. Therefore, the process of immigrants’ post-colonial hybridization is essentially positive, because it increases the extent of social cohesion within Western societies. As B. R. Tomlinson had put it in his article What Was the Third World?: “The notion of ‘hybridity’ emphasizes the complementarities which exist between the different aspects of the post-colonial cultural formation across national boundaries and tries to build upon them. Such an attempt makes possible the adoption of the principle of ‘strategic essentialism’ as an intermediate model of post-colonial identity” (Tomlinson 317). In this study, I will aim to explore different implications of this thesis through the methodological framework of urban mentality vs. rural mentality, as such that we believe defines the developmental essence of word’s post-industrial realities.

Purpose of study

The purpose of this research study is to define whether the characters in Monica Ali’s novel Brick Lane and Samuel Selvon’s novel Lonely Londoners had been acquiring hybrid identities, during the course of their interaction with the realities of Western living, as we believe that thoughtful examination of a subject matter will provide readers with a better understanding of what constitutes the foremost problem, within the context of Western societies becoming increasingly globalized, in political and economic sense of this world. As we have suggested earlier, it is specifically a multitude of purely psychological factors, which define the subtleties of ethnic immigrants’ varying ability to integrate into Western post-industrial oecumene. Therefore, it represents the matter of foremost importance to identify actual motivations, behind both novels characters’ decisions to choose in favor of a particular existential stance, while dealing with life’s challenges.

Throughout this study’s entirety, we will also aim at undermining the validly of racist claims as to non-White immigrants’ inborn inability to integrate into Western societies, as being utterly unscientific. Ali and Selvon’s novels contain many examples of ethnic immigrants being able to adjust to the realities of urban living perfectly well, despite the fact that they often did feel emotionally uncomfortable, by being exposed to subtle emanations of White racism. By doing it, we will shed doubt onto the validity of post-colonial discourse, as being solely concerned with the issue of racism – it is namely immigrants’ ability to ignore racism, which increases their chances to attain social prominence, as opposed to many of these immigrants’ tendency to preoccupy themselves with ‘scratching’ the issue of racism, as their full-time semi-professional pursuit.

In her book Paradoxes of Postcolonial Culture: Contemporary Women Writers of the Indian and Afro-Italian Diaspora, Sandra Ponzanesi had come up with particularly important observation, in regards to often counter-productive subtleties of a post-colonial discourse, in its present form: “Some Third World intellectuals have made postcolonial issues their very own warhorse so as to obtain prominent positions within Western academia. In so doing they become complicit with the Western establishment they set out to undermine, and they exploit the cause of truly disenfranchised minority groups for their own reward” (Ponzanesi 7). We are far from trying to imply that this Ponzanesi’s remark applies to the works of Ali and Selvon. However, Ponzanesi’s suggestion does point out to the fact that, within the context of analyzing post-colonial literature, it is the matter of crucial importance not to accept authors’ ideas, in regards to the issues of socio-political importance, as representing an undeniable truth-value.

Thus, the supplementary purpose of this study can be defined as encouraging readers to utilize their own rationale, while assessing issues over which the enforcers of political correctness claim interpretational monopoly. As it is the case with just about anybody, many characters in Ali and Selvon’s novels are being shown endowed with a variety of psychological strengths and weaknesses, and it is namely the domination of their weaknesses over their strengths, which should be primarily blamed for these individuals’ inability to progress in life – not the overall ‘wickedness’ of Western civilization. By having this thesis substantiated in study’s consequential parts, we will consider our mission accomplished.

Study Area

Despite the fact that this research project’s study area is best described as rather vague, due to researched subject matter being clearly concerned with the variety of sociological, psychological, geopolitical and economic issues, it is still possible to define study’s gnoseological components:

The analysis of conceptual premises, upon which post-colonial theories of identity are based. By researching these premises, we will be able to define the extent of corresponding theories’ actuality/fallaciousness. In its turn, this will provide us with better understanding of how the strength of characters’ ethnic/hybrid identity affected their behavior.

The establishment of parallels between the workings of infantile mentality and the workings of rural mentality, which we believe will allow us to define qualitative subtleties of mental insecurities, on the part of characters in both novels. Nevertheless, by pointing out to the fact that, despite the particulars of their upbringing, some of Ali and Selvon’s characters were still able to proceed with expanding their intellectual horizons, we will prove that the perceptional infantilism, on the part of these characters, is being subjective rather than objective, which in its turn would substantiate further our thesis that particulars of people’s biological makeup have no effect on their ability to indulge in rationale-based reasoning.

The analysis of objective factors that account for the strength of people’s affiliation with religion/tradition. Social scientists are well aware of an objectively existing correlation between the strength of people’s sense of religiosity and their ability/inability to enjoy high standards of living. By analyzing these factors, we will aim to show that, within the context of addressing the challenges of urban living, people’s strong sense of religiosity does not necessarily come as an asset.

The analysis of what both authors’ main characters perceived as the foremost obstacles on their way of trying to attain social prominence. There are many indications in the novels that most characters genuinely believed in the fact that it was specifically racist attitudes, on the part of White Londoners, which prevented them from becoming socially established. Yet, psychologists are well aware of the fact that people’s tendency to blame others/society/racism for their failures simply reflects such individuals’ apparent inability to face life’s challenges in responsible manner. Therefore, conducting an analysis on this particular subject matter is quite indispensable, within the context of ensuring paper’s overall soundness.

The analysis of what accounts for individual’s ability to experience an emotional comfort, while existing as integral element of Western cosmopolitan society. In order for just about anyone to be able to act as Western large city’s productive resident, he or she must: be deprived of ethnic sense of nationality, be only formally religious (preferably non-religious), be capable of practicing self-irony, be critical of just about any oppressive authority, be insensitive to emotional insults, be driven by rationale as opposed to being driven by irrational faith, be capable of understanding that there can be no universally accepted moral standards, and be endowed with a strong sense of individualism.

Theory of Identity

Nowadays, the term ‘identity’ has achieved rather celebratory status, mainly due to the fact that the sheer vagueness of this term’s possible interpretations provides humanitarian scientists with a possibility to gain additional academic credits by expounding on the subject matter in variety of different ways. This especially turned out to be the case during the course of recent decades, when recently arrived immigrants’ ability to ‘celebrate their ethnic uniqueness’ is being assumed not only their right, but one of their social duties. In his book The Social Psychology of Ethnic Identity: European Monographs in Social Psychology, Maykel Verkuyten states:

Identity is used in normative sense. ‘Having identity’ is considered good and desirable, whereas the situation of ‘no identity’ is evaluated negatively… Ethnic minority groups claim the right to be different and to define who and what they are, or want to be themselves…Ethnic and cultural identities are assumed the subject of recognition and respect (Verkuyten 41).

Nevertheless, it is important to understand that contemporary implications of term ‘identity’ are essentially temporal, simply because the degree of their actually cannot be discussed outside of currently predominant political discourses. Throughout the course of late 20^th century, Western sociologists tended to discuss the notion of social identity through the lenses of geopolitics. In its turn, such their tendency was based upon recognition of Western countries as essentially nation-states, because at that time, the process of Globalization was still thought to be concerned strictly with the matters of economy. For example, one of the most prominent theoreticians of so-called ‘social identity’, Henri Tajfel never ceased stressing out the fact that one’s personal ability to rationalize surrounding reality has very little to do with construction of his or her identity. According to Tajfel, given the fact that Homo Sapiens is essentially a social being, it is namely individual’s affiliation with a particular ethnic group or with particular social strata, which defines the qualitative subtleties of his or her existential mode. In his book Political Identity and Social Change: The Remaking of the South African Social Order, Jamie Frueh outlines the conceptual core of Tajfel’s theory: “The theory deals with what Tajfel calls ‘social identity’ that part of a person’s identity associated with group membership and the value attached to that membership, and thus adds a social component to the field… In Tajfel’s theory there seems to be very little role for the individual as agent of identity’s creation” (Frueh 24). According to Tajfel’s social identity theory, individual’s realization of its place within a society derives out of his affiliation with a particular social/ethnic group. And, to the lesser extent this group exerts political and economic influence within a society, the lesser is going to be group members’ sense of self-respect. Within the context of Tajfel’s theory, the members of underprivileged social groups in Western society, such as ethnic immigrants, are being assumed suffering from a variety of psychological anxieties, related to particulars of these people’s ethno-social affiliation. Therefore, the discussion of how ethnic immigrants may go about establishing themselves socially simply cannot take place outside of objectively existing preconditions that define the overall well-being of ethno-cultural communities, to which these immigrants belong. And, it is specifically immigrants’ ability to emphasize the separateness of their ethnic communities from the rest of society, which contributes to the process of these communities gaining socio-political power – thus, endowing its members with an acute sense of self-respect. In his book Human Groups and Social Categories, Tajfel states: “The new claims of the minorities are based on their right to decide to be different (to preserve their separateness) as defined in their own terms and not in terms implicitly adopted or explicitly dictated by the majorities…the wish to preserve their right to take their own decisions and to keep their own ‘identity” (Tajfel 317). According to Tajfel – the more a particular member of ethnic minority feels itself being disfranchised from the rest of society, the better.

Nevertheless, the realities of living in 21^st century’s Western post-industrial societies imply the out-datedness of very terms ‘community’ or ‘social group’, in collectivist sense of this word, due to post-industrial societies being informationally-interactive, which predisposes the free flow of information from one social/ethnic group to another, thus undermining socially and economically constructed boundaries between these groups. What it means is that one’s affiliation with a particular social group, organization or ethnic community can no longer be thought of as the foremost source of his or her self-identity. For today’s resident of urban megalopolis, it is the matter of crucial importance to be able to adopt socially, economically or ethnically unrelated identities, simply because such individual’s ability would automatically increase the degree of his or her existential competitiveness.

In their study Social Identity Theory and the Organization, Blake Ashforth and Fred Mael rightly point out to the fact that one’s identity cannot be solely discussed within the context of a particular individual seeking ‘empowerment through affiliation’ but also within the context of ‘self-actualization through adaptation’: “Whereas identification with a group is argued to be predicated on the desire for self-definition, identification with an individual-referred to as ‘classical identification’ – is argued to be predicated on the desire to appease, emulate, or vicariously gain the qualities of the other” (Ashforth & Mael 22). Today’s post-industrial societies do tolerate tribalistic mindedness, on the part of its ethnically unique members; however, an individual endowed with an acute sense of collectivist belonging would be very unlikely to progress in life, simply because such sense is being utterly counter-productive within the context of one’s strive to expand its intellectual horizons.

