Literary Druid
A Peer-Reviewed International Journal of English Language and Literature
Volume-3, SPL Issue-1, May-2021
1. Exploring the Ancient Kerala with Appunni: A Cultural Probe into M.T. Vasudevan Nair’s Naalukettu
Ms R. Ahalya, Research Scholar, Holy Cross College, Affiliated to Manonmanium Sundranar University, Nagercoil.
Dr V Virgin Nithya Veena, Research Guide, Assistant Professor, Holy Cross College, Affiliated to Manonmanium Sundranar University, Nagercoil.
Abstract
The research paper entitled “Exploring Ancient Kerala with Appunni: A Cultural Probe into M. T. Vasudevan Nair’s Naalukettu” critically investigates the culture of a particular region in Kerala as presented by Vasudevan Nair’s novel Naalukettu. Culture binds the life of every human being. The study takes to travel with the protagonist, analyses his lifestyle and explores the culture of his challenging society. It also deals with the lack of identity and the domestic violence faced by the protagonist as an inter-caste child in a culturally bound orthodox society.
Kerwords: Culture, Caste, Oppression, Identity crisis, Struggle, Violence.
2. Strands of Jingoism in Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
A. Amala Nithya Roselin, Ph.D. Research Scholar, (Reg.No.19211284012031), Department of English, St. Xavier’s College, Palayamkottai, Affiliated to Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli.
Dr. S. Veeralakshmi, Assistant Professor, Department of English, St. Xavier’s College, Palayamkottai, Affiliated to Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli.
Abstract
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s maiden novel is a piece that explores the patriarchal attitude within the familial construction, due to the Western influence, in postcolonial Nigeria. Adichie combines the political situation of society with traces of the European attitude blended in the Nigerian society after independence. The paper attempts to highlight the patriarchal attitude of the central character Eugene Achike, which soundly affects the mental health of his family members. The paper further focuses on the Western mindset of Eugene, disguised in the name of culture and knowledge.
Keywords: Jingoism, Violence, Domestic Life, Religion.
3. Deconstructing Ethical Metanarratives in George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones
Ambili Sasidharan Nair, Research Scholar, Rani Durgavati Vishwavidyalaya, Jabalpur.
Dr. Shahewar Syed, Research Guide, Rani Durgavati Vishwavidyalaya, Jabalpur.
Abstract
Ethics is one of the dominant metanarratives that have been accepted blindly since the dawn of civilization. This paper will show how this sociocultural foundation exists in the fictional medieval world of George R.R. Martin’s novel A Game of Thrones through tragic journeys of multiple characters enduring downfall due to their failed inability to reconcile their old ideologies with new perspectives. Ethical metanarratives, such as concepts of good and evil, will be critiqued from the point of view of the post-modernist methodology of deconstruction, which is an effective instrument used for dismantling hierarchies within binary systems and forces readers to critically examine centuries-old dogmatic beliefs through new glasses. The main finding of this research is to provide how universalist tendencies on ethics should be regularly questioned in society if one needs to avoid traps of injustice in the face of changing times.
Keywords: Post-modernism, Deconstruction, Metanarratives, A Game of Thrones.
4. Puppet Play of a Woman: A Character Study of Ponna from One Part Woman
S. Anjali, Assistant Professor, Department of English, MES Kalladi College, Mannarkkad, Kerala.
Abstract
Culture, Tradition and family are exceptional words to every ordinary uneducated Indian. Every person lives according to the systems and rules created by these systems have their special provisions to man and woman separately. A typical Indian woman is made up of the culture and the circumstances in which she lives. She has to follow all the unwritten rules of religion, family, society culture, etc. and what she really is and what she wants to be is an unquestionable fact. Ponna like other women of the time born and brought up in a patriarchal system to married off to Kali. As a typical Indian woman, she acts according to the instructions of others. What she really is and wants to be are unaware to Ponna herself. She has to face all the troubles and curses of other people for their childlessness than Kali, because of her incapable womb. A childless mother is a curse, whereas for a father it can be solved with a second marriage. Ponna used to act according to society even in her personal matters, that’s why she has to face all the burdens of rituals. Kali is not bothered about all the insults casts on them due to their childlessness. Everybody accused her of incapacity to bear a child. As a typical orthodox woman, she can’t think about life beyond all the customs. When the big mouths of the society come out with the solution for her childlessness she is ready to do all such things despite her likes and desires. Even the completion of the chariot festival cannot help Ponna to declare her true self.
