The extract from Simon Tays City of Small Blessings sheds light on feelings of displacement and the difficulties

of assimilating back into a society the post-colonial individual faces. Themes such as hybridity, identity formation and authenticity are brought out to emphasise the degree of resistance the individual has to put up in order to find a truer sense of self. Although the extract seems to end on a relatively ambivalent note, the author makes his view on the difficulty of forging a truer sense of self clear, presenting the text as a warning to the reader. The theme of hybridity, linguistic hybridity in particular, and identity is woven seamlessly together in the extract. The natives adopts the supposed language of the coloniser, English, seen as to how they converse with the speaker, highlighting the theme of hybridity. As language is shown to be a marker of status, it elevates the position of the natives, highlighted by the very fact that owning a Mercedes a symbol of wealth is attached closely to the natives ability to speak a little English in line 37 through the use of the conjunction and. In addition, cross-linguistic fertilization can also be seen in the extract through the use of Hokkien and Malay by the speaker. The phrase a mix of English and Malay in line 54 clearly highlights the fact that the speaker integrates both English and Malay while conversing, reiterating the point on linguistic hybridity. Therefore, the amalgamation of different languages into a single entity highlights the theme of hybridity and identity, for the individual adopting the language of the coloniser (a hybrid) is now able to scale the social ladder, taking on a different identity. A genuine and intense desire of the post-colonial individual in seeking a place of belonging is observed through out the text, bringing out the sense of liminality individuals are prone to face in the post-colonial world. The impression of great burden is illustrated in the usage of intensifiers in the text, in What industry. What traffic. What work. and busier, noisier, warmer and heavier. The hyperbolism in describing the personas surroundings in the text seems to alienate the individual from his present environment, casting him in a state of permanent flux and liminality, pushing him to look for a place of belonging elsewhere. In the post-colonial world, the individual is unable to have a fixed sense of self, due to his inability to be rooted to any entity, thus, bringing forth the notion of identity. This is especially true in the extract, where the speaker is portrayed as an individual who is constantly on the move, thus, no fixity attached to his identity. The phrase I stay for a while, in lines 2 and 3 suggests a lack of permanence where the speaker stay is only temporal, thereafter being on the move again. When juxtaposed with lines 11 and 22, I cycle on, the kinesthetic imagery of him cycling on and the repetition further reiterates the idea that the individual is on the constant move - since one can only have a fixed identity if he is rooted to an entity, his identity is continually shifting in this case for he has nothing to base his identity on. The description of the movement of the ship emphasizes on the sense of rootlessness experienced by the individual, for the ship is a representation of the individual himself. Similar to the ship, the individual is on a continuous journey with no definite end; being on a journey entails that the individual be not rooted to anything as he is required to be on the constant move. Furthermore, the use of diction, specifically the word may in line 8, shows that the speaker himself is unsure

as to whether he can return to his own domain. This uncertainty leads us to believe that he is not rooted to any entity and if he is rooted, the entity is everchanging, for he is unsure if he can return to it again. Therefore, he is unable to have a fixed sense self, since having a fixed identity requires an individual to be attached to a stable entity. The text presents the idea that the journey in seeking an authentic identity is solitary and somewhat poignant. The passage is written in the first-person perspective and does not reference others in a collective manner, only portraying other characters as distant, detached beings from the persona. There is distance created from the persona to others as he observes others going about their doings, and referring to them as the communal they (31), separate from him. This amplifies the sense of solitariness the persona has to grapple with as he journeys to rejoin a community, in a search for an authentic identity. The poignancy in this journey is due to the inevitable failure one will encounter in his attempt to return to the pre-colonial past of a society. The extract shows a futility in the desire of the individual to return back to his roots, as he is unable to attain the acceptance of those that still form a part of the pre-colonial society. The characters Lim, Guan, Ah Eng and Ong form an exclusive microcosm of this pre-colonial society. The attempt on the personas part in reaching out to reconnect with this society is shown in the preoccupation of the text on the personas actions, choosing to privilege the actions of the persona by using the first-person narrative point of view; this is while the society requites such efforts with reciprocation minimized to that from only one of the characters, Ah Lim. The intensity of effort from the individual is shown not to match up with the societys inclination to accept such an individual, resulting in the conclusion that the individual will not be able to assimilate back into such a society, and is a failed enterprise. In conclusion, there are many post-colonial themes and concerns in the extract. The use of various techniques and devices cast light on several of these themes. By understanding well the themes present in the extract, we are able to empathise with the speaker on the many issues he has to face in the post-colonial world.