In their article The Evolution of Ethnocentrism, Ross Hammond and Robert Axelrod came up with a perfectly good suggestion, while pointing out to the fact that realities of post-industrial living imply the incompatibility of ethnocentric values with the concept of Western post-industrial living: “Ethnocentrism can be an effective mechanism for supporting cooperation in the absence of such conditions as continuing interactions, well-developed institutions, and strong social norms” (Hammond & Axelrod 933). In order for an individual to feel comfortable, while living as a part of highly technological and intellectually advanced Western society, he or she must be capable of addressing life’s challenges with the mean of reason, rather than with the mean of tribal solidarity or religion.

A person who is enjoying high standards of living does not need ‘traditional values’, which explains highly secularized mode of existence, on the part of native-born Westerners. When they have a toothache, they go to see dentist, instead of going to see shaman. When they buy a house, they go to see realtor, instead of going to see an astrologist. When they deal with emotional problems, they go to see a psychologist, instead of going to see a priest.

In his article Determining Economic Activity in a Post-Capitalist System, Laszlo Garai had rightly suggested that, in post-industrial society, the process of one’s identity formation is being concerned with an individual being continuously rid of variety of rurally based prejudices, because it is only people who profess the values of individualism, who may benefit from being the residents of Western cosmopolitan megalopolises: “The main tendency of post-capitalist (post-industrial) system is considered to be the production of personal (and not only material) conditions” (Garai 77). According to Garai, living in technologically advanced post-industrial society provide its members with an opportunity to indulge in activities that are not concerned with satisfaction of their immediate physiological needs, as it is the case in rural societies of Third World. Thus, people who immigrate to Western countries from Third World have simply no choice but to explore their individuality by becoming adapted to civilized life – regardless of whether they want it or not. As we will show in the next part of this study, the most intellectually advanced ethnic immigrants have proven themselves more than capable of doing it – they were able to step over the rural notions of ‘traditional values’, while opening themselves up to new ideas – thus, becoming automatically more competitive, as compared to their less intellectually advanced brethrens.

The theory of hybridity

In the introductory parts of this paper, we have already introduced readers to Hommi Bhabha and Pnina Werbner’s theories of psychological hybridity. Now, it is time to analyze both authors’ approaches to understanding hybridity at length.

In his book The Location of Culture, Hommi Bhabha defines hybridity as signifier of a social change, associated with the process of de-colonization and consequentially, reverse-colonization:

Hybridity is the sign of productivity, its shifting forces and fixieties; it is the name for strategic reversal of the process of domination through disavowal (that is, the production of discriminatory identities that secure the ‘pure’ and original identity of authority). Hybridity is the revaluation of the assumption of colonial identity through the repetition of discriminatory identity effects (Bhabha 159).

According to Bhabha, the end of colonial era had left formerly oppressed people in Third World with an ‘identity void’, which in its turn, had prompted them to seek self-actualization through adaptation of specifically those psychological traits, on the part of former colonizers, which they associate with pure and naked power.

What it means is that, unlike what proponents of ‘national liberation’ used to suggest, the process of Third World aborigines shaking off the yoke of White oppression did not result in them returning back to their savagely primeval ways, but in these people becoming ‘hybrids’, in psychological sense of this word. Therefore, it makes very little sense to believe that, once being deprived of Western technology, aborigines would become ‘spiritual’ all of the sudden, in order to begin enjoying ‘closeness to nature’, while giving an example to ‘morally corrupted’ Whites what it means leading a truly happy mode of existence. Apparently, the talks of ‘returning back to the roots’, perpetrated by liberally minded descendants of White oppressors, on behalf of ‘underprivileged’, simply reflect the fact that on cognitive level, they remain just as ignorant as were their ‘civilization-spreading’ forefathers.

The socio-political realities in contemporary Western societies point out to overall soundness of such Bhabha’s thesis. However, it is important to understand that it is only the representatives of 2^nd and 3^rd generations of ethnic immigrants, which can be referred to as hybrids, in full sense of this word, simply because their affiliation with their parents’ ‘traditional values’ in many cases appears being utterly artificial.

Thus, through the lenses of Bhabha’s theory, the concept of multiculturalism, as such that it based upon the assumption that particulars of people’s ethnic affiliation define the workings of their mentality, and which calls for atomization of Western societies by suggesting that it is absolutely natural for ethnic immigrants to go about creating their own societies within the host-society, appears being conceptually fallacious – the children of ethnic immigrants, who were born and raised in Western countries, cannot be referred to as ‘ethnically unique’, but rather as ‘hybridically minded’.

On one hand, they cannot fully distance themselves from their cultural roots, due to the color of their skin; but on another, they feel themselves being affiliated with the values of Western living even to significantly higher extent, as compared to what it is the case with native-born Whites, because unlike Whites, they are being endowed with plenty of existential vitality. In its turn, this creates a paradox – by exhibiting their hybridic ‘otherness’, often through the mean of indulging in socially inappropriate behavior, the young representatives of ethnic minorities in Western countries strive for nothing less than proving their eligibility to carry on the light of civilization.

This is exactly the reason why these people often experience an irrational animosity towards newcomers from Third World – one of the most striking psychological characteristic of an individual endowed with hybrid mentality, is that she or he does not genuinely share rurally based values of ethno-communal solidarity. As Bhabha had put it in his article Of Mimicry and Man: The Ambivalence of Colonial Discourse: “A gaze of otherness (hybridity), now producing that shares the acuity of the genealogical gaze which, as Foucault describes it, liberates marginal elements and shatters the unity of man’s being through which he extends his sovereignty” (Bhabha 129). In The Third Space: Interview with Homi Bhabha, Bhabha had articulated an idea that in near future, the concept of post-colonial hybridity will not only transform the demographic fabric of Western societies, but will deem the very notion of homogeneous culture utterly outdated: “The process of cultural hybridity gives rise to something different, something new and unrecognizable, a new area of negotiation of meaning and representation” (Bhabha 211). Even though Bhabha does not articulate this thesis openly, but from the context of his works it appears that he does draw parallels between the decline of Roman Empire, during the course of 5^th century A.D., and today’s ‘decline of the West’, which is now being lamented by even mainstream White intellectuals, such as Patrick Buchanan. However, unlike these intellectuals, he also associates the prospects of West’s eventual revival with continuous influx of hybrid-minded barbarians into Western societies – after all, it were namely Gothic barbarians, who had rebuilt the Roman Empire, after having had it thoroughly destroyed a few centuries earlier.

Nevertheless, even though Bhabha’s outlook on hybridity does raise many interesting points, this outlook appears largely static. That is, while discussing the emergence of behavioral hybritity, as having been objectively predetermined by the laws of history, author does not consider the possible effects of such an emergence upon itself. Moreover, even though in his works Bhabha tried his best to dispel the ‘myth’ of linear course of history, the very fact that he insisted upon the usage of term ‘post-colonial’ as often as possible, had only strengthened our understanding of concept of historical progress as being of essentially linear nature. As Anne McClintock had noted in her article The Angel of Progress: Pitfalls of the Term Post-Colonialism:

The term (post-colonialism) confers on colonialism the prestige of history proper; colonialism is determining marker of history. Other cultures share only a chronological, predispositional relation to a Euro-centered epoch that is over (post-), or not yet begun (pre-). In other words, the world’s multitudinous cultures are marked, not positively by what distinguishes them, but by a subordinate, retrospective relation to linear, European time (McClintock 86).

However, it never occurred to McClintock that thermo-dynamically inspired concept of linear history is not necessarily synonymous to the cultural concept of Europe. Therefore, while analyzing the relation of Ali and Selvon’s characters to the notion of hybridity in consequential parts of this study, we will refrain from addressing the subject matter within the context of ‘colonialism’ vs. ‘post-colonialism’, but within the context of ‘rural mentality’ vs. ‘urban mentality’ instead, as there is plenty of evidence as to the fact that neither the color of one’s skin, nor his or her cultural roots, which define individual’s chances to attain social prominence in technologically advanced post-industrial society, but solely the rate of individual’s IQ.

The process of change to become a hybrid identity

The process of individual acquiring hybrid identity is being primarily concerned with sociological and educational factors. As we have mentioned earlier, socio-political attitudes, on the part of 2^nd and 3^rd generations of non-Whites, differ considerably from that of their parents. The reason for this is simple – while being brought up in Western societies, these people were learning to refer to their parents’ affiliation with ‘traditional values’ as yet another indication of their perceptional close-mindedness. However, as we are well aware of, the so-called ‘war of generations’ has always been affecting social and political realities in just about any country, throughout the course of history. Older people always refer to the representatives of younger generations as ‘immoral’. And, once these youngsters mature up and have their own children, they will eventually grow to refer to their kids as ‘immoral’, as well – such our observation serves as one more proof as to the full validity of the linear concept of history. Nowadays, the representatives of 1^st generation of ethnic immigrants in Western countries often experience a particular hard time, while trying to instill their children with respect to their native culture, simply because there can be no logical explanation as to how one’s affiliation with ‘spirituality’ might have any beneficial effects, unless an individual turns practicing ‘spirituality’ into a full-scale professional occupation.

One of the most memorable characters in Ali’s novel is Mrs. Islam. While appearing extra-pious on the outside, this woman never ceased thinking of extorting money from others as the foremost purpose of her life. In her native Bangladesh, Mrs. Islam’s wicked ways would have gone unnoticed, simply because in patriarchal societies it represents an utter offence for younger people to even doubt the authority of ‘elders’. Yet, in Western societies, one’s seniority does not give such person a right to be placed beyond criticism. On the contrary – the older a particular Westerner is, the more he or she is expected to act in socially responsible manner. Westerners might not have much religious ‘morality’ in them, but they have plenty of urban-based ethics, which is why they act morally without having to be subjected to some oppressive religious of governmental authority. In Western societies, the notion of freedom is synonymous to the notion of morality: “This is England…You can do whatever you like” (Ali 369). Apparently, by growing up in Western countries, young representatives of ethnic minorities come to realize the sheer hypocrisy, on the part of those that their highly ‘moral’ parents consider authority figures – this is exactly the moment when the process of these kids adopting a hybrid mentality is being triggered.

Once, the children of immigrants begin to doubt the appropriateness of their parents’ stance, in regards to a variety of socio-political issues, it becomes increasingly clear to these kids that, in order for them to be able to succeed in life, they would have to recognize rurally based ‘traditional values’ as nothing but burden. The same applies even to some 1^st generation ethnic immigrants who are being smart enough to realize that holding on to their ‘cultural roots’ is exactly what prevents them from being able to realize their full potential, while living in Western countries. This is exactly the reason why many characters in The Lonely Londoners have willingly decided to alienate themselves from their primitively rural culture – apparently, such their social attitudes reflected the one of Selvon himself. David Ellis’s book Writing Home: Black Writing in Britain since the War, contains excerpts from interviews with Samuel Selvon, in which author had expressed his non-affiliation with Trinidad’s native culture: “Ancestry and going back and tracing things like that are of no interest to me” (Ellis 11). Thus, the process of ethnic immigrants adopting a hybrid identity is best referred to as the ultimate consequence of them becoming educated.