Keywords: Patriarchy, Childlessness, Womanhood, Culture and Society.
5. Kannaki and the Changing Concepts of Femininity
Anna George, PhD Scholar, School of Humanities, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru.
Abstract
Cilapattikaram is a Tamil epic estimated to be written in the 5th century. The protagonist of the poem Kannaki is significant in the South Indian political and social scenarios. Cilapattikaram has been adapted into movies and plays several times and it garnered much popularity. In the present popular discourse, the ideas associated with Kannaki include ‘pathivrathyam’, ‘karpu’ and the power of laypeople. The idea of Kannaki plays a significant role in the definition of femininity of modern Tamil and Malayali women. Kannaki has a major presence in the subaltern as well. Different communities associate with her and their story of Kannaki is often discarded. It is interesting to see how a protagonist of an epic and subsequent related myths has such a major role to play in the notion of womanhood has been formulated, and how this then fits within the concepts/practice of patriarchal and larger political framework. The changes the myth’s significance has undergone over time shows the definition and redefinitions of the myth of Kannaki in extension, expectation from a woman in the twentieth and twenty-first century. These versions and definitions and the subaltern version of Kannaki story make the topic wider and diverse. This diversity of the Kannaki myth, including the feminist and subaltern readings, can make the myth prominent in different periods and would add to its meanings and significance.
Keywords: Cilapattikaram, Kannaki, Femininity, Popular culture, Karpu, Tamil, Malayali.
6. Struggle and Self-Realization in Githa Hariharan’s The Thousand Faces Of Night
S. Aruna Devi, M. Phil Research Scholar, The Standard Fireworks Rajaratnam College for Women, Sivakasi.
Dr J. Sobhana Devi, Assistant Professor of English, The Standard Fireworks Rajaratnam College for Women, Sivakasi.
Abstract
This paper focuses on the theme of Struggle and Self-Realization in Githa Hariharan’s “The Thousand Faces of Night”. Githa Hariharan belongs to the new generation of Indian writers who have earned greater visibility and readership for Indian English Literature. She was awarded Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in 1993 for her debut novel The Thousand Faces of Night (1992). Githa Hariharan's “The Thousand Faces of Night” revolves around the story of the lives of the three women Devi, Sita and Mayamma. This theme is revealed through the protagonist Devi. Though she completes her education abroad she remains her traditional background. In her childhood, she listened to many stories from her grandmother. From her grandmother’s stories, she realizes that there are no heroines in life, only wives and mothers. Their journey towards identity crisis leads them to realize themselves. Self-Realization depicts the protagonists’ life journey.
Kerwords: Self-realization, Suffering, Struggle, New identity.
7. The Evolution of the Feministic Desire
Bavadharani Balan, Assistant Professor, Department of Humanity and Science, Mahalakshmi Engineering College, Trichy.
Abstract
Hermeneutics refers to the formulation of the principles of interpretation that apply specifically to the bible. From the 19th century, it reflects the theory of interpretation in general. It involves getting at the meaning of all written texts, including legal, historical, and literary texts. Dilthey claims that a reader is able to achieve an objective interpretation of an author’s expressed meaning. The result of the evolution of feminism is the commencement of women’s empowerment. For its development, the literature is the suitable path. The feminist children’s literature is like fertile soil to expect the apt response. It points to the female experience and how it helps to expand and change the world. Cynthia Kadohata, a Japanese American writer leaves an attempt on feminism and women’s empowerment in her works. It shines in her novel “The Thing about Luck”, which won National Book Award in 2013. Through hermeneutic perspectives, “The Thing about Luck” brings out the suffering and challenges of women. It shows the first victory of women empowerment.
