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... The levels of the transgressions, their motivations and the concepts of individual and cultural trauma are all correlated so that the intentions of the narrative are elucidated. In the post-colonial level, the concepts of Panikkar (1969), Festino (2007), Forter (2014) and Outka (2011) are applied, whereas Sztompka (2000, 2004), Alexander (2000) and Joseph (2010) are used for the socio-political level; the affective level is observed with notions from Caruth (1995), Bose (1998) andAlmeida (2002). The hypothesis of this work is that Roy focuses on the transgressions of minor characters not only to criticize particular elements from the Indian society but also to trigger the reaction of the readers. ...
... Estas leis, quebradas pelos quatro personagens a serem aqui examinados, seriam universais e, segundo a narrativa, não devem ser ignoradas, o que justificaria o destino dos personagens depois de suas transgressões sexuais. O desejo sexual é considerado uma ação de teor político porBose (1998) em "In Desire and Death: Eroticism as Politics in Arundati Roy's The God of Small Things", onde o erótico "(...) representa uma vontade perigosa de atravessar limites e transformar desejo em rebelião" 72 (TICKELL, 2007 p. 120), tema que será tratado adiante neste capítulo. ...
... e Jeffrey Alexander (2004) em relação ao trauma cultural, além de eventos históricos e informações sobre Intocáveis na Índia atual a partir de textos de William Dalrymple (2015) e Tomy Joseph (2010).O terceiro capítulo será dedicado às transgressões em nível afetivo representadas por Roy no romance: os espelhados encontros amorosos de Ammu e Velutha, Estha e Rahel -ambos proibidos por motivos diferenciados -constituem uma tentativa (talvez frustrada) de superar as dificuldades enfrentadas pelos personagens nos períodos de 1969 e 1993, onde as cenas se apresentam de forma circular, já que os irmãos acabam por repetir a transgressão das "Leis do Amor" realizada pela mãe e pelo Intocável. Para a análise da relação entre Ammu e Velutha, os autores Aijaz Ahmad (1997), BrindaBose (1998) e Sandra Regina GoulartAlmeida (2002) serão utilizados para a discussão sobre as ações eróticas que se tornam políticas. Para o incesto dos gêmeos, CathyCaruth (1995), o efeito retardado do trauma e a incapacidade de narrá-lo serão os conceitos utilizados, além da circularidade de suas ações em comparação com as de sua mãe e de Velutha. ...
No romance O Deus das Pequenas Coisas (1997) de Arundhati Roy, as transgressões são atitudes que se configuram como abundantes na narrativa, sendo realizadas em sua maioria pelos personagens marginalizados. A fim de obter uma compreensão mais profunda das razões que impulsionam tanto a narrativa quanto os personagens a cometer estas infrações, elas foram divididas em três níveis neste trabalho: pós-colonial, sociopolítico e afetivo. São aqui analisadas as transgressões dos personagens Velutha, Ammu, Estha, Rahel e Sophie. Os níveis das transgressões, suas motivações e os conceitos de trauma individual e cultural são colocados em contraponto para aprofundar a análise da narrativa do romance. No nível pós- colonial, são empregados conceitos de Panikkar (1969), Festino (2007), Forter (2014) e Outka (2011), enquanto Sztompka (2000, 2004), Alexander (2000) e Joseph (2010) permeiam o nível sociopolítico, finalizando o nível afetivo com Caruth (1995), Bose (1998) e Almeida (2002). A hipótese deste trabalho é de que Roy foca nas transgressões para, em primeiro lugar, criticar determinados elementos da sociedade indiana, e para provocar reações em seus leitores. Esta é sustentada através da citação de seus ensaios e discursos na análise do romance.
... She, (as well as her daughter, Rahel) violates the most basic "love laws", the laws that "lay down who should be loved. And how.And how much" (p.31).Bose considers this transgression as "the result of conscious decisions by the emotionally overcharged characters" [12] . She firmly believes that it cannot simply be "bodily need" [12] but affirms "the political judgment" [12] . ...
... And how.And how much" (p.31).Bose considers this transgression as "the result of conscious decisions by the emotionally overcharged characters" [12] . She firmly believes that it cannot simply be "bodily need" [12] but affirms "the political judgment" [12] . Dwivedi accuses our patriarchal society: "Indian social fabric is a curse for those advocating or practicing the rituals of modernity, since time immemorial, it has restricted the romantic movements of lovers despite the fact Krishna violated this traditional practice, and so did Vishwamitra and many others. ...
... And how.And how much" (p.31).Bose considers this transgression as "the result of conscious decisions by the emotionally overcharged characters" [12] . She firmly believes that it cannot simply be "bodily need" [12] but affirms "the political judgment" [12] . Dwivedi accuses our patriarchal society: "Indian social fabric is a curse for those advocating or practicing the rituals of modernity, since time immemorial, it has restricted the romantic movements of lovers despite the fact Krishna violated this traditional practice, and so did Vishwamitra and many others. ...
The Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy is one of the contemporary intrepid Indo-Anglian writers who dream to change the world by raising voice against the existing injustice, discrimination and convention of the society which try to marginalize human being into nothingness, suppress and control individual's identity in a boundary. Her outstanding novel The God of Small Things (1997) is a tragic resonance of " The subaltern ". This term is defined by many critics such as Gramsci and Spivak who limit it only to proletariat and women respectively. This paper attempts to study the novel reflecting Ranajit Guha's definition of " The subaltern " which suggests the subordinated and marginalized condition of a person due to his/her belonging to the periphery of the society. The novel unfolds the tragic story of each subaltern in the context of national, political, cultural issues which appears to be bound in a ribbon of togetherness. Roy depicts an extremely traditional Keralite society, which as the God decides every individual's (small things') fate; gives punishment through death and silences if anyone tries to transcend its laws, customs, and conventions. All the major characters of the novel ─both oppressor and oppressed are victims of these grand narratives. Moreover, it can be called a saga of sadness, where love is connected to loss, death, unfulfillment and silence.
... The novel centers on the Ipe family, with particular focus on Ammu and her daughter, Rahel. Ammu's character embodies defiance against traditional gender roles, as she navigates a restrictive social environment marked by caste and gender oppression (Bose, 1998;George, 1999). Her relationship with Velutha, an Untouchable, challenges the deeply entrenched caste system, highlighting the intersection of gender and caste as sites of resistance (Chacko, 2000;Nair, 2002). ...
... In 'The God of Small Things', the relationship between Ammu and Velutha is not only a transgression of caste boundaries but also a commentary on the intersection of gender and caste as sites of oppression. Roy illustrates how these intersecting identities compound the marginalization faced by women, highlighting the need for a nuanced understanding of social justice that considers multiple axes of identity (Parashar, 2004;Bose, 1998). In 'The Ministry of Utmost Happiness', the intersectionality of identity is further explored through characters like Tilottama, who navigate the complexities of religion, caste, and gender in a politically charged environment. ...
This study explores the themes of resistance and empowerment in the portrayal of women in Arundhati Roy’s novels, ‘The God of Small Things’ and ‘The Ministry of Utmost Happiness’. Roy’s narratives present women who challenge societal norms and resist oppression in multifaceted ways. In ‘The God of Small Things’, characters like Ammu and Rahel navigate the patriarchal confines of Kerala society, embodying defiance against rigid cultural expectations. Through their personal struggles and transgressions, Roy highlights the complexities of female agency in a conservative setting. ‘The Ministry of Utmost Happiness’ expands this exploration into a broader socio-political context, featuring characters such as Anjum, a transgender woman, and Tilottama, who navigate their identities amidst India’s tumultuous political landscape. This novel showcases a diverse spectrum of womanhood, intersecting with themes of caste, religion, and gender identity. By focusing on the resilience and empowerment of her female characters, Roy critiques social injustices and illuminates pathways toward autonomy and selfexpression. This analysis aims to underscore the transformative power of Roy’s writing in challenging traditional narratives and advocating for a more inclusive understanding of gender and identity.
... Does this make its politics-assumed to have one, which I think we can all agree it does-suspicious and ultimately regrettable? (Bose, B. (1998). [88]). ...
... (Bose, B. (1998). [88]). In Ecocriticism: A Study of Environmental Issues in Literature a conference paper authored Sandip Kumar Mishra says that this literary analysis that emphasizes the environment helps readers develop an ecological literacy and ecoconsciousness, which helps them take excellent care of Mother Nature. ...
The theme of ecocriticism as it is presented in Arundhati Roy's nonfiction writings is the focus of the study. The interdisciplinary study of the environment and literature is known as ecocriticism. Several of Arundhati Roy's chosen writings contain allusions to ecocriticism. The challenges people had to deal with because of the different environmental crisis that mankind had caused are explored in ecocritical literature, especially nonfiction works. The purpose of the study is to investigate how ecocriticism is used in the nonfiction works of the author selected for this study. A careful reading of Roy's works demonstrates the impact of the suffering the individuals endured.
... Does this make its politics-assumed to have one, which I think we can all agree it does-suspicious and ultimately regrettable? (Bose, B. (1998). [88]). ...
... (Bose, B. (1998). [88]). In Ecocriticism: A Study of Environmental Issues in Literature a conference paper authored Sandip Kumar Mishra says that this literary analysis that emphasizes the environment helps readers develop an ecological literacy and ecoconsciousness, which helps them take excellent care of Mother Nature. ...
