The Religious Identity as Portrayed in the two Novels Things Fall Apart by Achebe and The Bamboo Stalk by Alsanousi

Abstract

This study aims at investigating illustrations of religious identity in Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart (1958)and Saud Alsanousi's The Bamboo Stalk (2015). It explores types of identity dimensions and other cultural factors that influence the formation and maintenance of religious identity portrayed in the novels. It also attempts to study the effect of religious identity on the relations between the characters in the novels. The study takes a qualitative approach for its textual analysis and it adopts the descriptive discourse analysis (DDA) method coupled with the intercultural communication theory (ICT). For the first novel, the study concludes that religious identity is depicted by stereotypical concepts and religious-based actions, i.e. actions that have pure religious motivations. The natives' masculine identity strengthens their religious identity.The personal identity of the protagonist is opposite to the native communal mainstream attitudes. The results also reveal that religion is the base of almost all the characters’ actions. However, the results of the second novel reveal weak effect of religion on the social life as the prejudicial communal norms take superior position over religion. The study confirms the validity of applying the ICT on fictive data and reinforces the bidirectional influence between identity and communication as identity is conceptualized through the confrontations betweenthose who have different cultural backgrounds.