ISSUES OF MIMICRY AND ASSIMILATION IN CLIVE SINCLAIR’S “SMART ALECKS” AND “MY CV”

Clive sinclair’s story collection lady with a laptop deals with contemporary diasporic jewish identity. from this story collection, “smart alecks” and “my cv” particularly tackle the acculturation problems of anglo-jewish identity through the protagonists alex from “smart alecks” and cowan from “my cv”, their attempt to purge themselves from their jewish background and white wash themselves to be recognized only as english. to achieve that aim, the characters mime the english habits and ways of life. however, their wishes fail and they become criminals. alex robs a safe deposit to finance his prodigal life style and cowan kills a man. in this study it will be claimed that author sinclair contradicts homi bhabha’s theory of mimicry and regards assimilation and mimicry as dead end which finalize the dreams of white washing.