Illusion of Freedom in V.S Naipul’s In a Free State

Abstract

This study explores how V.S. Naipaul’s In a Free State portrays illusion of freedom by ironically making his protagonist the casualties of freedom in an alien culture. In 'One Out of Many', a short story presented beside the novella, an Indian servant Santosh is accidentally transported to Washington, where he finds a niche for himself but remains profoundly alienated from the world around him. He abandons his cultural values by marrying habsi woman. Despite his longing for greater freedom, he gains confusion and humiliation and realizes that his life has no dignity. The second story 'Tell Me Who to Kill', also presented side by side, is a tragic story of a West Indian who moves to London to see his brother Dayo where he becomes a victim of racial violence. The novel laIn a Free State is about expatriate English civil servant (Bobby and Linda) in a recently independent African state torn by civil war. It describes about their growing alienation from both Africa and each other, and their powerlessness to withstand the senseless violence and brutality ranging around them. The study bases its argument in the theory of Freedom and Liberty and uncovers the sad fate of people in post-colonial societies who suffer illusion of freedom both at home and abroad. Illusion at home due to lack of social, psychological and cultural freedom despite political freedom and illusion due to cultural alienation and discrimination in a faraway land.