Keywords: Women workers, Empowerment, Decision making, Self interest, Culture.
8. Subaltern Hues in Devaki Nilayamgode’s Memoirs
Deepthi Menon, Assistant Professor in English, Chetana College of Media and Performing Arts, Thrissur, Kerala.
Abstract
Antharjanam, Memoirs of a Namboodiri Woman, is the first full-length account of a Namboodiri (Kerala Brahmin) woman’s life, a compilation of Smt. Devaki Nilaymgode’s memoirs, translated from Malayalam by Radhika P. Menon and Indira Menon, reads like a single book with logically sequenced chapters. Minority discourses have gained considerable currency in the recent decades providing platforms for the surfacing of the marginalised groups, as part of a shift of paradigm in cultural discourses. Due to the economic/cultural/caste-class forwardness of her community, Devaki Nilaymgode cannot be literally treated as a ‘subaltern’ in the strict sense of the term. What is crucial here is to see that the gendered, old, homely, semiliterate Brahmin woman and a non-professional writer, who had experienced life within the confinements of a pungent paternal world and who has survived in a society which was eclipsed by the dominant concerns of the commanding group, is attempting at expressing her innermost feelings through the possibilities of narration, rendering new scripts for women’s lives, deciphering submerged subaltern voices/presences, during the process. Dealing with the subjective resources of the author’s memory, I attempt to foreground how a life narrative becomes a reclamation of agency particularly by those who have been marginalised through class, race or gender and as a mode of self-expression, inventing a new identity beyond their caste/gender frame. I have adopted a flexible theoretical application of feminist, Marxist, Postcolonial critical approaches, with modifications suitable to women’s experiences in the textual context to excavate the re-presentation of the marginalia that had eluded the grasp of compressive categorizations.
Keywords: Marginality, Gender-Expectations, Power-Relations, Subversive Potential.
9. Reflections of Ecocritical aspects in Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide
Dr R. Dulasi, Assistant Professor of English, N. M. S. S. Vellaichamy Nadar College, Madurai.
Abstract
Literature reflects the life of humans. It has always been focused on the idea of various themes. The writers bring out the theme of nature in many of their works. Eco Criticism is concerned with the relationship between environment and literature. It also reveals how man’s relationships and his physical environment are reflected in literature. Literary scholars examine the texts of environmental concerns and analyze the various ways that literature treats the subject of nature. This paper mainly focuses on the study of ecocriticism and its aspects in the Indian English Novel “The Hungry Tide”. Ecocritical analysis of his work reveals the themes of nature as preserver and destroyer of life and nature as the cause of suffering.
Keywords: Literature, Ecocriticism, Environment, Nature.
10. A Haven for the Subaltern: The Implication of the Jannat House in Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
Gopika R Nair, II MA English, Loyola College, Chennai.
Abstract
The Institution of a guest house for the subsistence of social outcasts is the prime precept of The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. Anjum’s decision to set up Jannat beside a graveyard demonstrates the powerless situation of the ostracised people in society. Roy fashioned Jannat as an abode where outsiders are treated as insiders. The affluent section of the society is merely outlaws at Jannat. By using this model, Roy exhibits the collective trauma experienced by the subalterns. She convenes a community for the helpless lot. The characters and their individual tryst with trauma scrutinise the struggles and challenges of the non-conformists. The writer’s resolution to embrace the panorama of subcultures that exist within the subaltern community widens the boundaries of subaltern studies. The community at Jannat endure the challenges of life by a shared understanding of trauma as well as life.
Keywords: Subaltern, Trauma, Roy, Jannat, Outcasts.
11. Giving Voice to the Subaltern Women: A Study of Arupa Patangiya Kalita’s Felanee and Ayananta
Himakshi Kashyap, Research Scholar, Department of English, Krishna Kanta Handique State Open University, Assam.