Purpose: The theme of ecocriticism as it is presented in Arundhati Roy's nonfiction writings is the focus of the study. The interdisciplinary study of the environment and literature is known as ecocriticism. Several of Arundhati Roy's chosen writings contain allusions to ecocriticism. The challenges people had to deal with because of the different environmental crisis that mankind had caused are explored in ecocritical literature, especially nonfiction works. The purpose of the study is to investigate how ecocriticism is used in the nonfiction works of the author selected for this study. A careful reading of Roy's works demonstrates the impact of the suffering the individuals endured. Design: In order to identify the research gap, a review of the literature is conducted by gathering data from secondary sources like peer-reviewed journals, national and international publications, the internet, and research sources like Google Scholar, Research Gate, SSRN, Elsevier, and Academia. Using ABCD analysis, the main points of the study are highlighted. To complete the proposed research, information is gathered from academic publications, doctoral theses, scholarly articles, and websites. The methodology utilized largely relies on gathering, analyzing, and interpreting prior knowledge. The methodology will use the textual analysis and comparison method. A close reading of a few of Arundhati Roy’s works will be done on the related topics. The APA Manual has been used to conduct the study's analysis in accordance with its guidelines. Findings: After reviewing numerous papers, books, and theses, it has been determined that the focus of the study will be on ecocriticism in a few key pieces of Arundhati Roy. It demonstrates that ecocriticism studies the goals intended to take a review of the literature and a thorough investigation of the problem at hand. Through a parallel reading of the fiction works with her non-fiction works, the research hopes to gain a deeper understanding of Arundhati Roy's works. Ecocriticism in nonfictional works is not emphasized in analyses of these important literary works. Paper Type: Literature Review
... Much critical study has been carried out on Roy's God of Small Things. Brinda Bose's (2006) 'In Desire and in Death' is insightful for her treatment of pleasure as political. The essay deals extensively with the various angles that come into play within the romance of Ammu and Velutha's romance. ...
... Their love can be understood as both Ammu's and Velutha's way to reject the systems of patriarchy and caste. Bose (2006) points out that their love was a rejection of the existing discourse on romance as well because instead of being the one who is courted, Ammu takes the lead role and initiates the relationship with Velutha. Though it is a shortlived relationship, Lutz (2009) is of the opinion that only the two of them experience true intimacy in the whole novel. ...
A post-Covid world calls for a thorough revaluation of our lives and our ‘self’s, which is incomplete without a discussion of privilege (or lack of it) and social locations. This comparative study looks at the characters of two noted novels: Andrea in Nada by Carmen Laforet (1945) and Ammu, the mother of the twins Estha and Rahel in The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (1996). Based broadly within the framework of feminist literary criticism, this paper examines how the two women negotiate their family relations and how in an attempt of self-determination, try to forge their own identities while rejecting the prototype of an “ideal woman”. Upon examination, the lives of both reveal some similarities: they are both women of precarious social standing with Andrea who is a young orphan who comes to Barcelona to study and Ammu who is a single mother and divorcee; they both belong to repressive and conservative families, and they both ultimately wish to liberate themselves from their domestic setups. I primarily consider two questions: how similar are their struggles in negotiating their patriarchal domestic spaces, and how can one understand and contextualize their will to self-determination. I conclude with an assessment of the commonalities in their experiences though they both belong to different epochs and worlds while proposing that the condition of women in both colonizing and post-colonial societies are not vastly different.
Key words: women, domestic spaces, identities, patriarchy
... However, Freed (2011) counters Ahmad (2007 for his failure to recognize that the personal events emerging from more political events actually support Roy's cause. Bose (1998) also contends that Roy has raised some important political questions by presenting an inter-caste love affair. Roy, in an interview with Terrence McNally, revealed that as a writer she doesn't find much difference between writing fiction and political essays since she has used both forms of writing to bring forth the same issues (Kearmey, 2009). ...
... It has been argued that though (comparatively) new ideals have been introduced in Indian society such as Christianity and Indian Marxism but they could not get rid of the social class values of the Hindu society (Komalesha, 2008). When a lower class, untouchable Velutha falls in love with an upper-class Syrian Christian, Ammu, it is seen as a moral transgression by the society (Krishnamurthy, 2011;Bose, 1998). Indian society is deeply rooted with these caste-based identities as is shown by the reactions this interclass love affair faces and the fate that the two characters meet. ...
This article presents a citizenship analysis of Roy's novel The God of Small Things. Citizenship is defined in terms of identity, rights and duties of a citizen in any society, as defined by Cogan (1998) which is the theoretical framework used in this study. This study explores how postcolonial fiction can also be studied from citizenship perspective. Through the textual analysis of Arundhati Roy's novel The God of Small Things, we present a citizenship perspective that lies within the text of the novel. We argue that the citizenship themes of identity, rights and duties are presented throughout the text. My findings suggest that various issues of gender, post-colonialism, social-caste and class can be discussed in the light of Cogan's citizenship framework. The study has recommendations for future research, teachers and readers of fiction.
... In the wake of the Novel's success several critical writings on the novel have appeared in print. Various studies [2], [3] deal with disparate aspects of the novel -political, social and sexual. However, the works could be broadly categorized into works on social, interpersonal, intercultural, organized electoral politics and works on language and politics of the same. ...
... Deliberate silence to avoid confrontation 3 This is an instance that happens when the entire family is on their way to watch a film. They were all travelling in a blue Plymouth car. ...
