A Comparative Analysis of The Lonely Londoners and Wide Sargasso Sea within the Context of Multiculturalism

Year 2023, Volume: 33 Issue: 2, 373 - 393, 25.12.2023

Rabia Aksoy Arıkan , Evren Barut

https://doi.org/10.26650/LITERA2023-1298111

Abstract

The author Jean Rhys explored the concept of multiculturalism in her novel Wide Sargasso Sea (WSS) (1966), which presented a narrative of the protagonist’s life in Jamaica and England. In contrast, Samuel Selvon depicted Caribbean immigrants’ lives in England by integrating multicultural items into his novel, The Lonely Londoners (TLL) (1956). This study addresses the theme of multiculturalism in both WSS and TLL and reflects on the lifestyles and relationships of the characters within the context of multiculturalism in the Caribbean and England. To achieve this goal, a detailed analysis was conducted using a multiculturalist approach, grounded in selected examples extracted from both WSS and TLL. Both works of literature analyzed the influence of the dominant culture on an individuals’ cultural facets, highlighting their ability or inability to adapt to the constraints of the host culture. In her work, Rhys highlighted the adaptation process and the discrimination experienced by white and black Creoles. Conversely, Selvon’s narrative focused on class-based discrimination within a culture with undefined or shifting boundaries. This article provides an analysis of how the literary works reflect the difficulties faced by an individual when living in heterogeneous cultures, specifically cultural integration and discrimination. First, the definition of terms and a theoretical and literary framework are presented, then, a comparative analysis with selected examples from WSS and TLL is given in the study. Finally, the article argues that both works offer valuable insights into the struggles that individuals and communities in multicultural societies face as they negotiate the conflicts between cultural diversity and social cohesion.

Keywords

Multiculturalism, Acculturation, Discrimination, The Lonely Londoners, Wide Sargasso Sea

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