Contours of Identity: A Polychromatic Study of Aravind Adiga’s Oeuvre

Abstract

In this post-modern era, “Identity” has become a contingent concept. Identity is now a hypernym of ethnicity, nationality, religiosity, sexuality, multiplicity, and commonality and so on. This article attempts to make a comprehensive evaluation of the various aspects which contribute to the formation of multiple identities of individuals. With the radical structural change in society, identity has also lost its stable meaning. To deal with this fluid sense of identity human beings have to be more adaptive and selective at the same time. A person always remains in a maze of complexity because of the malleability of identity. Every human being in society is connected to a vast network of identities which lead them to a state of bafflement. Social, cultural and theological institutions of a society assign some fixed and stable identities for individuals. These acknowledged and institutionalized identities instead of becoming boons create more obfuscations and disorientation in their mind. Each of them lives with an array of complex and contradictory identities. Some identities serve instrumental purposes in sustaining inherent inequality, some accelerate the growth of narcissistic self and some other compel to cultivate pseudo superiority. So, this article taking into view Aravind Adiga’s oeuvre offers a polychromatic study into the formation of layered identity.