Conflicting Selves and Identity Crisis in Yaa Gyasi's Transcendent Kingdom and Homegoing

Abstract

Identity is a complex phenomenon. It is no longer natural-innate, as it were, but rather a social construct. The process of identity formation and transformation has been re-imagined and thematised in literary art. Fictional characters negotiate selves in new localities. The immigrant, as depicted in these works, experiences cultural challenges, and is therefore forced to strike a balance between old and new cultural orientations, and establish occidental and oriental perceptions. This process, in some cases, culminates in a crisis. This paper discusses the representation of identity crisis in Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing and the Transcendent Kingdom. By using the post-colonial theory of literature, this paper examines how the constant evolution of identity and the fluidity of cultures impact individual characters' selfhood. This article analyzes the conflicting cultural selves exhibited by immigrants and demonstrates the crisis generated by these unreconciled selves as depicted in Gyasi's novels.