Abstract
Women are supposed to be passive, inferior and dependent on their counterpart i.e. men and are often relegated to the position of the other. They are silenced throughout history as their stories are told by someone more powerful in position, credibility and mostly, gender role. It is mostly noticed that subaltern women by reason of their positional status and often disputed and politicized identity, lack the proper and genuine depiction of their lived realities and emotions in the narratives of literature too. Lacking their voice, they hover around misrepresentation or sometimes non-representation which creates a hollow space in between the reflected notion and the truth of their fates. Therefore, it appears as an interesting and significant question to see whether in any narrative, the subaltern women are given enough freedom to express themselves in their own language or whether it is possible to give voice to the subaltern women in any narration. This paper is an attempt to search for this same concern in the two novels Felanee and Ayananta by one of the notable Assamese writers, Arupa Patangiya Kalita. The woman characters here in these two novels are victims of the different patriarchal societal structures and norms, but they are neither submissive nor lost in their paths of life. The female characters in Felanee are further marginalized for their class and identity origin. Both these two novels are interesting documents of such women characters whose voices reach the ears of the readers. Therefore, this paper will further analyze whether the author has justifiably represented the subaltern women in these two select novels.
Kerwords: Subaltern, Other, Silence, Representation, Submissiveness.
12. Nostalgia, Home and Belonging: A Diasporic Reading of Before We Visit the Goddess by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Q Joemari Bernardin, Research Scholar, Department of English, St. Xavier’s College, Palayamkottai, Affiliated to Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli, Tamilnadu, India.
Dr S. Veeralakshmi, Research Guide, Assistant Professor, Department of English, St. Xavier’s College, Palayamkottai, Affiliated to Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli, Tamilnadu, India.
Abstract
This paper “Nostalgia, Home and Belonging: A Diasporic Reading of Before We Visit the Goddess by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni” examines the major theoretical approaches to the diaspora, as well as the concept of home and belonging and nostalgia. This novel revolves around the lives of three generations of women Sabitri, Bela, and Tara, and their strong bond even after getting apart from each other. Their lives are filled with pathos, pain, dreams, desires, and alienated belongingness. It focuses on the resistance these women confront generation after generation. The paper also explores the role of nostalgia in diasporic and its role in creating the sense of home and belonging in the characters.
Keywords: Belongingness, Diaspora, Home, and Nostalgia.
13. Intricacies of the Feudal Social Hierarchy in the Short Stories of Mamang Dai’s “The Road” and Devanur Mahadeva’s “Tar Arrives”
Dr S. Latha, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Mount Carmel College, Bengaluru.
Abstract
The quote, ‘Old is dying and the new cannot be born’ is very appropriate to the two short stories Mamang Dai’s “The Road” and Devanur Mahadeva’s “Tar Arrives” selected for discussion in this paper. The stories detail the landscapes and people of a remote village set in North India and in South India. Weighing more on the contemporary issues of social, economic and cultural progressions- opposing the influences of a new culture, act of resistance to retain its cultural Identity-the paper extricates the paradox involved. Modernity does not deal with elemental issues of a village or the complex ongoing in the minds of the people of the village (the changes they witness in the global world) that confront the present generation which toss their lives and customs into trepidation. “Tar Arrives” is an observation on the struggle within religious and secular values between the Patel and the four young men Lakuma, Rajappa, Madu and Shambu. “The Road” reveals the social stigma (the road brings thieves, outsiders, disease) towards change which is brought out through Larik who articulates apprehensions of modernity that comes with road, telephone connections, electricity etc. Both the stories expose the facts detailing around the progression with tarring/ the Road acting as a metaphor and measured out against a disaster -accidental death of a child in “Tar Arrives”, landslide in “The Road”.
Keywords: Modernity, Feudal hierarchy, Belief, Mamang Dai, Devanur Mahadeva.