What factors do have an influence on hybridity?

Given our earlier suggestions as to the essence of behavioral hybrity, it does not represent much of a challenge to define factors that affect the process of such hybridity’s formation:

1. Biological factors. People’s endowment with hybrid identity often reflects their biological hybridism. For example, the essence of relations between characters in Selvon’s novel is being affected by how these characters positioned themselves, in racial sense of this word – the ones with lighter skin had never ceased treating their darker brethrens as somewhat inferior. It is a well-known fact that the so-called ‘mongrels’ often experience strongly defined animosity, on the part of both: ‘pure’ Blacks and ‘pure’ Whites. In its turn, this leaves these people with only the option to adopt hybrid identity as something utterly natural.
2. The factors of generational affiliation. The children of 1^st generation ethnic immigrants are much more likely to adopt hybrid identity, as compared to their parents, simply because they were born and raised in socio-cultural environment that stimulates one’s individualistic drives.
3. Educational factors. The immigrants from Third World that possess university diplomas appear being significantly more open-minded, as compared to those whose field of professional expertise is being solely concerned with participation in agricultural activities. What it means is that an ethnic immigrant with education will be more likely to yield to existential hybridism, since the very concept of classical education is of unmistakably Western origin.
4. Demographical factors. Non-White immigrants who reside in ethnic ghettos usually experience much harder time, while adopting hybrid identity, as compared to those who reside among Whites. The reason for this is simple – ghetto-living implies highly collectivist mode of existence, on the part of residents, quite inconsistent with Western values of individualism and freedom.
5. Religious factors. Immigrants with strong sense of religiosity are being automatically less capable of adopting hybrid mentality, as opposed to what it is the case with those immigrants who consider themselves semi-religious or non-religious.
6. Political factors. In Western countries where proponents of multiculturalism had never attained a position of an undisputed political dominance, such as Switzerland and Australia, the process of ethnic immigrants’ societal assimilation proceeds at considerably faster pace, as compared to what it is the case in countries where criticism of multiculturalism is being considered a criminal offence, such as Britain, Germany and France. And, the sooner immigrants integrate into a host-society, the sooner their mindset gets to be affected by urban values – thus, resulting in these people adopting a hybrid identity.

An analysis of hybrid identities in Brick Lane

The reading of Monica Ali’s novel Brick Lane provides us with rather detailed account of how representatives of racial minorities go about trying to preserve what they consider their national identities, even though that the process of immigrating to another country implies potential immigrants’ willingness to adopt the national identity of a country where they intend to settle. The character of Chanu comes in particularly handy, within the context of a substantiating our earlier thesis as to the sheer counter-productiveness of celebration of rural values on urban turf of Western society.

Despite the fact that, by being allowed to immigrate to Britain, Chanu was expected to adopt Western values of civility and gender egalitarianism, he originally proceeded to treat his wife as nothing but some piece of soulless commodity, whose only value was concerned with her ability to act a baby-making machine: “Not so ugly… hips are a bit narrow but wide enough to carry children” (Ali 14). Apparently, the fact that he was able to immigrate to Britain, never affected the workings of Chanu’s mind. It is namely in rural areas of Third World, with a total absence of modern medicine, where people think of making babies as their foremost priority, simply because the more they have children, the better are the chances for at least one of these children to survive. However, Britain is technologically advanced post-industrial country, where government makes sure that even babies born with physical defects never have to die, and that even unemployed people are being provided with a place to live and with food. Therefore, Chanu’s intention to proceed with addressing life’s challenges in a manner natural to his native Bangladesh, simply reflected the fact that this person’s very presence in Britain might not have been altogether natural. What appears especially ironic is that Chanu considered himself an educated individual, fully capable of adapting to the life in Britain. However, as it appears out of “Brick Lane” context, one’s ability to cite Shakespeare does not automatically imply such individual’s intellectual affiliation with Shakespearian humanitarianism.

In a similar manner, Nazneen had originally never doubted that fact that her purpose in life was being limited to giving birth to as many children as possible, in time free from slaving for its husband in the kitchen. She does not raise objections against prearranged marriage with Chanu, even though she never even knew how her future husband looked like: “Abba, it is good that you have chosen my husband. I hope I can be a good wife, like Amma” (Ali 7). Apparently, Nazneen never doubted the fact that prearranged marriages are just as common in Britain as it is the case in Bangladesh, which explains why, after having been brought to Britain, Nazneen remained ignorant for a while as to the fact that women are being just as human as men are. It is specifically by adopting perceptional ignorance, in regards to surrounding reality, that Nazneen strived to preserve her national identity, even though it is very unlikely that at this point of her life, Nazneen was even aware of what the concept of identity stood for, as rurally-patriarchal Muslim societies, such as the one in which Nazneen was born, deny women any identity whatsoever. In her study “Postcolonial Issues in Monica Ali’s Brick Lane”, Pavla Navratilova states:

In poor Islamic countries, women live in a society where the males make all the decisions. Women are oppressed socially or even officially to wear traditional clothes veiling all their bodies or at least heads (“Purdah”; “Hijab”). At home, they live in separated quarters in order to prevent men who do not belong to the entire family from seeing them. Islamic religion even allows beating the wife when she is not obedient enough” (Navratilova 18).

In the eyes of 1^st generation Bengali immigrants to Britain, the extent of woman’s worth is being geometrically proportionate of how many children she was able to birth, because these rurally minded people view children through quantitative rather than through qualitative lenses.

Some readers might think that Nazneen mother’s reluctance to try saving its daughter from death – “We must not stand in the way of Fate. Whatever happens, I accept it. And my child must not waste any energy fighting against Fate” (Ali 4) had to do with the strength of her beliefs in God. However, the actual reason for this is much simpler – in Third World, the value of one’s life is cheap. It is a commonplace practice for the parents even in such comparatively civilized countries as China and India to simply dispose of their newly born children, especially if a child happened to be girl – after all, there can be only so much natural resources, but ‘human resources’ are fully renewable.

Therefore, if Nazneen was truly committed to celebration of her ethno-cultural uniqueness, she would not even move a finger to try saving the life of her son Raqib – why bother, if an average Bengali woman is expected to be getting pregnant on annual basis anyways? Nevertheless, by the time Raqib was taken to the hospital, Nazneen’s mentality was already becoming increasingly hybridized. In the next sub-chapter of this study, we will show how mental hybridization of Ali’s main characters was beginning to have an effect on their act.

Despite the fact that in patriarchic societies women are not considered fully human, which explains the phenomenon of prearranged marriages, it was namely Nazneen who began questioning the validity of Bengali ‘traditional values’, prior to her husband. The beginning of Naneen’s mental metamorphosis can be attributed to the time when, for the first time in her life, she was exposed to the sight of ice-skating on TV: “What is this called?’ said Nazneen. Chanu glanced at the screen. ‘Ice skating’, he said, in English. ’Ice e-skating’, said Nazneen… ‘I would like to learn some English’, said Nazneen” (Ali 30). The sight of ice-skating had triggered in Nazneen’s mind a set of psychological chain-reactions, which would eventually lead her to begin doubting the very validity of Bengali traditional morality and to consider learning English language. In a similar manner, even the hard-core Soviet Communists would begin doubting the validity of Communist doctrine, after being shown colorful catalogues of Western products – people will only be willing to stay oppressed for as long as they consider such state of affairs natural.

This is exactly the reason why Nazneen decided to take an active stance, while trying to save Raqib’s life. Apparently, it had dawned upon her that there is no fate – it is up to every particular individual to decide how he or she will go about tackling life’s challenges. And, the more technology is being involved in the process of an individual trying to tackle these challenges, the more effective the whole process is going to be.

This explains why, instead of relying on God’s graces, in time when Raqib became ill, Nazneen insisted on taking her son to the hospital. Moreover, while undergoing an ordeal, Nazneen had also assumed the role of an authority figure in her relations with Chanu: “Raqib,’ said Nazneen. Chanu startled. He seemed about to run. ‘What?’ ‘Go and check on him,’ said Nazneen gently” (Ali 131). In its turn, this substantiates our earlier thesis as to the fact that it specifically the continuous exposal to a variety of societal circumstances, which causes ethnic immigrants in Western countries to be endowed with hybrid identity.

The reading of “Brick Lane” points out to the fact that Nazneen was not only the character whose worldview had undergone a drastic transformation, throughout the course of the novel. Just as it was the case with Nazneen, throughout novel’s entirety Chanu also continued to broaden his intellectual horizons, even though he was trying to hold fast to utterly outdated moral dogmas, associated with his former life in Bangladesh. Whereas, at the beginning of the novel, Chanu never skips an opportunity to complain about moral corruption, on the part of second generation of Bengali immigrants, by the time novel ends, Chanu is being shown to readers as being much less enthusiastic about trying to instill his children with Bengali ‘true identity’.

It appears that the transformation of Chanu’s mentality was brought about by his conversations with Mrs. Azad, who never ceased trying to encourage Chanu to adopt more positive outlook on his children’s Britishness: “Let me tell you a few simple facts. Fact: we live in a Western society. Fact: our children will act more and more like Westerners. Fact: that’s no bad thing. My daughter is free to come and go. Do I wish I had enjoyed myself like her when I was young? Yes!” (Ali 93). Apparently, it is not only native-born Westerners who are being capable of relying on their sense of rationale, while assessing surrounding reality and their place in it, but representatives of just about any ethnic minority, for as long as they have spent some time socializing with ‘oppressors’.

Another character in Brick Lane, whose mentality appears having undergone a certain cognitive metamorphosis, during her time in Britain, is Nazeen’s friend Razia. Even though that, upon her settling in Albion, Razia never doubted the soundness of Bengali traditional morality, which prescribes women with only the role of housewives, this character’s continuous interaction with surrounding socio-political realities had effectively changed the way she would address these realities. Razia had cut her hair short, she refused wearing traditional Bengali dress ‘sari’, and her worldviews began to increasingly remind that of Western feminists: “She (Razia) was wearing a garment she called a tracksuit. She could never, so she said, wear a sari again. She was tired of taking little bird steps” (Ali 95). Just as it was the case with Nazeen, during her stay in Britain, Razia had come to realization of the fact that there was not even a single rationale-substantiated reason for her to think of men as some superior beings. Slowly but surely, Razia’s attitudes were becoming increasingly sarcastic. And, as we have pointed out earlier – one’s strong sense of sarcasm and self-irony is an indication of such individual’s being able to adjust to urban living. Unfortunately, Razia could not take a practical advantage of her newly acquired psychological qualities on the way of pursuing a professional career, because she ended up being only the provider to her kids.

