Representations of the postcolonial state in the childhood metaphor in selected postcolonial texts
Abstract
In the analysis of postcolonial literature, there is no systematic construction of a framework to factor in childhood as a metaphor. Postcolonial criticism has not been engaged further in the enterprise of literary analysis, particularly on form. Consequently, this research fills the need to recast the focus of postcolonial criticism to the analysis of form in literature†(through the use of metaphor of childhood). Hawley picks out one author, Salman Rushdie who is often studied under postcolonial criticism. He singles out that postcolonial critics look only for Rushdie-like characteristics. It is in the interest of this research to apply childhood as a different set of characteristic or criterion to profit the agency of postcoloniality. This research also, therefore, contributes to this critique by establishing further that postcolonial criticism embodies a wider canon and that postcolonial texts are not a ‘handful and recurring’. This research introduces pericolonial zones as well as exposing further ‘the list’ to include the selected texts; Beneath the Lion’s Gaze, in addition to The God of Small Things and Nervous Conditions. A sifting of childhood metaphor, in relation to postcoloniality, engenders further appreciation on the analysis of the literary context and beyond.
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