Mimicry Reflected In The Novel Inheritance of Loss By Kiran Desai

Abstract

Inheritance of Loss is a post colonial novel written by Kiran Desai. The novel depicts the life
of the Indian society before and after the British colonial era. Desai portrays how the society had
been influenced by some aspects of the British culture. As seen in the novel, some of the characters
are more interested in imitating the British than maintaining their own culture.In this study aims at:
(1) describing the British culture and Indian culture in the Inheritance of Loss. (2) describing
mimicry of the Indian toward British culture in Inheritance of Loss.
This research is conducted through Post-colonial study. Ashcroft about Post-colonialin Key
Concept of Post Colonialism (2000) states that postcolonial literature is written in English.It
discusses the various effects of colonial culture. Mimicry, Tyson (2006) says many of these
individuals tried to imitate their colonizers as much as possible, in dress, speech, behavior, and
lifestyle. Postcolonial critics refer to this phenomenon as mimicry. Mimicry reflects both the desire
of colonized individuals to be accepted by the colonizing culture and the shame experienced by
colonized individuals concerning their own culture,which they were programmed to see as inferior.
To support this study, historical approach is applied. Bush (2000) states that, historical approach
values the aspects which can be considered as history, such as information, documentations, and
also images which have happened in a society or nation.
The research is a qualitative research. It is conducted on the close reading technique based
onpost colonial study. These were the steps (1)classify data of British culture (2) classify the data of
Indian culture (3) classify the data of mimicry toward British culture (4) analyze and interpret the
data of British and Indian culture (4) analyze and interpret data about mimicry (5) draw deduction.
In this study the writer found that the Indian mimicry towards British culture are seen in some
aspects. First, in the aspect of economy the Indian sell in store whereas before they sell goods only
in the open space on streets. Second, some of the Indian who belived in Hinduism convert to
Christians. Third, the Indian begin to use English besides their Hindi and Urdu language. Finally,
the Indian consume British products such as Ovaltine and ice cream. They also read British books
and consume alcohol drinks. In conclusion, the mimicry is mostly seen through economic aspect.
Keywords: India culture, British culture, Mimicry