The major factor that had brought a change in the lives of those novel’s characters who emigrated from Bangladesh to Britain is their eventual realization of Bengali traditional values’ outdatedness. In its turn, such their realization resulted in the weakening of spatial subtleties of characters’ collectivist mentality. As Irene Fernandez had rightly pointed out on her article Representing Third Spaces, Fluid Identities and Contested Spaces in Contemporary British Literature:

Ali’s depiction of a part of the Bangladeshi population inhabiting Brick Lane proves the inadequacy of homogenizing communities according to their race or their ethnicity… Nowadays space can no longer be equated with a single and homogenized community, at the same time that the idea of community cannot be associated with a single or homogenous identity (Fernandez 151).

The ultimate reason why most ethnic immigrants prefer to proceed with a communal form of existence is that, upon coming to Western cities, they continue to assess surrounding reality through the lenses of agriculture.

In Third World countries, it makes absolutely logical sense for people to profess collectivist values, simply because while living as integral elements of rural community, they are being provided with additional opportunities when facing challenges of weather and when tending crops. In countries with underdeveloped social infrastructure, the only effective way for individuals to ensure their physical survival, is relying upon each in just about every aspect of their existence.

However, the essentials of urban living render collectivist mentality socially counter-productive, because the comparative well-being of rural community’s members is being purchased at the expense of depriving them of prospects of intellectual development. And yet, in post-industrial megalopolises, the social value of a particular resident is being exponentially proportionate to the strength of his or her intellectual powers. Why is it that, hard-working Mexican immigrants in U.S. only get paid $3-$7 per hour for mowing lawns, cleaning streets and flipping burger patties; whereas, office-yuppies get paid as much as $50-$100 per hour for sipping organic coffee at their desks? This is because, unlike newly arrived ethnic immigrants, native-born Westerners are being endowed with strongly defined sense of individualism, which in its turn causes them to continuously seek education, as opposed to practicing some tribal religion or exploring their spirituality/cultural affiliation.

In post-industrial Western countries, the less a particular individual is being affiliated with its own ethnic identity, the better are his or her chances of gaining social prominence. In ‘brave borderless world’, race, religion and ethnic cultures have no social significance – nowadays, all that it matters is money and education. At the end of the novel, Chanu comes to essentially the same conclusion, which explains his following remark: “You see, all my life I have struggled. What good has it done? I have finished with all that. Now I just take the money. I say thank you. I count it” (Ali 154). In post-industrial Western society, an individual does not need to struggle or even to apply a strong effort towards gaining social prominence. For as long as the resident of metropolis is willing to live in accordance with secular law and to continuously work on improving its educational excellence – he or she would be able to enjoy every single moment of its existence, without looking forward to reuniting with God in the ‘kingdom of heaven’, as simple minded peasants do.

Unfortunately, only few recent ethnic immigrants are capable of realizing this simple fact, which is why, upon their arrival to Western megalopolises , they continue to proceed with the same existential mode as it was the case with their ancestors, for thousands and thousands of years. In one of his conversations with Chany, Mrs. Azad had made a perfectly good point, while suggesting that it is often Bengali women’s own intellectual inflexibility, which denies them prospects in life:

Some women spend ten, twenty years here and they sit in the kitchen grinding spices all day and learn only two words of English … they go around covered from head to toe, in their little walking prisons, and when someone calls to them in the street they are upset. The society is racist. The society is all wrong. Everything should change for them. They don’t have to change one thing (Ali 117).

Apparently, the existence of ethnic ghettos in just about every large Western city, where residents go about ‘celebrating diversity’ by dumping garbage onto their houses’ front lawns, as if they continued living in their native villages, can be explained by the fact that an ongoing confrontation between rural and urban mentalities had never ceased affecting the course of human history.

In her study The Edge across America, and the Center: Gated Communities and the Discourse of Urban Fear, Setha Low came up with a thesis that appears being more then applicable within the context of our paper’s discourse: “The retreat to ethnic enclaves… materially and symbolically contradicts American ethos and values, threatens public access to open space, and creates yet another barrier to social interaction, building of social networks, as well as increased tolerance of diverse cultural/racial/social groups” (Low 45). Whatever in rural environment is being considered normal and moral, in urban environment gets to be referred to as abnormal and immoral. Nevertheless, as time goes by, the rural metastasizes on the body of Western post-industrial society will be eventually digested away, for as long the continuous influx of natural-born peasants in Western countries does not overextend these countries’ digestive abilities.

The reading of Ali’s novel substantiates the validity of this suggestion, as novel’s characters are being portrayed in the process of a continuous change, because while living in Western countries, even strongly ‘traditional’ ethnic immigrants are being left with no choice but to adapt to modernity. After having immigrated to Britain, novel’s originally ‘traditional’ characters, such as Chanu, Nazneen, and Mrs. Islam had instantly gained an access to such benefits of urban living as fridges, cable TV, modern medicine, affordable transportation, running water, environmental cleanliness, an enforced law and order, etc. And, the most important – they have realized that, even without having to work, they would still be getting paid hundreds times more (monthly welfare checks), as compared to what hard-working rural laborers in Bangladesh get paid for slaving away on monthly basis. Also, they have realized that by becoming British citizens, they would never have to apply for visas, while travelling internationally. The whole new world, the whole new opportunities became instantly available to Bangladesh-born characters from Ali’s novel, ever since they had set their foot on British soil. This was exactly what had triggered the process of these characters’ mentality beginning to turn increasingly hybrid, despite the fact that the initial stages of this process have gone unnoticed even for the characters themselves.

Whereas, such novel’s characters as Chanu, Nazneen and even Dr. Azad and Mrs. Azad are best referred to as being only partially hybridized, there can be no doubt as to the fact that Nazeen’s daughters Shahana and Bibi and the character of Karim, are “100% hybrid”, in full Bhabhian sense of this word. The reason for this is simple – all three of them were born and raised in Britain, which resulted in their ability to rationalize life’s challenges being significantly heightened. The most obvious proof as to validity of this statement is the fact that neither of these characters doubted that living in UK is so much better then living in Bangladesh, with Shahana going as far being outright ashamed of her cultural heritage: “Shahana did not want to listen to Bengali classical music. Her written Bengali was shocking. She wanted to wear jeans. She hated her Kazmeez and spoiled her entire wardrobe by pouring paint on them” (Ali 180). This quotation from Ali’s novel shows once again that the inborn particulars of one’s ethnic affiliation do not define the essence of his or her social attitudes. A person can be black as a coal, but for as long as he professes the values of urban living, he will still be more tolerant, more intellectually advanced and more professionally successful as compared to cowboy-hat-wearing native of agricultural Nebraska, for example.

In the same article from which we have already quoted, Irene Fernandez provides us with comprehensible explanation as to why Shahana and Bibi never thought of ‘exploring their cultural uniqueness’ as such that represented their foremost priority: “Shahana and Bibi are quite well integrated in British society. Their identity is constructed according to British cultural norms; they have no sense of belonging to Bangladesh. Chanu forces his daughters to maintain a link with his native culture. Yet, this link seems meaningless to the girls, who are unable to relate to a place and a culture they have never known” (Fernandez 152). Given the essence of both girls’ socio-political attitudes, it appears that had they even been exposed to the first-hand accounts of their parents’ native culture, it would have caused them to become alienated from this culture even more.

The same applies to Karim, even though this character never doubted his strong affiliation with Bengali ‘traditional values’. Nevertheless, the close reading of Brick Lane points out to the fact that it was far from being the case. Just like Shahana and Bibi, Karim considered Britain being his homeland – not some distant Bangladesh. Moreover, Karim’s attitudes towards representatives of 1^st generation of Bengali immigrants suggest that this character’s preoccupation with exploring its ethnic identity was essentially artificial, because deep inside, he despised the actual values, upon which such identity was supposed to be built. Ever since Ali had incorporated the character of Karim into novel’s plot, she never ceased portraying him as some who was becoming utterly irritated by his parents’ intentions to give him lessons in morality. Karim does not understand why his father would be willing to call him so often – after all, there was nothing useful he could tell his son: “And what’s he ringing up for anyway? Hasn’t got anything to say to me” (Ali 246). From the time when he was a kid, Karim had learned that nothing prevents native-born Whites from expressing their racist attitudes against Bengali immigrants more then facing the prospect of being confronted with a naked force: “When I was at school, we used to be chased home every day. People getting beaten up the whole time. Then we got together, turned the tables. One of us got touched, they all pay for it” (Ali 279). In other words, while growing up in Britain, Karim had learnt to treat Whites in exactly the same manner as these people’s ancestors used to treat Karim’s ancestors in British Pakistan, during the course of colonial era. Apparently, Karim had come to realization of the fact that, in order to be respected, one does not necessarily need to be understood, but simply feared. Thus, willingly or unwillingly, Karim was slowly becoming associated with essentially colonial values of oppression, even though reversed 180 degrees.

In its turn, this can serve as an additional proof as to validity of Bhabha’s theory of post-colonial hybridity – even though Karim’s existential identity appears being composed out seemingly opposite psychological traits (his outwardly respect of tradition and his fascination with modernity), it nevertheless does not undermine this identity’s wholesomeness. While indulging in behavioral mimicry, Karim was being turned into a person capable of taking yet additional advantages of urban living by understanding what constituted such living’s weaknesses. While appearing extra ‘traditional’ on the outside, Karim’s true existential psyche was even more modern then that of Whites, because this character used to utilize the collectivist drives of other members of London’s Bengali community to proceed with his own highly individualized agenda. In his article Of Mimicry and Man: The Ambivalence of Colonial Discourse, from which we have already quoted, Bhabha comes up with another idea, which appears being especially applicable, within the context of a discussion as to what constituted Karim’s actual identity: “Mimicry conceals no presence or identity behind its mask… The menace of mimicry is its double the ambivalence of colonial discourse also disrupts its authority. And it is a double-vision that is a result of what I’ve described as the partial representation/recognition of the colonial object” (Bhabha 129). Thus, the ultimate conclusion of our analysis of themes and motifs, contained in Monica Ali’s novel Brick Lane can be formulated as follows: the process of ethnic immigrants’ attaining hybrid mentality is being primarily concerned with the process of these people expanding their intellectual horizons, which in its turn results on both: ethnic immigrants’ eventual adaptation to socio-political realities of an urbanized society and their eventual transformation from ‘foreigners’, through ‘others’, into ‘superiors’. We believe that such our conclusion is being consistent with the foremost thesis of Bhabha’s writings on the subject matter.

An analysis of hybrid identities in The Lonely Londoners

Just as it was the case with most of characters in Ali’s Brick Lane, many characters in Samuel Selvon’s novel Lonely Londoners also strived to preserve their national identity, while in Britain. However, given the fact that the plot of Selvon’s novel unravels in Britain where the policy of multiculturalism has not been given an official status yet, it comes as no surprise that these people’s strive to ‘celebrate their uniqueness’ was considerably weaker, as compared to that of Ali’s characters. Also, unlike Bengali immigrants in Ali’s novel, neither of Selvon’s characters professed strongly defined religious beliefs, which is why there were no objective preconditions for them to feel strongly alienated from the rest of British society, in the first place.

