IDENTITY AND MULTICULTURALISM IN ZADIE SMITH’S ON BEAUTY

The waves of immigration that surged after World War II, particularly from formerly colonized countries, have significantly transformed cities like London. This transformation has resulted in a multicultural landscape marked by diverse identities. Immigrant communities faced numerous challenges, including discrimination based on race, religion, and color. Adapting to a new cultural setting has also led to complex issues such as integration, identity crises, and the concepts of hybridity and multiculturalism. In Zadie Smith's On Beauty (2005), the hybridization of characters arises naturally from their experiences of integration, oppression, and a sense of being "in-between." These experiences highlight the tension between their inherited values and the discriminatory attitudes of the host country. The study explores the factors that influence identity formation within multicultural societies. It will demonstrate how miscommunication across races, genders, classes, and generations complicates life. This disconnection leaves young people without role models, prompting them to seek their identities, roots, and place in society. Ultimately, the chaos in people's lives stems from the gap between their lived experiences and prevailing ideologies. The study focuses on the issues of mimicry experienced by the colonized and the cultural inferiority imposed upon them by their colonizers. The study also examines how the colonizers distort the culture and identity of immigrants, which leads to a corrupt understanding of their roots and sense of self.