14. Diasporic Literature with Special Reference to Kiran Desai
Mandeep Kaur, Research Scholar, CT University, Ludhiana, Punjab.
Abstract
Diaspora is not a new concept in literature; it is as old as the human race. The word ‘Diaspora’ is everywhere. In the past, it refers to the dispersal and exile of the Jews. But in the twentieth century, the term turned to the involuntary dispersal of other populations. Because of this dispersion, they face many challenges in other countries. These problems are stated by many writers in their works. Kiran Desai is one of those writers who wrote about immigrants' difficulties. This paper analyzes Kiran Desai’s work ‘The inheritance of loss’ from this point of view.
Keywords: Kiran Desai, Diaspora, Alienation, Society, Immigrant.
15. Maldevelopment of Survival Disquietude Sensibilities in Anita Desai’s The Village By The Sea
J. Maria Jeyameni, Assistant Professor of English, P.S.R. Arts and Science College, Sivakasi.
Abstract
Anita Desai is a versatile novelist and also one of the most distinguished Indo-English writers of the post-colonial era. Desai focuses on several other debatable issues pertaining to contemporary Indian society through her novel, The Village by the Sea. The Village by the Sea was published in 1982 and was awarded Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize in the year 1983. The maldevelopment of survival disquietude sensibilities is the supreme phase of the thematic concerns in The Village by the Sea in which maldevelopment of survival disquietude sensibilities set in a small fishing village Thul near Mumbai. Lila struggles to keep her family at aged 13 with her own younger brother Hari as well as two young sisters, disappearing when their mother is ill and their father is usually the worse for a drink. Here, Desai, focus mainly on the societal dynamics in which the children live with the pastoral life and the lower classes of the public. Hence, Desai criticizes society for not taking better care of those who are unable to care for themselves. Here we can also experience the crash of the modern technological development on a customary community of fishermen and farmers at the village.
Keywords: Survival disquietude, Pessimism, Maldevelopment, Alienation.
16. Cultural Hybridity in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth
Ms S. Nandhini, SFR College for Women, Sivakasi.
Dr P. Prasanna Devi, Research Guide, Assistant Professor of English, SFR College for Women, Sivakasi.
Abstract
“Unaccustomed Earth” is short story collection deals with the lives of immigrants by Jhumpa Lahiri. Immigrants are the ones who have taken residence in any other country of the world other than their native. These immigrants find it difficult to mingle with the host country and its culture. Many of them often face the challenges of exile, loneliness, constant search for identity and cultural dilemmas. The first-generation immigrants undergo all those issues and long to return to their homeland. Whereas, second-generation immigrants feel alienated from their own parents (first-generation immigrants) due to their upbringing in the host country. The second-generation immigrants being able to follow the behavioural pattern of the host country develops a hybrid cultural identity by assimilating to the host culture. This paper focuses on the hybrid cultural identity of the second-generation immigrants in Jhumpa Lahiri’s “Unaccustomed Earth”.
Kerwords: Immigrants, Assimilation, Culture, Hybridity.
17. The Lure of the Normal: Researching Depictions of Disability in Select Young Adult Graphic Narratives
Ms Noble A. Paliath, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Sacred Heart CollegeChalakudy, Thrissur, Kerala, India.