The validity of this statement can be best exemplified in regards to the main character of Moses Aloetta, who would often forget about preserving his identity, for as long as he had money and White women to socialize with. In fact, it is namely in times when Moses was reminded of his ethnic identity by London’s socio-political realities, that he experienced a psychological discomfort: “In America you see a sign telling you to keep off, but over here hotel or restaurant they you don’t see any, but when you go in the hotel or restaurant they will politely tell you to haul – or else give you the cold treatment” (Selvon 24). In its turn, this explains why Moses’ longing to explore its identity derived primarily out of this character’s sense of homesickness: “You know what I want to do? I want to go back to Trinidad and lay down in the sun and dig my toes, and eat a fish broth and go Maracas Bay and talk to them fishermen, and all day long I sleeping under a tree, with just the old sun for company” (Selvon 130). The same can be said about Selvon novel’s another important character Galahad, who felt that there was absolutely no difference between himself and the rest of White Londoners, in psychological sense of this word. This was exactly the reason why Galahad kept on insisting that the color of his skin did not have any affect whatsoever onto the workings of his mind.

Repeatedly, throughout the course of the novel, Galahad expresses his discontent with ignorant Whites, who believed that the color of one’s skin does define the subtleties of individual’s mentality: “Colour, is you that causing all this, you know. Why the hell you can’t be blue or red or green, if you can’t be white?” (Selvon 88). There is a memorable scene in the novel when Galahad becomes enraged by ignorant attitudes, on the part of Polish restaurant-owner, while exposing his sense of self-identity as being solely concerned with the concept of British Commonwealth: “The Pole who have that restaurant, he ain’t have no more right in this country than we. In fact we is British subjects, and he is a foreigner” (Selvon 90). Thus, despite the color of Galahad’s skin, he had proven himself much more open-minded as compared to East European immigrants, whose endowment with clearly defined rural mentality prompted them to proceed with communal form of existence, even though they could not be distinguished from native-born White Londoners externally.

By the time Galahad arrives to London, he is being represented to readers as someone who would be able to succeed in Britain rather marvelously, due to his urbanely idealistic attitudes. When Moses inquires about Galahad’s luggage, the latter answers that he does not have any: “Where your luggage’, ‘What luggage? I’aint have any. I figure is no sense to load up myself with a set of things. When I start a work I will buy some things” (Selvon 33). Such Galahad’s answer appears highly allegorical – before coming to Britain, he rid himself of rurally based preconceptions of living, in order to be able to adjust to urban existence more quickly. The irony lays in the fact that, after having lived in London for sometimes, Galahad had realized many native-born Londoners being more prejudicious then he himself could have possibly been, because of their subtle racism.

Novel’s another prominent character Harris also did not hold his ethnic identity in any high regard, as he was well aware of the fact that the extent of one’s social worth has very little to do with his or her color of skin, and religious affiliation to say the least. Despite what many today’s critics imply, Harris was not forced into accepting Britishness by social pressures, but he had consciously chosen in favor of becoming an integral element of British society – just as it was the case with Galahad, Harris was well aware of the fact that the concept of civilized living in urban society should have no racial implications: “And when he dress, you think is some Englishman going to work in the city, bowler and umbrella, and briefcase tuck under the arm, with The Times fold up in the pocket so the name would show, and he walking upright like if is he alone who alive in the world. Only thing, Harris face black” (Selvon 111). It is perfectly understandable that, throughout their stay in London, novel’s characters had been continuously confronted by various emanations of racism, on the part of city’s Whites. Nevertheless, unlike characters in Ali’s novel, they have never gone about savoring their own bitterness, out of being offended.

As we have stated in introductory part of this paper, a strong sense of humor, self-irony and sarcasm is a foremost psychological trait of a true urbanite. The only reason why ethnic immigrants often get to be offended by what they perceive as racism is that they allow themselves being offended. Racism is a like a skin rash – the more it is being scratched, the more it itches. However, most of Selvon’s characters have proven themselves being intellectually advanced enough not to turn their psychological insecurities, in regards to the color of their skin, into some sort of existential fetish. In her article Immigration, Postwar London, and the Politics of Everyday Life in Sam Selvon’s Fiction, Rebecca Dyer had made a good point while stating: “Without adequate housing, food, or respectful treatment within their adopted city, Selvon’s migrants would find partial solace in what de Certeau calls the ‘increased deviousness, fantasy, or laughter” (Dyer 111). It is important to understand that, during the course of fifties, there were no objectively existing preconditions in Britain for ethnic immigrants to be preoccupied with preservation of their national identity, while relying on welfare payments as the only source of their income, as it is often the case nowadays.

Back then, in order for recently arrived immigrant to be able to stay in the country, he or she would have to prove its willingness to work hard. This is why in one of novel’s scenes, Moses advices Galahad to grab just about any job he would be offered by employment agency: “When you come back to report tell them you will take anything for the time being” (Selvon 47). Thus, it was specifically by trying to prove its social usefulness and also by enjoying life’s simple pleasures, in times when they could afford it, that most characters in Selvon’s novel had gone about exploring/preserving their identity. Therefore, we can say that the foremost feature of these characters’ identity (existential stoicism) had very little to do with their ethno-cultural roots – despite the fact that all of them spoke creolized English, neither of these people believed that that their linguistic uniqueness or the particulars of their racial affiliation was setting them apart from the rest of society.

On the contrary – as Moses had rightly pointed out, given the fact that the presence of West Indian immigrants in London contributed rather significantly to city’s overall well-being, these immigrants should have taken pride in their urban usefulness as the foremost aspect of their actual identity:

Instead of moaning and groaning about his sorrows, he (immigrant worker) should stop and think and count these blessings reserved solely for him. He should realize that if it wasn’t up for him, the city would go on sleeping forever. He should look upon himself as a pioneer what preparing the way for the city’s day, polishing the brass and chrome, washing the pots and pans. As he banishes the filth and litter, he could thunder out decrees in the Houses of Parliament and his voice would ring through the corridors and change the Immigration Act (Selvon 5).

Apparently, Moses knew perfectly well that the key to one’s happiness is his or her ability to think positive. Life is not a fairy tale but constant struggle – the multicultural realities of today’s London did not change this simple fact. And, it is namely those ethnic immigrants who can take life’s challenges as men, who might have a chance of rising from society’s bottom to its top.

As we have suggested earlier, the ability to adjust to urban life, on the part of ethnic immigrants from Third World, varies significantly. Nevertheless, it would be inappropriate to suggest that; whereas, some immigrants have innate psychological qualities that allow undergoing the process of adaptation painlessly, some do not. There is a plenty of proof as to the fact that the extent of immigrants’ successfulness, in adjusting to the ways of a big city, is being defined by primarily societal factors and also by their willingness to proceed with essentially autonomous form of existence. The essence of such their hypothetical willingness/unwillingness appears to be of voluntarist nature – the more a particular individual is being endowed with the sense of will-power, the more likely he will be able to control its irrationally-communal urges. In its turn, the strength of person’s will-power is being reflected in his or her ability to assess surrounding reality through the lenses of rationale. We can argue long and hard about such vaguely interpreted notions as ‘spirituality’, ‘tradition’ and ‘identity’, but in today’s world, there is only one thing that represents a universally recognized value in the eyes of both: religious traditionalists and cosmopolitical urbanites – money.

The reason why characters in Selvon’s novel had come to Britain, in the first place, is that they rightly associated immigration to this country with the prospects of improving their financial stance. As novel’s most prominent female character Tanty had put it: “They say that it have more work in England, and better pay. And to tell you the truth, when I hear that Tolroy getting five pound a week, I had to agree” (Selvon 31). Therefore, it was only natural for these characters to begin experiencing an emotional discomfort on the account of their realization of the fact that their increased ability to make more money had reduced their ability to celebrate the values of rural/communal life.

However; whereas, Moses, Galahad, Harris and novel’s other less important male characters were able to largely overcome their psychological weaknesses, related to the life in their newly acquired urban homeland, Tanty could not. Just as it was the case with Mrs. Islam from Ali’s novel, Tanty subconsciously strived for nothing else but turning the city of London into one huge village. In her article Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners and the Structure of Black Metropolitan Life, Msiska Mpalive-Hangson says: “Tanty is not in a hurry to leave Britain, if anything she tries to transform Britain into a bit of Trinidad” (Mpalive-Hangson 22). It is not purely accidental that in the same article, author refers to the character Tanty as predecessor of today’s enforcers of multiculturalism:

“Tanty is one of the most powerful characters in the novel in that she imposes on the metropolis the symbolic order of the Caribbean, suggesting that perhaps most of the other characters have difficulties with city life because of their uncritical veneration of everything metropolitan… She thus initiates a process of multiculturalism which in later years will transform significantly the cultural geography of London” (Mpalive-Hangson 23).

Yet if anything, it is specifically lowered adaptability to urban existence, on the part of most novel’s characters, which prevented them from being able to feel comfortable with the realities of a big city.

Nevertheless, despite the fact that these characters are being represented to readers as rather one-dimensional, in behavioral sense of this word, it would be wrong to suggest that throughout their stay in London, these characters’ mentality did not undergone a certain change. In the same article, Mpalive-Hangson implies that the characters of Moses, Harris, Big City, Captain and Galahad can be referred as nothing less but flaneurs (French word for city-dwellers), who eventually had grown to derive an aesthetic pleasure out being able to intermingle with urban crowds: “Flaneur is the quintessential subject of the new urban formation, a man who revels in being on the street and mingling with a variety of unknown people, without fear, but, if anything, with absolute pleasure” (Mpalive-Hangson 5). In a big city, even people who come from little rural villages can feel quite comfortable, once they have a steady job. As Galahad had found out, once he would put on his best clothes on a day off, he would indeed feel himself belonging to London as much as its native-born residents were: “So, cool as a lord, the old Galahad walking out to the road, with plastic raincoat hanging on the arm, and the eyes not missing one sharp craft that pass, bowing his head in a polite ‘Good evening’ and not giving a blast if they answer or not. This is London, this is life oh lord, to walk like a king with money in your pocket, not a worry in the world” (Selvon 87). In a huge cosmopolitan city, an individual is being able to preserve its anonymity. In its turn, the sensation of anonymity provides urban resident with the feeling of emotional comfort, especially if she or he considers itself an underachiever.

