V. S. Naipaul uses his extraordinary talent and skill to mold a novel that is both unexpected and riveting. It seems like Naipaul used key elements of his own life as the substance to create this novel. He is ethnically an Indian and was born in Trinidad in the early 1930s. After reaching adulthood, he goes to study at the prestigious University College of Oxford on a scholarship and delves himself into the art of writing. After realizing this was his passion, Naipaul followed through with it as a career and has created many different works, including Half a Life. As we can see, there are many parallels between Willie's life and his own.
As Willie travels from his home in India, on a boat to the university in London, and then to the Portuguese colony in Africa, we see him seeking a sense of identity. Willie rejects the life that was handed to him at birth: the shame of the marriage between his father and mother and the lack of financial prosperity. He shuns that life and seeks to make a new life in London. He explores his new sexual freedoms to fulfill his desires and erase the self-doubt that has plagued him all this time. In the end, he is left hollow and empty with nothing to show for in London. It seems like his love with Ana would finally be the way he would find his identity, in a new land with a new love. However, we see that is doomed to fail from the very start. Willie recognizes that the African bush is not his home and after his passion with Ana dissipates, he is left feeling even more empty. He goes to places of pleasure and cheats on Ana repeatedly, making love to different women, but the end result is nothing for Willie. He is left with a sense that his actions were mechanical and he does not know who he is. Willie eventually reveals this to Ana, after 18 years of marriage, and we see that his identity has still not been found.
Throughout this entire tale, Naipaul has panted a picture of a man on his journey to find his identity. This theme of identity and self-development resonates throughout the novel and leaves the reader looking inwards at themselves, pondering their own decisions and sense of self. Naipaul is able to explore this theme with a narrative that is intimate and bold, directly addressing this abstract idea of identity and making it clear to the more mature reader what this novel is about. It is excellently written and only gets more powerful as the book goes on from chapter to chapter, because Naipaul connects the various ideas related to the theme and Willie's life becomes more whole and encompassing. The background at the beginning helps the reader create an image of the character that Willie possesses and allows them to travel with him on his journey across continents to find his identity. Even though his search never ends, the reader is left feeling satisfied.
