R.K. Narayan's The Guide and Buchi Emechetta's Kehinde

One of the common traits of the post-colonial character is his or her blending into a dualistic consciousness. This is no simple posture; instead the blend can be seen as a strange marker in the colonizer-colonized relationship, where the displaced character retaliates against persecution by developing a hybrid nature. In R.K. Narayan's The Guide, Raju creates in himself a multiplicity of identities; in Buchi Emecheta's Kehinde, the title character is caught between two versions of herself: London Kehinde and Nigerian Kehinde. If the underlying truth of having two homelands means having no homeland at all, then does the same apply to the character trait hybridity - that two dueling identities in one body means suffering for the loss of one whole identity? This paper will examine the methods by which these characters develop the complex circuitry of their selves, and whether or not they are successful in their attempt.