Even though it has taken them some time, novel’s characters were slowly beginning to realize that, while being plunged into urban existence, they could take practical advantage of even the external signifiers of their underprivileged status, such as the color of their skin. For example, the character of Captain had realized that, in order for him to be able to stay in London, he would not even have to have to work – the fact that he appeared rather ‘exotic’ in the eyes of White women, allowed him to make money out pursuing romantic affairs with these women and also out of conning newly arrived immigrants to London into giving him money: “The old Cap have the sort of voice that would melt butter in the winter, and he does speak like a gentleman. So after he sponge on all the fellars he know for meals, he used to look around for newcomers, and put on a soft tone and the hardluck story” (Selvon 48). In a huge urban metropolis, in is namely the degree of individual’s quick-wittedness, which defines his chances of social success. And, the more a particular individual is being quick-witted, the less he will tended to profess the values of ethno-kinship, simply because by professing these values, an individual would be automatically undermining its own socio-economic well-being – the mode of communal existence implies equality, but only equality in poverty.

As it appears out of Selvon novel’s context, it was only the matter time, before West Indian immigrants would begin realizing this simple fact. On a numerous occasions, Moses expresses his discontent with some of his compatriots’ lesser ability to indulge in communal socialization: “When it come to making money, it ain’t have anything like ‘ease me up’ or ‘both of we is countrymen together’ in the old London” (Selvon 11). However, as the storyline progressed, Moses was becoming less and less tended to come up with the remarks like this, as he had leant that the extent of West Indian immigrants’ successfulness in Britain was exponentially proportionate to the extent of their behavioral individualism. In the next sub-chapter of this paper, we will discuss factors that had brought about a change, in how novel’s characters were beginning to assess surrounding reality and their place in it.

In novel’s initial parts, many characters used to take an offense in the fact that White Londoners would usually refer to them as ‘Jamaicans’, simply because of the color of their skin. For example, while being confronted by what he perceived as these people’s ignorant attitudes, Moses never skips an opportunity to complain about it: “Moses come from Trinidad, which is a thousand miles from Jamaica, but the English people believe that everybody who come from the West Indies from Jamaica” (Selvon 12). Nevertheless, just as it was the case with Moses, in novel’s subsequent parts characters appear to have become less emotionally vulnerable in their dealing with emanations of White people’s ignorance. Was it because these characters had simply used to ‘racism’? No. This was because the life in a big city had taught them that one’s tendency to get easily offended would lead such an individual nowhere.

Slowly, it was beginning to dawn upon novel’s characters that White people’s generalizations, in regards to ethnic immigrants, were actually concerned with the workings of immigrants’ mentality, as opposed to being concerned solely with the color of their skin. And, as we have pointed out earlier, the foremost psychological trait of this mentality is perceptional collectivism – at the beginning of the novel, some characters appeared as such who simply could not think of themselves outside of their ethnic communities. The character of Tanty exemplifies the validity of this suggestion perfectly well, as she would even refuse having her photo taken, unless all the members of her extended family would be included in the picture. In the article from which we have already quoted, Rebecca Dyer says: “Agreeing to have her photograph taken, Tanty illustrates that hers is a communal identity when she insists ‘You can’t take me alone. You have to have that whole family” (Dyer 123). Yet, the strength of people’s collectivist rural-mindedness is not something that it being genetically predetermined. What causes ethnic immigrants, which had been originally endowed with rural mentality, to reconsider the way they address life’s challenges? There are two key-factors that bring about such a change: a continuous interaction with native-born urbanites and the continuous process of these people’s material enrichment.

There is memorable scene in the second part of Selvon’s trilogy Moses Ascending, which points out to the fact that, after having purchased a house, Moses had automatically ceased being communally-minded: “I was Master of the house. I insert my key in the front door lock, I enter, I ascend the stairs, and when the tenants hear my heavy tread they cower and shrink in their rooms, in case I snap my fingers and say OUT to any of them” (Selvon 4). Regardless of what the color of his or her skin might be, an individual who had acquired the taste of money and power becomes alienated from ‘traditional values’, which points out at objective subtleties of such a process.

In her article, Mpalive-Hangson implies counter-productive essence of one’s preoccupation with making money: “The erosion of the sense of kinship, community and fellowship in the city is attributed to the adoption of a relentless and ruthless materialism, as money becomes the dominant measure of value and worth, and even of friendship, in some cases” (Mpalive-Hangson 15). We could not disagree more, because one’s willingness to recognize a primacy of material over spiritual simply reflects such individual being an adult, in full sense of this word.

It is important to understand that the way in which practitioners of religion-based spirituality/communal living assess surrounding reality is not being much different from that of animals and small children. Spirituality is nothing but one’s tendency to impersonate nature, which appears being of clearly animalistic origin. For example, when a black bear injures itself against some pointy tree-branch, it usually begins hitting this branch with both of its paws, if he wanted to punish it – in bear’s simple mind; this branch is being impersonated into some malicious creature. In its turn, this explains why the best way to calm crying children, who tripped and fell, is applying a ritual ‘punishment’ (slapping) to whatever they had tripped over – just as it is the case with high animals, small kids are incapable of distinguishing causes from effects. Those who have small children of their own, are being perfectly aware that kids do not tolerate even slight deviations from the way their favorite fairy tales are being retold to them over and over. In a similar manner, people who profess existentially primitive values of ‘spirituality’ and ‘tradition’, resist just about anything that might affect their worldviews. Therefore, just as we have suggested in this study’s introductory part, the fact that newly arrived ethnic immigrants often experience a hard time, while trying to integrate into society, is nothing but a consequence of their essentially infantile socio-political attitudes and their tribal mindedness.

It appears that, in the second part of Selvon’s trilogy, Moses had come to essentially the same conclusion, which is why he preferred maintaining rather neutral stance, in time when Black Panthers were trying to undermine police’s authority, by suggesting that their very Blackness gave them the right to disrupt law and order. Apparently, by that time, the process of Moses being instilled with urban values was largely completed: “Black power militants may try to misconstrue my Memories for their own purposes, and put the following moral to defame me, to wit: that after the ballad and the episode, it is the White man who ends up Upstairs and the Black man who ends up Downstairs” (Selvon 140). Yet, after having acquired wiseness, during the course of his stay in London, Moses became aware of a simple fact that Big City does not divide its residents on Black, White, or even Stripped, but on winners and losers. As Moses had put it: “I don’t need no black power, nor white power, nor any fucking power but my own… I just want to live in peace” (Selvon 141). Those ethnic immigrants who think that it is being their God’s given right to indulge in socially inappropriate behavior, while justifying such their intention by making references to ‘racism’, will eventually end up among losers – plain and simple. Alternatively, those ethnic immigrants who, despite being confronted by White people’s often-racist attitudes, never lose the sight of their actual agenda as such that it being solely concerned with making money and providing to their families, will prosper. As one of the greatest African-American writers, Booker T. Washington had put it in his book Up from Slavery: “The individual who can do something that the world wants done will, in the end, make his way regardless of his race” (Washington X). Thus, we can say that the foremost ideological thesis of Selvon’s “The Lonely Londoners”, in regards to the issue of hybrid identity, is being similar to that of Monica Ali’s novel: it is namely immigrants’ continuous interaction with the realities of living in a big city, which instills these people’s mentality with perceptional ambivalence.

Just as we have mentioned earlier, the process of first and especially second generation ethnic immigrants’ attaining hybrid identity often involves their realization of the fact that, by simultaneously being ‘others’ externally and ‘natives’ internally, they can exploit society to their own advantage. As it has been rightly noted in Swift Dickinson’s article Sam Selvon’s ‘Harlequin Costume’: Moses Ascending, Masquerade, and the Bacchanal of Self-Creolization: “Moses remains an ambivalent figure in that, though he serves as a voice with which Selvon can carnivalize imperial discourse, he also demonstrates a desire to attain a position of advantage according to the values implicit in such discourse” (Dickinson 71). Despite the fact that newly realized ‘powers’, on the part of British-born West Indians seem to have prompted these young people to seek their cultural roots, it was far from being the actual case, in literary sense of this word, simply because, just as it was being pointed out in Dickinson’s article, these people’s exploration of their identity was essentially a part of urban carnival. In order for us to substantiate this thesis, we will need to begin from afar.

After the abolition of slavery in America, it was particularly popular among former slave-owners to perform a so-called ‘cake dance’ with black tar on their faces (dance, originally performed by Black slaves to win favors from Whites), simply because that by doing it, these people were manifesting their ability to adopt just about any identity they wanted , which in their eyes was the ultimate proof of their existential superiority. In a similar manner, in Selvon’s Moses Ascending, the characters representing second generation of West Indian immigrants would go about celebrating their blackness, despite the fact that, during the course of such their celebration, they never ceased professing essentially Western/urban values. And, the reason they have been instilled with these values, is that they were born and raised in Britain. While referring to the character of Brenda, Moses states: “If I did shut my eyes, I would have thought it was a Nordic talking, the accent was so high. She didn’t sound like some of them women what try to put on English and it don’t fit them properly. She sound like the real thing” (Selvon 32). Yet, it was Brenda who seemed being even more enthusiastic about taking pride in her blackness, as compared to what it was the case with first generation West Indian immigrants.

The same can be said about the character of Galahad, whose formative years had been spent in Britain and who in “Moses Ascending” had adopted a clearly defined hybrid identity, despite the fact that in the first part of Selvon’s trilogy, Galahad was trying hard to associate himself with the spirit of Britishness. By the time we meet Galahad in Moses Ascending, he no longer appears being endowed with inferiority complex – such his initial complex had yielded the way to his newly acquired and rather hypertrophied sense of racial pride: “When I opened the door Galahad raise his right hand up in the air making a fist of his fingers as if he going to bust a cuff in my arse, and say, paradoxically, ‘Peace, brother. Black is beautiful” (Selvon 11). Nevertheless, the fact that Moses refers to Galahad and Brenda’s newly acquired fascination with their cultural roots rather sarcastically, suggests that both charters’ intention to celebrate their ethnic uniqueness was essentially of urban nature – whatever the improbable this might sound.

In the article from which we have already quoted, Dickinson had made a good point while stating: “Selvon tries on Moses Aloetta as a “Harlequin costume,” using him to creolize re-presentation of the metropole from the liminal space of a character-becoming-writer. The disguise allows the author an interstitial position from which to narrate the postcolonial City; like a masker in Trinidad Carnival, Selvon wears Moses as mask and man, as a threshold embodiment of his ambivalence” (Dickinson 70). While pursuing with a communal mode of existence in rural society, its members have very little time to afford being concerned with anything but struggling with nature on essentially permanent basis. However, the fact that the workings of urban society are being defined by continuous technological progress more then by any other socio-political factor, it creates preconditions for such society’s members to be increasingly concerned with indulgence in need-free activities, such as carnivalesque exploration of their ethno-hybrid identity.

It is well worthy noticing that the way representatives of 2^nd generation ethnic immigrants go about exploring their identity cannot be referred to as positivist – by wearing their ethnic clothes, which often appear aesthetically offensive in the Western eye, and by insisting on their right to practice ‘otherness’, these people strive for nothing else but breaking social taboos. Within the context of what has been said earlier – such their strive appears being of essentially urban nature, because it derives out these people’s urban-based bellyful idleness.