Abstract
The present paper intends to focus on the way disability is presented in graphic narratives read by young adults. It is an analysis and interrogation of the portrayals of disability in select graphic narratives like Marc Hempel’s, Mike Carey’s and Sonny Liew’s Re-gifters (2007), Mike Carey’s, Jim Fern’s and Eric Nguyen’s Crossing Midnight (Vol. 1) (2007), Cecil C. Castellucci’s and Jim Rugg’s The Plain Janes (2007), Keith Giffen’s and John Rogers’ Blue Beetle: Shell-Shocked (2007), Sara Varon’s Robot Dreams (2007), Gary Whitta’s and Ted Naifeh’s Death, Jr. (2007) and Bob Kane’s and Sam Keith’s Batman: Secrets (2007). The study thereby effectively adds a grip and disability perspective to the field of Graphic Novels. The objectives of the research paper are framed with a view to find answers to and get clear cut notions regarding core issues like the nature, range and type of disabilities most often featured, whether one disability received more attention than others, detection of a systemic pattern, if any, that is followed in the treatment of disabilities; also looks at deviations from the hitherto followed pre-set, pre-determined models and conventions in the treatment of disability, whether the characters are defined by their disability, whether stereotypes are used in graphic novels to portray people with disabilities and finally whether the depictions of disability are problematic, faulty, misleading and misguiding. This study also inevitably draws on the age-old specificity, oppressive power and contemporaneity of the concept of normalcy. It endeavours to deconstruct the very idea of normalcy. This sort of dissection denaturalizes all the hegemonic notions of normativity thus reframing ableism as a problem that concerns everyone. The current text also recommends the arena of an emerging discipline called Graphic Novels to be an integral part of curricula for nouveau reading exercises and exciting learning experiences.
Keywords: Disability, Graphic narratives, Oppressive power, Ableism.
18. Representation of Resistance: Subalternity in the Novels of Roy and Desai
Dr Pritam Singh, Assistant Professor in English, Govt. College, Bajju (Bikaner), Rajasthan.
Abstract
The term subaltern refers to a subordinate position in terms of class, gender, race and culture. A subaltern is someone with a low ranking in a social, political or other hierarchy. It can also mean someone who has been marginalized or oppressed. It was originally used by Antonio Gramsci for the proletariat whose voice was not heard. It has since come to stand in for all subordinate subjects in society and has been revived in history to draw a distinction between the elite and the non-elite within colonized society. It has been almost thirty-five years since Ranajit Guha has taken an initiative in 1982 with his edited series on Indian historiography to provide an alternative history of the subaltern and the silenced. Since then, the crisis, prevailing in the Indian society on the lines of class, caste, gender and religion drew the attention of the subalterns. However, the changing scenario has posed new challenges for the actualization of the subaltern existence in different domains. It is, therefore, important to investigate the culture of subordination and a counter-culture of resistance. Postcolonial literature is the result of a clash between imperial culture and indigenous cultural practices. Postcolonial literature and criticism inquires into and analyses the consequences of colonization. It sees and re-examines history from the point of view of the colonized. . It examines how natives have been represented in the colonial text to create an epistemological framework that will help the colonizers to claim their domination over the ‘other’ party. Postcolonial theory studies this resistance and counter-discourse which emerged from the indigenous literature as a reaction against the domination of the colonizers. The colonized country suffers from the cultural domination of the colonizer, and it requires political and cultural identity. Subaltern Studies is an offshoot of recent postcolonial criticism. Resistance is the tool through which the dominated and oppressed subalterns made their appearance more prominent. Representation of the subalterns and representation of resistance has become a very vital ground to examine the colonial and postcolonial relations as they were and how they are changing. The present research paper intends to make an enquiry into the representation of subalternity and resistance in the fictions of Arundhati Roy and Kiran Desai.
Keywords: Subaltern, Subordination, Resistance, Postcolonial, History, Culture.
19. Futility of Violence in Ngugi Wa Thiong’o's Weep Not, Child
R. Rajini Beulah Shobika, I M.A. English, Senthamarai College of Arts and Science, Vadapalanji, Madurai.
Abstract
Ngugi Wa Thiong’o is a celebrated Kenyan writer and East Africa’s leading novelist. He authored several novels, plays, short stories and essays most of which are written in Gikuyu. He criticised the evils of colonization in his works. His Weep Not, Child (1964) is the first major novel in English written by an East African. It portrays the tragedy of a family, that was drawn into the conflict of Kenyan Independence during the state of emergency and the violence of the Mau Mau rebellion. It specifically explores the harmful consequences of dispossessing the people of their ancestral land. In this novel, Ngugi projected violence as futile and destructive. Taking revenge on the oppressors by Boro, who fought in World War II ultimately led to the ruin of the budding life of his brother, Njoroge, the protagonist of the novel. Violence didn’t bring any positive change, rather it brought awful destruction. This paper aims to bring out the futility of violence in the novel Weep Not, Child.
