Digital Object Identifier
The Vanishing Half (2020) by Brit Bennett explores the complexities of lineage, individuality, and acceptance through the lives of twin sisters, Desiree and Stella, who belong to the Black community. One of them passes as white, while on the other hand, another continues to appertain to her Black community. This paper examines the novel through the lens of Homi K. Bhabha’s ‘Postcolonial Theory of Mimicry and Hybridity’, and his concept of ‘almost the same but not quite’, which investigates the disintegration of one’s native identity and the distorting of its rigid boundaries. Stella’s passing as a white and her decision to hide her true identity of belonging to the Black community elucidates the ‘ambivalence’ of Bhabha’s concept of ‘mimicry’ as it empowers her with the privileges enjoyed by the whites, as well as at the same time deprives her of freedom, leading to the creation of a ‘third space’ between the two diverse cultures. The novel envisions identities beyond fixed parameters and prevailing racial hierarchies. The paper also emphasises that this concept of ‘hybrid identity’ is intergenerational and that racial and cultural aspects are not rigid but can be constructed based on the social norms.
Chhabi Seth, and Dr. Bani Dayal Dhir. “Mimicry and Hybridity: Application Of Homi K. Bhabha’s Theory to Brit Bennett’s ‘The Vanishing Half’.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 2, Apr. 2026, pp. 104–114. DOI, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n2.7.
Open Access · CC BY 4.0 · Crossref DOI ·
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