... Critics have paid particular attention to the novel's original narrative structure and its cinematic influence (Baneth-Nouailhetas, 2002), and its intertextuality with both English and Indian literary works (Gopal, 2009). Other topics that critics have highlighted are its illustration of the damaging effects of postcolonial rule (Baneth-Nouailhetas, 2002), its connection to ecocriticism (Kunhi and Kunhi, 2017), feminism (Bose, 1998;Adhikari, 1999;George, 1999) and l'écriture feminine (Driesen, 1999;Draga Alexandru, 2015), and its ideological opposition to Communism (Ahmad, 1997). ...
Arundhati Roy is an extraordinary writer and a tireless political activist. Her vast body of work has consistently engaged with social justice issues. She has focused particularly on environmental degradation and human rights abuses, demonstrating her dedication to advocating for the marginalised and challenging the status quo. The God of Small Things(1997), her debut novel, became an immediate best-seller and was translated into over 40 languages within 10 years of its publication. Divided chronologically, between 1969 and 1993, the story is an exploration into female subjectivity outside patriarchal restraints in India. This article presents the novel as a paradigmatic example of ecofeminism, as the story gains resonance when we consider the connection between gender injustices and the appropriationand degradation of nature. My analysis specifically focusses on its translation into Spanish, El dios de las pequeñas cosas (1998), in order to explore whether the Spanish version can beconsidered an example of feminist translation, a critical method that challenges traditionaltranslation practices and emphasises the ethical implications of translators’ decisions.
... In her second novel, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, Roy broadens her narrative scope to include a variety of marginalized communities, such as Dalits, transgender people, and Muslims. Brinda Bose (1998), in her critique for the Journal of Postcolonial Writing, refers to the work as The God of Small Things delineates a politics of desire that is vitally linked to the politics of voice. The key is offered even before the novel is launched, in Roy's epigraph from John Berger: "Never again will a single story be told as though it's the only one." ...
Arundhati Roy, an esteemed author, essayist, and activist hailing from India, has become a tireless supporter of marginalized communities, advocating for issues that reveal and confront systemic injustices. This paper goes into Roy’s diverse contributions to the quest for social justice and democracy, with a particular emphasis on her literary creations and public engagement. In her novels, such as The God of Small Things and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, Roy uncovers the deeply ingrained inequalities associated with caste, class, gender, and religion. Through her storytelling, she seeks to amplify the voices of those who are oppressed. These narratives act not only as incisive critiques of prevailing societal norms but also as reflections on the broader sociopolitical landscape of modern India. In addition to her literary contributions, Arundhati Roy’s activism addresses significant global and local challenges, such as environmental deterioration, the forced relocation of indigenous communities, and the shortcomings of neoliberal policies. Her vocal resistance to state-sponsored oppression, along with her critical examination of globalization, highlights the inherent conflicts between democratic principles and capitalist motivations. By positioning her efforts alongside grassroots movements and various struggles for resistance, Roy’s advocacy confronts dominant power structures and calls for accountability from those in authority. This study conducts a qualitative examination of the works, speeches, and interviews of Roy, utilizing postcolonial, feminist, and intersectional theoretical frameworks. The objective is to delve into the ways her literary and activist initiatives converge to form a cohesive appeal for justice. Additionally, this analysis contextualizes Roy’s contributions within the broader global conversation concerning democracy and resistance, illuminating both the transformative possibilities and the drawbacks of her efforts. By focusing on Roy’s work as a specific example, this research highlights the crucial role that literature and activism play in cultivating critical awareness and motivating social transformation.
... In the context of national, cultural, and political issues within a Keralite society, we perceive a saga of grief and sadness, where the fate of love ultimately connects either with loss, despair, silence, or death [14]. Roy carefully mirrors both the microcosm of individual characters as well as the macrocosm of the collective society that is grappling with colonial repercussions [15]. ...
We identify the fundamental elements of reality and their simultaneous co-existence in Aymenem, a village in the Kottayam district of God’s Own Country, Kerala, where the post-colonial novel The God of Small Things is set. Arundhati Roy’s seminal work portrays those tumultuous times when India was plagued with socio-political malpractices such as poignant post-colonial legacies, pollical chaos, social discrimination, casteism, racism, class conflict, gender issues, patriarchy, and economic inequality – only to name a few. In this study, we seek to analyze individualistic perspectives, but also the collective effect of these fundamental elements of the societal irrationalities through the lens of post-colonialism, nature’s roleplay, casteism, gender, and contradiction. Not only do we briefly review the noteworthy reports and scholarly publications along these lines, but also report our contribution in the form of a holistic analysis of the individual-collective behavior, interpersonal and human-nature relationships presented in the novel. Finally, we also discuss our perspectives on the innate conflict, inner chaos, and contradictions at a time when we almost near three decades of the publication of the masterpiece family drama novel, The God of Small Things.
... Similar to how nature surpasses bounds set by humans, her love with Velutha, an untouchable and social outcast, is symbolic of transcending social conventions and boundaries.In the calm surrounding of the pickle plant, where they find refuge from the constraints of a rigorously ordered society, Ammu's love for Velutha blooms. Their forbidden love finds refuge in this environment [9]. ...
