The Crisis of Identity in Indian Youth: A Study of Five Point Someone

Dr. Santosh Kumar

Abstract: Chetan Bhagat's Five Point Someone offers a compelling narrative of youth grappling with identity in a conformist society. This research paper provides a literary critique of how the novel illustrates the pressures faced by Indian students within the framework of academic excellence and social obedience. By analysing the characters' emotional and psychological development, the paper investigates the novel's commentary on the loss of individuality in highly structured institutions like IIT. This paper also employs a psychosocial lens to analyse the construction of youth identity in Five Point Someone (2004), examining how India's competitive education system precipitates crises of selfhood among elite students. Through close textual analysis framed by Erikson's (1968) identity development theory and Bourdieu's (1986) concept of cultural capital, the study reveals how protagonists Hari, Ryan, and Alok navigate conflicting pressures from academic institutions, family systems, and peer cultures. The novel's depiction of academic rebellion emerges as both a symptom of systemic failure and a quest for authentic self - definition beyond institutional metrics. Findings suggest Bhagat's narrative exposes fundamental tensions between India's meritocratic ideals and its actual practices of student development, offering critical insights into contemporary debates about educational reform and youth mental health. The study contributes to postcolonial literary scholarship by demonstrating how campus fiction mediates larger societal anxieties about success, autonomy, and generational change in neoliberal India.

Keywords: Indian youth, Five Point Someone, Indian youth, Identity crisis, Academic pressure, Familial expectations, Youth mental health