LINGUISTIC FOREGROUNDING AND THE RECONSTRUCTION OF POST-COLONIAL IDENTITY IN EXIT WEST: A STYLISTIC ANALYSIS

Abstract

This study examines the function of linguistic foregrounding in the reconstruction of postcolonial identity in Mohsin Hamid's novel Exit West. It integrates the stylistic concepts of Leech and Short (2007) pertaining to stylistic theory with those of Homi K. Bhabha pertaining to postcolonial concepts of hybridity, liminality, and the Third Space. The research claims that the linguisticforegroundedfeaturesare not aesthetic, but rather ideological tools that produce migrant consciousness and unstable migrants' identities, including syntactic fluidity, repetition, metaphorical imagery, and fragmentation of the narrative. The study, which analyses texts qualitatively and reads their selected passages, illustrates how Hamid's stylistic positions convey the psychological and cultural misplacedness of migrants in transnational spaces. The results indicate that linguistic foregrounding is a major factor in constructing identity as fluid, hybrid, and constantly reworked in postcolonial fiction.