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Immigration, Integration, Dislocation: the Herculean Labours of the Self in Monica Ali's Brick Lane

Laura Monica Toma

  • Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania

Pages 184–198

Licence © 2020 the authors · CC BY 4.0

Abstract

Brick Lane offers the reader a fascinating insight into the universe of the British Bengali community in London, foregrounding a panoply of human experiences, from the trials and tribulation of the immigrants to the emancipation of the female protagonist. This paper investigates the nature of the multicultural conflict that the novel foregrounds, revealing the fact that the immigrant is a disembedded self, torn between the desire to preserve his cultural heritage and the need to adapt in order to survive in the great metropolis of London. As the novel chronicles the protagonist's transformation from a shy girl into an independent woman who takes charge of her life, I shall also explore the fashioning of the feminine self and look into matters such as dependence, social roles, forms of femininity.

Keywords —

multicultural conflict · immigrants · disembedded self · cultural heritage · forms of femininity
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Cite this article

Toma, L. M. (2020). Immigration, Integration, Dislocation: the Herculean Labours of the Self in Monica Ali's Brick Lane. Dialogos, 37, 184–198.

Toma, Laura Monica. “Immigration, Integration, Dislocation: the Herculean Labours of the Self in Monica Ali's Brick Lane.” Dialogos, vol. 37, 2020, pp. 184–98.

Toma, Laura Monica. 2020. “Immigration, Integration, Dislocation: the Herculean Labours of the Self in Monica Ali's Brick Lane.” Dialogos 37: 184–98.

@article{toma2020immigration,
  author  = {Toma, Laura Monica},
  title   = {Immigration, Integration, Dislocation: the Herculean Labours of the Self in Monica Ali's Brick Lane},
  journal = {Dialogos},
  year    = {2020},
  volume  = {37},
  pages   = {184--198}
}
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