The aim of the study is to critically examine the human-nature relationship in Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things so as to elicit a new awareness from the readers regarding the significance of the relationship. The primary source of information is the text The God of Small Things. Internet is the source for secondary sources and scholarly articles. The current literature forms the basis for qualitative research. The examination of the relationship between people and environment in this paper raises readers' awareness of the need of fostering that relationship in order to improve the environment and promote harmonious coexistence of humans and nature.
... Bodies and desires, as in the repeated reference to the 'Love Laws', are strongly conceived as political. 35 Local interdictions, the novel emphasises from the start, are the product of a long history of cultural encounter that has flowed across Ayemenem in successive waves (GST 32-3). Indicatively, although the national entity of India seems remote, the circumstances of the twins' birth (during a blackout occasioned by the 1962 war), like the fate of the local Maoist Communist Party, are shaped by India's cross-border interactions, in both these cases with China (GST 40, 68). ...
... The central plot appears to be heteronormative while complicated by sub-plots of queer desire and eroticism (caressing scenes of lovers and landscapes, self-adornment by nanajan and Meher). These paradoxical representations defy basic "love laws" and show a yearning for unity with the divine self and hint at an "erotic utopia" (through the Sufi-inspired poetry of Arup and Rahee) (Bose 1998). Third, the righteous nationalist uprising in East Pakistan is not the only conflict that is featured. ...
In September 2000, I received a phone call from Bina inviting me to an event honoring television journalist Connie Chung and her ABC 20/20 team for the Amnesty International Media Spotlight Award.1 Chung and her team were receiving this award for the report "Faces of Hope," which had aired nationally in the United States in November 1999 and featured the experiences of two young Bangladeshi women, Bina Akhter and Jharna Akhter. The event was hosted by ABC producers and would take place at the Yale Club in New York. A number of Bina's friends had been invited. "It would be my pleasure," I told Bina, "to see my old friend, and to witness such a momentous occasion honoring her story." Bina and Jharna (no relation to each other) would be flying in from Cincinnati, Ohio, where they lived with their American host family.
... The central plot appears to be heteronormative while complicated by sub-plots of queer desire and eroticism (caressing scenes of lovers and landscapes, self-adornment by nanajan and Meher). These paradoxical representations defy basic "love laws" and show a yearning for unity with the divine self and hint at an "erotic utopia" (through the Sufi-inspired poetry of Arup and Rahee) (Bose 1998). Third, the righteous nationalist uprising in East Pakistan is not the only conflict that is featured. ...
In official and unofficial histories, and in cultural memorializations of the 1971 war for Bangladeshi independence, the treatment of women's experiences—more specifically the unresolved question of acknowledgment of and accountability to birangonas, “war heroines” (or rape survivors)—has met with stunning silence or erasure, on the one hand, or with narratives of abject victimhood, on the other. By contrast, the film Meherjaan (2011) revolves around the stories of four women during and after the war, and most centrally the relationship between a Bengali woman and a Pakistani soldier. In this article, I investigate the anxieties underlying the responses to Meherjaan, particularly in association with themes of trauma—its absence or omnipresence—to nonnormative gender frames of national sexuality, and the notion of loving the Other. Drawing from feminist theories of vulnerability, ethics, and love, I want to explore these themes at two levels: the political message the film transmits, and its aesthetic choices and affects. Finally, I want to comment on the potential of this film, as feminist art, in furthering a dialogue around healing and ethical memorialization in relation to 1971 in Bangladesh.
... However there are others who examine GOST with other tools to gain a richer understanding of the novel. Discussing desire and death in the novel, Brinda Bose (1998) states the politics of desire is closely linked to the politics of voice in the novel. The novel depicts the politics of desire and the ways in which sexuality has been perceived through generations in a society that coded " love with a total disregard for possible anomalies " (p.68). ...
The global environmental crisis has prompted scholars and writers to explore and address ecological concerns through various lenses, and literature has emerged as a powerful medium in this endeavor. Nature and Narrative: An Ecocritical Survey is an edited volume that attempts to study the intricate relationship between nature and the narrative with an ecocritical perspective. This collection brings together diverse perspectives and insights from distinguished scholars, each contributing a unique angle to the broader discourse of ecocriticism. This volume brings together a diverse array of essays that highlight the multifaceted nature of ecocriticism, providing readers with a comprehensive overview of the field’s current state and emerging trends.
Arundhati Roy (1961–), originally a student of architecture, started her writing career as a screenplay writer. Before becoming one of the most popular fiction writers within the canon of post‐Rushdie Indian Anglophone literature, Roy wrote screenplays for films like In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones (1989) and Electric Moon (1992). Roy is best known for her debut novel The God of Small Things (1997), which won the Man Booker Prize and went on to become one of the most successful Indian novels across the world.