Keywords: Futility of violence, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, Weep Not, Child.
20. An Analytical Study of Modernized Regionality of Indian Myths in Amish Tripathi’s Shiva Trilogy
Seema Devi, Research Scholar, Tantia University, Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan.
Abstract
Regional literature is the greatest creation of the Indian plethora and a live picture of old days myths of Ramayana, Mahabharata and other legendary heroes. It becomes more poignant when the natives of any region value their language and understand its culture with a scientific explanation of facts. By learning & reading literary pieces from the regions, the power of the native tongue multiplies and intensifies the words that create an impact on the soul. With the flow of time, regional myths were also modernized in literature and presented with an amalgamated picture perfect. New pop star of mythology and a flag holder of modern regionality Amish Tripathi is an emerging force in this field. His Shiva Trilogy is a pack of wonderful books that enwrapped modern-day fire issues with the regional concept of lord Shiva and put the book market on fire. Various regional concepts of Indian society are dipped in colour of rationality and presented with authentic ink. The caste system, Vikarmas or untouchables, discrimination between rich and poor, outcaste Nagas, political interests, puppet king, feminist ethics, sura and asura concept, Ardhnarishwara, humanization of Gods and Anachronism are dealt in this paper well.
Keywords: Ethno-nationalism, Modernized Regionality, Indian Myths, Transformation.
21. The Eternal Feminine Aspects in the Saga and its Relevance to the Pandemic Age
Dr S. M. Shanthi, Assistant Professor, Rajeswari Vedachalam Government Arts College, Chengalpattu.
Abstract
The term Eternal Feminine was coined by Goethe. It is interesting to note that the term is the synonym of Adya Shakthi, the concept which finds its origin in India. The paper analyses how the term is universal and is relevant to the Pandemic period. Dr. K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar’s Saga of Seven Mothers: Satisaptakam portrays the divine aspects of feminism and emphasizes the role of Nature in human life. It stresses the need for the realization of the Divine in every aspect of the universe and life. Of course, the Pandemic period projects the mortal nature of human existence. Life is a journey but it is a journey towards Death, which is inevitable and unpredictable too. Saga preaches how to extend a prudent gesture towards this exigency. Motherhood in its right perspective and Feminism in the right connotation are also under the scrutiny of this paper.
Kerwords: Eternal Feminine, Adya Shakthu, Pandemic, Need of Divinity.
22. Migrant Experiences in Michael Ondaatje’s Anil’s Ghost and In the Skin of a Lion
Shekara Dammuru, Research Scholar, Department of English, Vijayanagara Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Bellary, Karnataka. 583105.
Abstract
This paper addresses the migrant trauma, nostalgia, dislocation and displacement in Michael Ondaatje’s novels such as In the Skin of a Lion and Anil’s Ghost. It also addresses how Ondaatje mingles both fact and fictitious elements while exploring migrant experiences as a diasporic writer. This Analysis is purely based on the aforementioned two novels. Textual analysis and Diaspora theory are incorporated to write this research article. Michael Ondaatje, a Sri Lankan Canadian Diasporic author has himself experienced transnational migration. That is why he is capable of explicitly expressing diasporic migration issues in his works. In Anil’s Ghost, Anil who is the protagonist of the novel undergoes nostalgia, trauma and dislocation, In the Skin of a Lion emphasizes mostly migrant experiences how immigrants from different colonial countries have forcefully dragged to build the major cities of Canada like Toronto. Therefore Michael Ondaatje’s works explicitly focus on migrant experiences which blend both fact and fictitious stories.
Keywords: Michael Ondaatje, Diaspora, Migration, Nostalgia, Dislocation, Displacement.
