London in Monica Ali’s Brick Lane: Intergenerational Trauma and the Limits of Healing

Abstract

This article explores Monica Ali’s Brick Lane as a diasporic Bildungsroman that depicts the limits of psychological and social development in London. Similar to other diasporic novels such as Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners, Buchi Emecheta’s Second-Class Citizen, and Doris Lessing’s In Pursuit of the English, Ali’s novel portrays the main character’s transfor­mation in London after migrating from a postcolonial country, showcasing how the Western metropolis fosters yet delimits her development. This article points out that the transformation Ali’s protagonist goes through needs to be analysed in the context of her intergenerational trau­ma: Nazneen’s memories, which evoke her childhood spent in East Pakistan, not only haunt her in London but are also projected onto the urban environment. Therefore, I argue that London, apart from demarcating the limits of Nazneen’s freedom, becomes a creative and healing space in Brick Lane.