В статье рассматривается роль женщин в управлении, подходы и возможности реализации деловой активности. Так как женщины готовы наравне с мужчинами реализовывать собственные карьерные потребности. В свою очередь, это открывает новые возможности для использования человеческого ресурса организации. В том числе рассматривается вопрос карьерного роста и гендерный подход психологии управления, потребность к карьерному росту у гендерных групп.
This paper critically analyses The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy and Brick Lane by Monica Ali with Spivak's work as literary practice. This enabled the understanding of both the problems and possibilities that Spivak's work holds while the paper also extends and repositions South Asian women's writing. While interrogating the subaltern agency and subjectivity within the dominant ideological paradigms, the paper engages with the politicised readings of the South Asian novel written by women which is brought into dialogue with attention to literary form. This research also highlights the need for further investigation of literary forms used by postcolonial women writers to develop a deeper understanding of the interconnections between realist and postmodern styles and the representations of female experience. The different conclusions of the chosen novels suggest diversity and complexity not only in methods and strategies of representing women but also in degrees of agency, discrimination, oppression and choice of action among the leading female characters. This results in interpretive diversity and variety in the texts which resist simple conclusions about homogenous subaltern oppression which the readers make. Through characters like Ali's Nazneen, Roy's Ammu and Rahel, the selected authors succeed in creating complex models of women with heterogeneous experiences, where a woman is modern and traditional, marginalised and resistant, silent and resilient. Postcolonial women writers depict female characters that showcase the social problems as well as their solutions.
] The present paper explores 'The Ministry of Utmost Happiness'. This paper is an attempt to elucidate how Arundhati Roy has designated her novel with her traditional narrative technique and approach by showing a generalized setback of terrorism in Kashmir. Moreover, the paper parallels with the discussion of hybrid conflict juxtaposed in the novel. The study argues that Roy's portrayal of society and conflict are similar to the traditional pictorial events.
Indian English Fiction has mostly portrayed Dalit characters from a humanist perspective. Manu Joseph’s debut novel Serious Men (2010) departs from such a convention by deploying sexist language to render subversive authority to the Dalit protagonist, Ayyan Mani. While Serious Men (2010) revises the passive depiction of Dalits in Indian English Fiction through its experimental usage of language, its subversion is undermined by its representation of women and lower-caste politics. This article is interested in exploring the intersections between language politics and the politics of caste in the novel, since it seems subversive in expressing the rant of an angry Dalit man, yet it also nevertheless reflects the overt sexualization of urban, upper-caste women. By interrogating the novel’s politics of Dalit representation and its critical reception, the article argues how despite satirizing casteist attitudes through the eyes of the Dalit protagonist, the novel inevitably undermines its critique of caste structures through its prejudiced portrayal of women and caste politics.
This essay argues that Arundhati Roy’s inclusion of numerous Indian vernacular words and phrases in her fiction is carefully calibrated to serve the author’s activist political agenda. This is true not only of her first novel, The God of Small Things, but also of the more recent Ministry of Utmost Happiness. Both feature a Bakhtinian or dialogic interplay of linguistic modes. The earlier work poses two languages against each other: Malayalam, the primary language of Kerala, and English, the medium of narration and the preferred tongue of the prominent Ipe family. The outcome of this contest highlights the Ipes’ imprisonment within a life-denying straitjacket of outworn prejudices and conventions. In The Ministry of Utmost Happiness the linguistic terrain broadens to include several tongues of the subcontinent, along with English. Roy gives special exposure to two: Urdu and Kashmiri, to reclaim them from the oppression both of them, along with their speakers, are undergoing at the hands of the dominant Hindi-speaking majority. Tilo, a pivotal character, is enthusiastically polyglot, a trait which accords with her more general adaptability and freedom from sectarian narrowness. The other central figure, the transgender Anjum, resembles Tilo in her resistance to strict definitions of her fluid selfhood, but must endure forms of verbal as well as physical violence. Like her first novel, but on a more capacious stage, Roy’s second aims at speaking multilingual truth to monolingual power.
This study aims to discuss the meaning of the 'silence' notion pragmatically and literary; in novel and poetry. As far as pragmatics is concerned, it means an important means of communication within a context, and it is a culture dependent. As for silence in literature, it offers the example in which silence is not only present and comprehended but also a substantial part of communication that encapsulate a sender and a receiver. In novels, it is considered as a new humanistic tactic through which a writer would force the reader to feel words rather than reading them plus more intensity and strength. Novelists tend to use silence in writing their novels as it is an integral part of voices and a revelation of so many hidden things, but it mistakenly might be understood as a refusal for communication. Finally, the notion of 'silence' in poetry offers the readers many examples where the poet invites the readers to hear "silence." In some cases, it is even personified and is given a physical being.
This study aims to discuss the meaning of the ‘silence’ notion pragmatically and literary; in novel and poetry. As far as pragmatics is concerned, it means an important means of communication within a context, and it is a culture dependent. As for silence in literature, it offers the example in which silence is not only present and comprehended but also a substantial part of communication that encapsulate a sender and a receiver. In novels, it is considered as a new humanistic tactic through which a writer would force the reader to feel words rather than reading them plus more intensity and strength. Novelists tend to use silence in writing their novels as it is an integral part of voices and a revelation of so many hidden things, but it mistakenly might be understood as a refusal for communication. Finally, the notion of ‘silence’ in poetry offers the readers many examples where the poet invites the readers to hear "silence." In some cases, it is even personified and is given a physical being.
