| Acknowledgements | 第5-6页 |
| 中文摘要 | 第6-7页 |
| Abstract | 第7-8页 |
| 1. Introduction | 第10-21页 |
| 1.1 Introduction to V S. Naipaul | 第10-13页 |
| 1.2 Literature review | 第13-19页 |
| 1.2.1 Studies on V S.Naipaul | 第13-18页 |
| 1.2.2 Studies on Half a Life and Magic Seeds | 第18-19页 |
| 1.3 Focus and structure of the thesis | 第19-21页 |
| 2. Crisis of Self-Identity in a Hierarchical Society | 第21-32页 |
| 2.1 Rootless as a child of mixed-caste parents | 第21-25页 |
| 2.1.1 Feeling ashamed of the low-caste blood | 第21-23页 |
| 2.1.2 Holding contempt for the hypocritical Brahmin | 第23-25页 |
| 2.2 Perplexed by the post-colonial motherland | 第25-32页 |
| 2.2.1 Doubt over the servility of the Indian society | 第26-28页 |
| 2.2.2 Indulgence in imitating the Western discourse | 第28-32页 |
| 3. Failures in Seeking Self-Identity in Hierarchical Societies | 第32-44页 |
| 3.1 Exclusion from a pigmentocratic society | 第32-38页 |
| 3.1.1 An outsider in marriage | 第33-35页 |
| 3.1.2 An onlooker of social turmoil | 第35-38页 |
| 3.2 Failure in political activities for caste liberation | 第38-44页 |
| 4. Hope in Finding Self-Identity in a Cosmopolitan Metropolis | 第44-51页 |
| 4.1 Retrospection on past futile efforts | 第45-47页 |
| 4.2 Inspiration from interracial marriages | 第47-49页 |
| 4.3 Acceptance of the hybrid self | 第49-51页 |
| 5. Conclusion | 第51-53页 |
| Bibliography | 第53-56页 |
