A Comparative Analysis Of Identity And Belonging In Kopano Matlwa’s Coconut And Tony Morrison’s The Bluest Eye

ABSTRACT

The arguments presented in this study deal with the complicated factors associated with the formation of new identities in post-apartheid South Africa and Anglo-Saxon Protestant American communities. This study provides a comparative analysis of identity and belonging as portrayed in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye (1970) and Kopano Matlwa’s Coconut (2007). Furthermore, the study explores how identity and belonging relate to issues of standards of white beauty, self-loathing and racial discrimination. This study is based on desktop research as no fieldwork was carried out. The two novels were selected using purposive sampling for their emphasis on the themes of identity and belonging. The Du Bois’ Double Consciousness concept and Post-colonial theory were used as literary theories to support the study. This study reveals that most of Toni Morrison’s and Kopano Matlwa’s black characters aspire to change circumstances by either accepting and adopting the white culture that surrounds them or by outrightly rejecting it as unacceptable. The findings of this study point to several factors as responsible for the loss of identity and belonging and these include various forms of racial segregation, cultural and linguistic differences. This is more pronounced and evident in racially divided communities where people tend to judge one another based on skin colour and language differences.