Arundhati Roy's second and latest novel, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness-which took her 10 years to write-is crammed full of misfits and outsiders, the flotsam and jetsam of India's complex, stratified society. The novel is inhabited by cohorts of others: hijras, political rebels, the poor, women who will not "know their place", and abandoned baby girls. The narrative of Roy's latest political romance shows these others carving out new spaces for themselves, defying convention, trying possible new lives, and testing out new roles. This article aims to look at the texture of romance in Roy's novels. Set within the narrative of Roy's romance with India's others, the article focuses on the Tilo-Musa romance in The Ministry of Utmost Happiness and compares it with the Ammu-Velutha romance in the author's first novel, The God of Small Things, published in 1997. Romance in Roy's novels serves multiple purposes, as this article argues and unpacks. Mapping out the patterns of romance which Roy creates in both her novels, this analysis employs the trope of romance as a lens through which to offer a postcolonial reading of The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, which interpenetrates intimacy and desire and the political. Deconstructing the (remarkably similar) romances at the heart of both of Roy's novels reveals that her romances may not just be her rebuttal to India's wrongs, but may even constitute a form of political rescue. We conclude that although Roy is purposeful in identifying and avoiding re-orientalist representations, her rejection of abjection and victimhood, and her overt celebration of larger-than-life others, may have subverted the inferiorizing of the other, without, however, decreasing the process of othering.
In her 1997 novel The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy confronts the problem of caste violence, inextricably bound up with other practices of social domination such as patriarchy, racism, colonialism and neocolonialism, through a complex narrative structure. The conventional story about a tragic love between a woman from a higher caste and a member of the untouchables skilfully evades cliché patterns by employing eccentric focalisers, as we experience most of the story through the lenses of multiple-person narrators, twin brother and sister, Rahel and Estha, magical realism, and a disjointed narrative full of prolepses and analepses which subtly renders traumatic memories. The novel is structured as a prototypical trauma narrative and stages a confrontation with an unresolved traumatic event from which Rahel and Estha have been recovering since childhood. Roy deftly transposes the dualism of caste purity and impurity onto the narrative structure. The narrative is caught within a duality (symbolised already by the twins) and a perpetual repetition which represents not only the eternal return of trauma but also the constant tension which derives from the hegemony of the caste system and the violence it produces. The biopolitics of social mechanisms and structures which disciplines the individual's body, controls his actions, rectifiues and sanctions transgressions is at the heart of the novel. It raises the individual into obedience and restraint with the help of state institutions, and regulates them into an inconspicuous collective body in the name of security, unity and higher common goals. Socio-political mechanisms are legitimised and reaffirmed through violence as well, which is not understood as such, but rather as a necessary "measure" and "duty" to uphold the law.
In her 1997 novel The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy confronts the problem of caste violence, inextricably bound up with other practices of social domination such as patriarchy, racism, colonialism and neocolonialism, through a complex narrative structure. The conventional story about a tragic love between a woman from a higher caste and a member of the untouchables skilfully evades cliché patterns by employing eccentric focalisers, as we experience most of the story through the lenses of multiple-person narrators, twin brother and sister, Rahel and Estha, magical realism, and a disjointed narrative full of prolepses and analepses which subtly renders traumatic memories. The novel is structured as a prototypical trauma narrative and stages a confrontation with an unresolved traumatic event from which Rahel and Estha have been recovering since childhood. Roy deftly transposes the dualism of caste purity and impurity onto the narrative structure. The narrative is caught within a duality (symbolised already by the twins) and a perpetual repetition which represents not only the eternal return of trauma but also the constant tension which derives from the hegemony of the caste system and the violence it produces. The biopolitics of social mechanisms and structures which disciplines the individual’s body, controls his actions, rectifies and sanctions transgressions is at the heart of the novel. It raises the individual into obedience and restraint with the help of state institutions, and regulates them into an inconspicuous collective body in the name of security, unity and higher common goals. Socio-political mechanisms are legitimised and reaffirmed through violence as well, which is not understood as such, but rather as a necessary “measure” and “duty” to uphold the law.
In this paper I critique the commodification of women's fictions in the era of India's economic liberalization. The unprecedented success of The God of Small Things was bought at a high cost as the marketing offensive served to contain Roy's feminist subversions and reconfigure Brand India novel in neo-Orientalist terms. This phenomenon—recognized as Indo-chic¹—was replicated in a minor key three years later with the celebration of glamour, essential Indianness, and intimate representations of Bengaliness attributed to Jhumpa Lahiri. The great contemporary success of these women writers is, thus, an ambiguous triumph if political value were computed.
