The Jungian Persona and Social Conformity in Brick Lane: A Study of Nazneen’s Masked Self

Abstract

This paper discusses the Jungian Persona in Brick Lane (2003) by Monica Ali in relation to a main character, Nazneen, arguing about how she negotiates socially assigned identity in diasporic, cultural, and patriarchal structures. A qualitative research is conducted based on the principles of a reflexive thematic analysis created by Braun and Clarke (2006) to analyze the way the externally conforming Persona of Nazneen plays with her repressed desires, her blocked individuality, and her hidden psychological needs. The work analyzes the role of a conflict between the socially constructed mask and the inner impulses in her psychological evolution, choice-making process, and new personality based on Jungian theories of the analytical psychology, especially Persona and individuation (Jung, 1951; 1967). These results can be interpreted as the Persona serves as both a defense system and the battleground in Nazneen: on the one hand, this role enables her to resolve the demands of the society and her family members, yet, on the other hand, it hides the elements of her true self. Throughout the story, the communication process, self-awareness, and mild affirmation of independence help her align the external roles with her internal desires, which is the Jungian individuation process. This incorporation motivates her to become a truer and more unique figure. Emphasizing the interactions between social conformity, masked selfhood, and mental development, this study enriches the field of literature and psychology, as it displays how the Jungian theory offers a subtle structure of exploration of identity and agency development in the central female figures of the diaspora.