Identity Crises and Culture Displacement in Arundhati Roy’s and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s Fiction

Abstract

The impact of cultural dislocation and the quest for identity are major themes in Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s and Arundhati Roy’s writing. The psychological and social upheaval of people torn between opposing cultural influences, colonial legacies, and evolving ideas of selfhood is explored in their novels. This study looks at how shattered identities are portrayed in The God of Small Things and Heat and Dust, emphasizing the conflict between modernity and tradition, as well as between alienation and belonging. Through a comparative analysis, the study reveals how both writers express the enduring concerns of postcolonial life, the consequences of migration, and how nostalgia and memory influence individual and societal identities. This study offers fresh perspectives on the difficulties of cultural hybridity and self-definition in a world that is rapidly becoming more globalized by interacting with postcolonial theory. Within the larger context of postcolonial literature, this article provides a critical examination of identity crises and cultural dislocation as they are experienced by the characters in both the authors’ writings.