Unhomeliness in V.S. Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas

Abstract

This paper reads Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas through Homi K. Bhabha’s notion of “unhomeliness”. It offers an analysis of the sense of unhomeliness which is best reflected in Mr. Biswas’s character as a post-colonial subject. Meanwhile, the displacement of Mr. Biswas is discussed, behind which Imperialism has played a key role especially in bringing a sense of alienation to such formerly colonized people. In this regard, the paper is an attempt to reveal that the individuals displaced by colonialism never attain a sense of homeliness.