Chromatism and Marginality: A Post-colonial Reading of ‘The Jewel of the Crown’ by Paul Scott

Abstract

This study explores the post-colonial concepts of chromatism and marginality, which led to the conflict, tension, and gap in the British India in Paul Scott’s novel ‘The Jewel in the Crown’. Fairclough’s model of Critical Discourse Analysis is used to trace descriptive, interpretational, and explanatory aspects embedded in the novel. To meet the core purpose of the study, five extracts are selected using purposive sampling technique. Each extract is analyzed critically ranging from lexicons to broad socio-political contexts of the era before independence. The study reveals that language is the reflective of identity, ideology, and power. These three things are explored with the linguistic and contextual analysis of various characters of the novel. This work supports that language is not neutral rather it is loaded with multiple layers of meanings. The knots of the meaning are untied with the application of Critical Discourse Analysis.