{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.01971830985915493, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0, 'mean_word_length': 5.459090909090909, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
SALEH AHMED DANBOUS REPRESENTATIONS OF IDENTITY IN GITA MEHTA’S A RIVER SUTRA, MONGO BETI’S THE POOR CHRIST OF BOMBA, AND TANUSHREE PODDER’S ESCAPE FROM HAREM

This paper focuses on the representations of identity in selected contemporary postcolonial novels, namely, Gita Mehta’s A River Sutra, Mongo Beti’s The Poor Christ of Bomba, and Tanushree Podder’s Escape from Harem. The representation of identity is apparent in these works, and it is a determining feature of the colonial insights projected in their literary discourse. Accordingly, the study will examine the peculiarities of national identity and how it corresponds to the facts that the vernacular identity is an ethnical issue which concerns every individual. National ethnicity incarnates the individual dedication and underpinning of their national matters including social and human perspectives. The study aims to accentuate this peculiarity by applying a close reading of the characters’ behaviors. Such behaviors embody the sense of national identity which distinguishes one nation from others. This national identity is not relative to any person or institutional party; it is pertinent to every individual, male and female, who strive to represent the particulars of their homeland. National identity goes along with the symbolical depiction of the selected works’ characters. The analysis of national identity will draw upon postcolonial theory.