Intimate Class Acts: Friendship and Desire in Indian and Pakistani Women’s Fiction By Maryam Mirza Oxford University Press, 2016, 224 pp. - Filippo Menozzi
This essay concentrates on the relation between literary writing and social activism by shedding light on works of literature (spanning the novel, the short story, the folk tale, and the long essay) that portray political and social mobilizations of India’s vibrant civil society. Referring to the importance of socialist writers for contemporary forms of literary activism, this essay explores the struggles of peasants, dispossessed villagers, and tribal subjects in Arundhati Roy and Mahasweta Devi’s fiction and proposes to historicize their writing in relation to the earlier work of the All-India Progressive Writers’ Association. Although they are often categorized as ‘environmentalist writers’, Roy and Devi question the meaning of environmentalism as a universal category and reframe it as grass-roots resistance against the ‘slow violence’ (Nixon) of neo-liberal capitalism.
This study examines the depiction of family histories and stories of familial interactions and dynamics in eight recent postcolonial novels. I examine the depictions of family and nation in these novels and discuss the counter-histories that emerge as a means of questioning national narratives. This project contributes to discussions of the relationship between the nation and the novel and how postcolonial nationalism reshapes understandings of the construction of the nation-state in an increasingly transnational world. In this study, I draw upon Anne McClintock’s and Susan Strehle’s examinations of how nationalism often separates the idea of family and home even while using these spheres as legitimating metaphors for national power. I examine how the novels’ depictions undermine the division of nation and family and question the subordination of the supposedly private familial life to the public national sphere. I utilize trauma theory, specifically drawing upon the work of Dominick La Capra, to consider how the novels represent the impact of historical events that are traumatic and represent the effects of trauma by structuring its effects into the narrative. I draw upon the work of Chandra Mohanty to argue that these literary depictions prompt a reconsideration of familial relationships in order to rethink and revise nationalism and constructions national identity.
In the Introduction to his Postcolonial Narrative and the Work of Mourning, Sam Durrant makes a powerful case for the salience of trauma to the study of colonialism. Durrant asks us to attend anew to the moment in Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks when a child points at the author and says, “‘Dirty Nigger!’ Or simply, ‘Look, a Negro!’” This textual moment, he argues, “memorializes a traumatic event” that
interpolates Fanon not as an individual but as a member of a race … apart, other, nonhuman. The experiences of racism that he [Fanon] goes on to recount do not add up to a narrative precisely because they cannot be integrated into a life history; they are repetitions of an “originary” event that bars him from having a life history and from the temporality of the human. (2004: 14)
The study has tried to explore the strengthening of Local
Government system in Bangladesh in the light of empowerment,
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contained different views of mentioned terms such as meanings,
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prepared by the application of method of content analysis.
A History of the Indian Novel in English traces the development of the Indian novel from its beginnings in the late nineteenth century up until the present day. Beginning with an extensive introduction that charts important theoretical contributions to the field, this History includes extensive essays that shed light on the legacy of English in Indian writing. Organized thematically, these essays examine how English was 'made Indian' by writers who used the language to address specifically Indian concerns. Such concerns revolved around the question of what it means to be modern as well as how the novel could be used for anti-colonial activism. By the 1980s, the Indian novel in English was a global phenomenon, and India is now the third largest publisher of English-language books. Written by a host of leading scholars, this History invites readers to question conventional accounts of India's literary history.
In November 2011, 20-year-old Egyptian blogger Alia al-Mahdy posted a nude picture of herself on her blog. The photograph received 1.5 million hits within a week of its posting and drew condemnations from conservatives and liberals alike in the critical period leading up to the deeply polarized first post-Mubarak parliamentary election. How was Alia's nudity framed in mainstream public discourse and by Alia herself? Drawing on a corpus of primary sources, 60 articles from mostly Egyptian and Arab newspapers, this article argues that the public controversy transcends contentious media representations of women to reach into the heart of Egyptian revolutionary citizenship. While mainstream Egyptian and Arab media discourse framed Alia's nudity as "merely cultural" and "Westernized," Alia described it as an artistic social commentary. These rhetorical frames reveal the reconfiguration of political dissent - its forms, channels, and actors - and the tensions around national identity that animate the contemporary Arab public sphere.
Postmodern culture has been greatly influenced by food images and the usage of food as metaphor. Recent interest in food studies has opened doors in literary studies to examine how the use of food imagery and metaphor represents complex ideas and deeper meaning in literature. Literary food studies analyzes food symbolism to reflect on cultural identity which includes various issues from social position to sexual desire to gender relations. In three postcolonial Indian novels, Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things, and Anita Desai's Fasting, Feasting, food carries multiple meanings that serve to drive the action of the plots, characterize the characters, and reflect on aspects of the Indian culture. The writers use food and eating to symbolize cultural issues of acceptance, resistance, and preservation of culture, as well as symbols of memory, emotions, narrative history, relationships, power, and consumption. After examining each novel for its relevance of food images, this thesis will conclude by revealing the ways the food metaphors therein reflect directly on the Indian cultural identity as one of political and social fragmentation, postcolonial hybridity, patriarchal oppression, and repressed sexual desire.
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