In the article, from which we have quoted in this paper’s introductory part, Pnina Werbner points out at non-confirmative essence of cultural hybridity: “Ritual clowns and monsters are very much like avant-garde works of art or novels: they are meant to shock, to inseminate, to impregnate, to bring otherness from beyond the boundaries into established routines of daily life. They are intentional hybridities: they work to transform, to revitalize, to create new ordeals to be transcended” (Werbner 141). Therefore, the essence of cultural hybridity appears highly paradoxical – despite the fact that people endowed with hybrid identity often seem to be professing retrograde/communal values, they are not being concerned with exploring these values as ‘thing in itself’ but rather as the instrument of undermining different emanations of urban society’s authoritative oppression – thus, increasing the levels of tolerance within a society.

Results and discussion

Throughout the course of decades, associated with the era of post-colonialism, it became a common trend among Western social scientists and politologists to point out at qualitative incompatibility between rationale-based workings of Western psyche, which define political realities in post-industrial societies, and particulars of how ethnic immigrants go about addressing life’s challenges, while becoming integrated into these societies. Nowadays, ethnically diverse citizens are being prompted to think of the very concept of scientific progress as essentially wicked, because this concept does not seem to correspond to the notion of religion-based spirituality and tribal behaviorism, on the part of these immigrants.

Today’s Western mass culture contributes rather significantly to the process of Western societies ‘ruralization’, as it is being primarily concerned with opposing the notion of spirituality against the notion of science, while implying social inappropriateness of the latter. For example, in Hollywood’s latest blockbuster “Avatar”, the characters representing Earth’s technological civilization are being portrayed as not only inheritably evil, but as such that deserve to be exterminated en masse; whereas, Na’vi tribesmen are being portrayed as essentially superior beings, because of their tendency to impersonify nature. The subtle implications of “Avatar” are easily recognizable even to a naked eye – White people’s ability to push forward scientific progress is being not only socially counter-productive but also reflective of these people’s deep-seated racism.

Of course, such movie’s ideological paradigm did not materialize out of the blue – it is nothing but the practical consequence of an ongoing multicultural discourse in its present form, brought to its extreme. In his article Beyond Primitivism: Indigenous Religious Traditions and Modernity, Jacob K. Olupona provides us with the insight onto conceptual premises of this discourse:

Indigenous knowledge, religion and peoples are not part of the European metanarrative of perfectibility and human agency. The Western version of its own history fails to incorporate later alternative views of reality… Current resurgence in indigenous spirituality is a form of resistance against colonialism and the forces which seek to dominate native religion and cultures (Olupona 327).

Given the fact that, throughout the course of modern era, it were namely White people who acted as facilitators of scientific progress, the very concept of technological modernity and urbanism is essentially racist.

Nevertheless, as we have shown in earlier parts of this research, it is utterly inappropriate to suggest that world’s historical dynamics have been solely defined by an ongoing confrontation between ‘rationalistic racists’ on one hand, and ‘highly spiritual aborigines’, on another, but rather by an ongoing confrontation between rural and urban mentalities. And, one’s ability to assess surrounding reality through the lenses of perceptional urbanism has nothing to do with specifics of his or her racial affiliation, because such ability is being defined by primarily societal factors. Those people who were born and raised in Western large megalopolises will automatically be less religious, less prone to irrational insults, and less affiliated with ‘traditional values’, regardless of what the color of their skin might be.

As Darren Sherkat and Christopher Ellison have rightly suggested in their article Recent Developments and Current Controversies in the Sociology of Religion: “Social influences on choices are an important topic of discussion in economic theory… All choices are embedded within sets of social relations that influence decision-making, and religious choices are particularly prone to such inducements” (Sherkat & Ellison 381). Therefore, the very concept of Western urbanism, as such that is being concerned with people’s highly secularized mode of existence, appears metaphysically objective. The continuous process of Globalization and the exponential progress in the field of informational technologies will result in creation of a situation, when people’s affiliation with rurally based ‘traditional values’ will cease to affect the workings of their rational psyche.

The emergence of the concept of hybrid identity, substantiates the validity of this thesis, simply the reflections of such identity are being clearly of carnivalesque essence. Whereas, the representatives of 1^st generation ethnic immigrants in Ali and Selvon’s novels appear being instilled with inferiority complex, due to particulars of their religious beliefs and their physical appearance, their children did not only experience a psychological discomfort as to their ethno-cultural affiliation, but they would often go as far as indulging in public celebration of ‘traditional values’. However, this was not because they deeply believed in these values, but because by exploring their ethnic uniqueness, these people have been emphasizing ‘othernesses’ as the foremost aspect of their existential identity. And, the reason they would do this is simple – in highly urbanized Western societies, the very notion of identity derives out of the notion of ‘otherness’ as something that is being concerned with one’s ability to act as a supreme individualist.

Nowadays, in order for an average Western city-dweller to be endowed with the strong sense of self-identity, he/she does not have to possess outstanding psychological traits, but simply to have enough money to afford buying ‘otherness’ in the store. Why is it that nowadays, city-residents are willing to overpay as much as hundred times over the actual worth of particular clothing item, for as long as this item features a brand-name logo on it? This is because, by wearing such piece of clothing, they are able to emphasize their strongly defined individualistic identity, without having to apply much of an effort, during the course of a process – in urban society, even the way in which its members go about exploring their individuality is being highly rationalistic.

It is namely realization of this fact, which will allow us to get a better understanding as to what accounts for ethnic immigrants and their children’s hybrid identity – by openly proclaiming their affiliation with ‘traditional values’ and by striving to look ‘exotic’, while in public, these people are being able to prove themselves as even more individualistically-minded, as compared native-born Whites, without having to spend a whole lot of money. Therefore, the external manifestations of these people’s affiliation with collectivist/rural mentality can often be taken as the ultimate proof of their perceptional individualism – whatever the illogical it might sound.

During the course of seventies, it became especially fashionable among young people in the West to affiliate themselves with a so-called hippy-movement, which had traditionally been associated with the values of communal living, new-age spirituality, closeness to nature, etc. Yet, the real reason why native-born urbanites would be willing to choose in favor of collectivist existence, was not that they wanted to ‘make change in the world’, as they officially proclaimed, but simply because they wanted to be different from others. In Thomas Shey’s article Why Communes Fail: A Comparative Analysis of the Viability of Danish and American Communes, hippies’ deep-seated alienation from the ideals of communal coexistence is being referred to as the foremost reason why, during the course of seventies, American and Danish hippy-communes had failed miserably: “Most members are perhaps not adequately prepared for communal living; i.e., not prepared to sacrifice modern comforts; too individualistic; not dedicated to collectivist values” (Shey 612). As of today, person’s willingness to appear hippyish, by wearing ‘mystical charm’ necklaces, crystal point pendants and Jamaica-styled dreadlocks, is being seen as the indication of his/her ideological non-conformism, which serves another proof as to such individual’s strong sense of individualism.

The same can be said about the children of 1^st generation ethnic immigrants, who were brought up in Western countries. It is a well-known fact that these people often actively oppose themselves against secular/individualistic values of Western civilization. However, such their tendency cannot be thought of as an ultimate proof as to these people’s inability to adjust to urban living. Just as hippies’ willingness to live as a part of rural communities did not make them less individualistically minded, ‘hybrids’’ unacceptance of Western materialistic individualism, does not make them less Westerners, in metaphysical sense of this word.

Thus, suggestions that the very idea of Western urbanity is being incompatible with the idea of post-colonialism, appears not only deprived of any logic whatsoever, but as such that being aimed at instigating ethno-cultural intolerance in post-industrial Western societies. In its turn, this explains why the continuous promotion of multiculturalism in Western societies did not result in anything but in portions of these societies’ becoming rurally atomized, which negatively affects the overall well-being of Western civilization. Apparently, only few post-colonial social scientists were able to realize what the notion of hybrid mentality’s ambivalence stands for.

In its turn, this brings us to conclusion that the concept of post-colonialism, in conventional sense of this word, is being methodologically fallacious, as it implies subjectivity of rationale-based science and of urban mode of one’s existence. In his article Introduction: Postcolonial Technoscience, Warwick Anderson unwillingly provides us with an insight on what accounts for conceptual fallaciousness of post-colonial discourse: “A post-colonial analysis thus offers us a chance of disconcerting conventional accounts of so-called ‘global’ technoscience, revealing and complicating the durable dichotomies, produced under colonial regimes, which underpin many of its practices and hegemonic claims” (Anderson 644). Yet, there is nothing ‘so-called’ about the notion of urban Globalization. It is important to understand that it is namely people’s exposal to the practical benefits, associated with Western urbanity, which alters the workings of their mentality, and not the vice versa.

After having settled in Western countries, ethnic immigrants slowly learn both: how to disregard ‘traditional values’, in regards to their own lives, and to how utilize these values as the instrument of attaining ‘otherness’, in regards to the lives of others. By doing this, they prove themselves perfect urbanites, because one’s ability to adjust to urban life, implies his/her ability to take practical advantages of living in a ‘big city’, regardless of whether taking such an advantage is being moral or not.

Just as it was the case with White hippies, most people endowed with hybrid identity are being incapable of adjusting their act to correspond to their openly proclaimed beliefs in ethno-cultural and religious solidarity, simply because the attainment of such identity, on their part, cannot be conceived without these people’s continuous interaction with surrounding socio-political realities. By interacting with these realities, ‘hybrids’ acquire a three-dimensional insight onto what their parents used to think solely within the simplistic context of good vs. evil. In his study Television and the Reflexive Project of the Self: Soaps, Teenage Talk and Hybrid Identities, Chris Barker have come to conclusion that: “Identities are no longer simply ‘givens’ but are constructed by us from the multiplying resources provided by Globalization… Identity is not an already existent ‘fixed thing’, rather, we can talk of ‘identities-in-process” (Barker 627). Therefore, it is utterly inappropriate to discuss the concept of hybrid identity as phenomenological but static category, because of an objectivity of a linear course of history. Whereas; today such identity is being referred to as one of sociological consequences of post-colonialism, it might not necessarily be the case tomorrow.

What it means is that a new critical theory of hybrid identity must be formulated, which would be consistent with the process of Globalization as historically predetermined process of urbanization and secularization that changes the qualitative essence of many classical social and political notions, or renders them outdated altogether. As Robert Cox had rightly pointed out in his article Social Forces, States and World Orders: Beyond International Relations: “Critical theory, unlike problem-solving theory, does not take institutions and social power relations for granted but calls them into question by concerning itself with their origins and how and whether they might be in the process of changing” (Cox 129). It is important to understand that in the near future, the post-colonial discourse, in regards to ‘oppression’ and ‘celebration of diversity’, will cease to represent an ontological value, as during the course of recent years, the concept of cultural relativism was rid of the remains of its former academic validity.

