The analysis is based on the primordial and civic notions of nationalism. This paper also attempts to show that British multiculturalism has failed to transform British society into a “beautiful mosaic” as it could not address the fundamental issue of racism-the legacy of British imperialism- which ails the psyche of majority of whites. The modern nation is defined in terms of the rights and duties of citizenship. The primordial notion ofthe …show more content…
According to Ernest Renan, a nation is a spiritual principle, a soul andof the two aspects of nation/ spiritual principle one is in the past and the other is in present. One is a common possession of rich legacy of memories; the other is actual consent, the desire to live together, the will to continue to value the heritage that has been received in common. The idea of shared memories though ignored in civic nation is not insubstantial. Connections to the past are crucial to the individual as well as to the nation. The two novels have proved this beyond doubt. Neither the immigrants nor the host(whites) can unburden themselves of the baggage of the past. Discourses of the past determine the way in which future dialogues are carried out. Racial superiority is one of the key aspects of colonial discourse that has disturbed post colonial interaction between the whites and the immigrants from former Afro-Asian and Caribbean colonies. It is so deeply rooted in Britishness that neither the requirements nor the pressures of societal modernisation can uproot it completely. The immigrant also continues to be the other in