The Exploration of a Sense of Belonging: An Explanation of Naipaul’s Novel Half a Life & Magic Seeds
V. S. Naipaul is a Trinidad-born Nobel Prize-winning British writer known for his comic early novels set in Trinidad. This famous post-colonial writer, V. S. Naipaul, has been paying close attention to the social reality and life in post-colonial society. In 2001, his novel Half a Life won the booker prize; It tells the story about Willie Chandran’s first 18 years’ life. However, it is not a complete story; it is a precursor to Naipaul’s novel Magic Seeds. In 2004, Naipaul completed the story by his novel Magic Seeds. Seeking for a sense of belonging is the theme throughout the whole process in this two books. In his last novel Magic Seeds, this theme has got a full explanation. Through an interpretation of these two books about Willie’s life, this paper aims to explore the protagonist---Willie’s life process in seeking his sense of belonging and the reason for its missing. Willie is only one of the representatives among the diasporas who try their best to claim for their identity and a sense of belonging. So at the same time, it aims to reveal the theme and relate to the contemporary situation to interpret the realistic significance of the importance of a sense of belonging. Literature is the reflection of our society, its development and change, however subtle it is, this is also true of Naipaul’s two famous novels. They shed lots of light on our daily life and heart.