This is exactly the reason why recent years saw politicians in many Western countries creating additional obstacles on the way of ethnic immigrants from Third World trying to infiltrate into the West. In 2009, Swiss citizens had voted in favor on putting a ban on the building of new Islamic minarets in this country. On April 30, 2010, the members of Belgium’s Parliament had passed legislation that forbids Muslim women from wearing their traditional dresses in public. In his article Now Belgium Bans Burqa in Public Places, available on the web site of Business Standard, Pallavi Aiyar says: “The ongoing clash of civilizations between a Europe steeped in Christian traditions and the Islamic culture of its growing population of Muslim immigrants stepped up a notch on Thursday evening, with Belgian lawmakers passing a nationwide ban prohibiting women from wearing the burqa or full Islamic veil in public places” (Aiyar 2010). Yet, as we have pointed out earlier, the ongoing confrontation between West and East cannot be discussed within the context of civilization vs. civilization, but rather within the context of global metropolis vs. global village.

Therefore, by calling an end to the process of their countries being turned into Third World rural slums, Western politicians had confirmed the validity of a thesis that was being explored throughout this paper’s entirety – despite seemingly collectivist/rural emanations of hybrid identity, the structural essence of such an identity is unmistakably Western/urban. The implicit message, conveyed by recent socio-political developments in Europe, can be articulated as follows – despite the fact that they often claim otherwise, the legal enforcement of urban civility in the West does not affect the emotional well-being of representatives of ethno-religious minorities (especially 2^nd generation immigrants), because the closer analysis of these people’s adherence to ‘traditional values’ reveals it being nothing but one among many irrational fetishes, on their part. Yet, ethnic immigrants’ right to explore this fetish (celebrate their cultural/hybrid identity), cannot be ensured at the expense of undermining the process of Western societies becoming increasingly urbanized, because that would constitute a transgression of dialectically predetermined laws of historical progress. The very fact that, while complaining about the ‘cultural insensitivity’ and the ‘lack of spirituality’, on the part of native-born Westerners, overly religious representatives of ethnic minorities are nevertheless not being in a big rush to return to their home-countries, serves as an undeniable proof as to the fact that one’s ability/inability to adjust to urban life is essentially the matter of his or her choice. And, as such, it should not be idealized.

In his article Diaspora and Double Consciousness, Samir Dayal came up with a rhetorical question, which exposes the fallacy of cultural relativism, as multiculturalism’s ideological basis: “What does another, non-Western modernity look if it is not just a response to a Western paradigm” (Dayal 51). Nevertheless, the objectiveness of Western urban modernity does not imply its racialism. After the end of WW2, Japanese citizens were forbidden from even thinking about exploring their spirituality/cultural uniqueness by opposing it to Western modernity, as it was the case prior to the outbreak of this war. And yet, it has only taken Japan a decade to regain its status as one of world’s strongest economic powers – it is not the particulars of people’s religion or their racial constitution, but the extent of their economic well-being, which defines cognitive essence of their self-identity.

Therefore, the process of representatives of ethnic minorities attaining hybrid identity is being essentially concerned with these people consciously choosing in favor of existential urbanism as the ultimate mean of making themselves emotionally comfortable with modernity. We believe that the validity of this thesis is being illustrated in Monica Ali’s Brick Lane and Samuel Selvon’s Lonely Londoners perfectly well.

The conclusions of this study can be summarized as follows:

• As the analysis of both novels suggests that the foremost challenge experienced by representatives of ethnic minorities, of the way of integrating into Western societies, is being concerned with their often clearly defined perceptional infantilism, which in its turn is being reflected in these people’s adherence to the values of communal existence. Nevertheless, given the fact that most characters in Ali and Selvon’s novels are being shown in the process of expanding their intellectual horizons, it would be wrong to suggest that these characters’ original endowment with ‘traditional values’ had been genetically predetermined. After having immigrated to Britain, Chanu, Nazneen, Dr. Azad, Moses, Galahad, Harris and others began to doubt whether it made any sense whatsoever for them to continue professing the ideals of rural collectivism. Slowly but surely, it was beginning to dawn upon them that the actual worth of their communal/religion-based sense of self-identity should have been measured practically, as opposed to being measured solely theoretically. In its turn, this prompted these characters to come to realization of a simple fact that, within the context of one trying to gain social prominence in urban metropolis, his or her willingness to profess the values of rural communalism should be regarded as essentially a burden.
• Despite the fact that modern interpretations of both novels often imply that, while being confronted by explicit and implicit emanations of White racism, Ali and Selvon’s characters had been mainly preoccupied with trying to preserve their ethnic and religious identity; novels’ close reading reveals that this was far from being the case. The reason for this is simple – even though these characters usually sought socialization with their compatriots, the continuous interaction with urban realities on their part, had affected the way these individuals would go about addressing life’s challenges. After having lived in London for some time, they have ceased referring to themselves as simply West Indians and Bengali, while growing to recognize their newly acquired Britishness as their only the asset. In its turn, this illustrates the validity of Bhabha’s ideas, in regards to what constitutes one’s hybrid identity – namely, individual’s existential ambivalence. The most intellectually advanced representatives of ethnic minorities in Western countries had long ago learnt to refer to themselves as citizens, in full sense of this word, which can be taken as the foremost poof as to their possession of hybrid identity. Apparently, these individuals are being perfectly aware of sheer artificialness of racial profiling, when utilized by politicians, within the context of designing socio-political policies.

Thus, it would not be an exaggeration to refer to Ali and Selvon’s novels as being concerned with promotion of humanist agenda of urban tolerance. As Bhabha had put it in his article The White Stuff: “What we need is a way of looking that restores a third dimension to hear-set profiles; a way of writing that makes black and white come alive in a shared context; a way of talking, of moving back and forth along the tongue, to bring language to a space of community and conversation that is never simply white and never singly black” (Bhabha 23). The realities of urban Globalization point out to the fact that in the ‘brave borderless world’, an individual’s identity cannot be solely reflective of his or her biological makeup or religious affiliation. On the contrary – the less a particular resident of a metropolis is being instilled with race-based or religion-based prejudices, the more he will be likely to take a full advantage of its intellectual powers. And, the more urban-dweller is being open minded, the more he will be likely to realize a simple fact that in the ‘big city’, it is only the extent of his or her financial prosperity, which reflects the actual subtleties of one’s identity.

• The so-called ‘post-colonial’ discourse is based on essentially fallacious assumption that the concept of technology-based euro-centrism is being synonymous to the concept of racism, which is why socio-political manifestations of euro-centrism should be confronted with. Yet, the actual consequence of technology vs. spirituality/religion will be the same as it always been the case, throughout the course of history – technology and science will inevitably prevail. Apparently, those social scientists who continue to believe in beneficence of post-colonial ‘national liberation movements’, as such that are being concerned with the establishment of ethnically-defined national borders in Third World, do not fully realize the geopolitical effects of an ongoing process of Globalization, as such that are being concerned with eventual elimination of national borders altogether.

In his book The Next Global Stage: Challenges and Opportunities in our Borderless World, one of the most ardent proponents of Globalization, Kenichi Ohmae had made a fully legitimate point while stating: “The global economy ignores barriers, but if they are not removed, they cause distortion. The traditional centralized nation-state is another cause of friction. It is ill equipped to play a meaningful role on the global stage” (Ohmae 5). In the near future, the essence of political dynamics on international arena will be defined by confrontation between intellectually/technologically advanced super-humanity, on one hand, and highly communal/collectivist sub-humanity from Third World, on another. In its turn, this will create a situation when the essence of world’s politics will no longer be defined by confrontational framework state vs. state, but by confrontational framework global megalopolis vs. global village – such our recurring suggestion correlates rather well with study’s initial thesis.

• There is only one way for representatives of ethnic minorities in Western countries to ensure their competitiveness, while dealing with the challenges of urban living – abandoning their psychological trait of communal-mindedness as being counter-productive to their own agenda. When in 2005, Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten had published caricature on Islamic prophet Muhammad, the representatives of country’s Muslim community started to set cars on fire and to physically assault innocent bystanders – thus, expressing their ‘moral outrage’ with native-born Westerners’ ‘lack of spiritual sensitivity’, while expecting Danish government to address the situation by the mean of an appeasement, as usual. However, instead of being provided with yet additional special rights and privileges, as they have initially expected, the most enthusiastic ‘defenders of morality’ had been simply put on the plane and sent back to the Middle East – the only place where people who profess rural values of religious fanaticism truly belong. In order for a particular individual to qualify for urban residence in post-industrial Western society, he/she must be able to realize that the concept of tolerance does not stand for lawlessness, that the concept of diversity does not stand for loitering streets with garbage, and that the concept of sexual freedom does not stand for perpetrating gang-rapes.
• The continuous attempts to improve ethnic immigrants’ living standards, by providing them with a variety of special rights and privileges, such as allowing these people to enroll in universities without being required to undergone examinations (affirmative action), are doomed to failure, as it is the case with just any other neo-Liberal political initiatives. The reason for this is simple – while being provided with these privileges, immigrants grow to recognize their inferiority as being objectively predetermined, which of course, is far from being the case. As it appears from Ali’s Brick Lane, while he continued to complain about racism, Chanu was never able to effectively address his depression. Yet, as soon as he became a taxi-driver and grew to appreciate money as being something so much more valuable, comparing to the notion of traditional morality, this character’s mental state had improved considerably. What it means is that individual’s willingness to explore its ‘cultural uniqueness’ 24/7 often points out to such person’s behavioral abnormality. Instead of being encouraged to proceed with exploration of its identity, he or she should be encouraged to seek a psychological counseling.
• Both, Monica Ali and Sam Selvon had succeed in representing the true nature of challenges, faced by ethnic immigrants, as deriving out of their emotional attachment to the ideals of ethno-cultural and religious solidarity. However, as we have suggested earlier, the realities of urban living render these ideals utterly outdated, which is exactly the reason why the initial stages of the process of novels’ characters beginning to gain self-confidence coincided with the time when they have consciously chosen in favor of distancing themselves from rurally based existential prejudices.

Due to the continuing progress in the field of computer science and biology, in 15-20 years from now, it will become practically possible for citizens in Western countries to instantly learn new languages (by installing microchips in their brain), to ‘upgrade’ their memory and even to go as far as being able to save their consciousness (soul) onto computer hard drives – thus, attaining virtual immortality. At the same time, the utilization of genetic engineering will allow married couples to make sure that their children would be born without any physical or mental defects. In fact, people will be able to grow new limbs, to alter their physical appearance and to create biological replicas of themselves by the mean of genetic cloning. Therefore, it is in ethnic immigrants’ best interests to rid themselves of remnants of rural identity as soon as possible, because it is namely the strength of their willingness to adapt to highly technological and essentially ‘godless’ realities of Western living, which will define the extent of these people’s intellectual flexibility and ultimately, their chances of attaining happiness.

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