Presence of superstition in V.S. Naipaul’s work titled The Middle Passage: The Caribbean Revisited

Kartikey Sharma; Jyotsna Sinha

Presence of superstition in V.S. Naipaul’s work titled The Middle Passage: The Caribbean Revisited

Author(s)	Dr. Kartikey Sharma, Prof. Jyotsna Sinha
Country	India
Abstract	V.S. Naipaul holds a prominent place in the 20th century diaspora literature for the exceptionally influential works penned by him that portray the issues of immigrants settled in different parts of the world. The author has vividly thrown light upon the problems such as rootlessness, displacement and the trauma of being an outsider experienced by thousands of Indians settled abroad. Naipaul won the most sought-after Man Booker Award in the year 1971 for his work titled In a Free State, an extraordinarily insightful work which reflects the harsh realities of the postcolonial world. The prestigious Nobel Award was conferred upon V.S. Naipaul in the year 2001 for his exemplary contribution to the field of literature. Naipaul is well-known for his straightforward way of presenting views on various topics pertaining to diaspora community which make a writer of great merit. The work titled The Middle Passage: The Caribbean Revisited is a work of great importance which presents a beautiful blend of narrative related to history, memoir and travel writing. In The Middle Passage: The Caribbean Revisited, the author throws light upon a spiritualist dance of Paramaribo, a South American country in which one of the dancers becomes possessed because of the sound of drums which are being played. The person who is possessed is considered to have received a message from God. He starts showing signs of restlessness and later on washes himself. This person then applies white clay all over his body since white is the color which symbolizes the ancestors. In simpler terms, the dancer is having a séance which shows the present of beliefs which are superstitious. Thus, The Middle Passage: The Caribbean Revisited quite vividly discusses the element of superstition and blind faith which has a long-lasting impact upon the readers.
Keywords	Diaspora, Rootlessness, Trauma, Spiritualist-dance, Possessed, Séance, Superstition, Blind-faith
Field	Sociology > Linguistic / Literature
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 2, March-April 2026
Published On	2026-03-20

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Presence of superstition in V.S. Naipaul’s work titled The Middle Passage: The Caribbean Revisited

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