23. Marital Entropy in Amulya Malladi’s The Copenhagen Affair
C. Suganya, Research Scholar, School of Social Sciences and Languages, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore.
Dr M. Vijayakumar, Research Supervisor, Assistant Professor, School of Social Sciences and Languages, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore.
Abstract
Marriage is considered entropy by some married couples in their marital relationship. Entropy, the second law of thermodynamics is a quantitative measure of disorder in a system either remain constant or increase. Duncan says entropy is caused by inattention to a marriage that needs constant attention. This paper delineates the entropy in marital relationships where the disorder increases day by day. Sanya is a middle-aged woman whose two decades of marital life is an entropy system, which makes her undergo a nervous breakdown in her forties. To overcome her nervous breakdown Sanya catches in the hands of Copenhagen’s cafe class and corporate lifestyle. Amulya Malladi as a marketing executive for fourteen years assimilates her personal experience of the Copenhagen lifestyle through Sanya.
Keywords: Entropy, Marriage, Nervous breakdown, Psychological disorder, Identity.
24. Analyzing the Atrocities on the Marginalized Dalit Women: A Study of Caste-Gender Interplay in Dalit Women’s Autobiographies
Surajit Senapati, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Tamralipta Mahavidyalaya, West Bengal.
Abstract
Dalit women constitute the most unfortunate and deprived segment in Indian society, collectively suffering from the multitudes of discrimination, marginalization and atrocities in their quotidian existence. They are subjected to brutal violence in myriad forms, such as rape, gang rape, sexual assault and physical abuse, with the persistence of caste hierarchies playing a pivotal role in perpetuating such heinous crimes against humanity. Dalit women face multiple vulnerabilities on account of their caste positions and gender identity, apart from their vulnerability in the material relations of society both within and outside their communities. The paper examines such graded forms of violence committed on Dalit women, and the factors behind the perpetrators enjoying cultural impunity in society. As Dalit women are seen as ritually impure and dirty beings, they are denied equality, freedom and self-respect, thus making them prey to the Brahmanical nature of caste oppression and gender violence in a society that practices the notion of purity and pollution in everyday realities, thus effectively undermining the autonomy and sexual freedom of Dalit women. The sexual subordination of Dalit women constitutes the core agenda of caste hegemony and patriarchal manipulation, as the caste hierarchies reinforce gender inequalities and perpetuate social fragmentation along the caste lines. The paper tries to locate and analyze the motives behind such atrocities committed against Dalit women as narrated in Dalit autobiographies extensively, and how such artistic endeavours attempt to sensitize citizens so that such heinous forms of violence can be prevented against women in general and Dalit women in particular.
Keywords: Atrocities, Caste, Dalit, Gender, Marginalization, Violence, Patriarchy.
25. The Study of Themes, Ways and Motivations of Women Empowerment in Dalit Feminism
Mrs G. Shakila, Research Scholar, Department of English, Rajeswari Vedhachalam Govt. Arts College, Chengalpattu District, Tamil Nadu, India.
Dr S. M Shanthi, Research Guide, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Rajeswari Vedhachalam Govt. Arts College, Chengalpattu District, Tamil Nadu, India.
Abstract
Dalit women liberation is a women's activist visual perspective that subsumes questions station and sexual orientation jobs among the Dalit populace and inside women's liberation and the greater women's turn of events. Dalit women face different challenges than women in higher castes in South Asian countries. Dalit feminists advocate for equal rights for Dalit women based on gender, caste and other issues. The current status of women has started protesting against the discrimination and injustices even upon them and are trying to create a female space for themselves. In India caste system legitimizes gender inequality and untouchability. Even though their life is very hard, the women have a life outside their homes, unlike upper-caste, middle-class women who remain inside their homes at all times. We should educate boys and girls alike, showing no difference between them as they grow into adults. The injustices, violence, and inequalities will come to an end, by proving that ‘Women can make and women can break’. Dalit women have been functioning throughout past times, even though frequently this has not been reported. At Present, they are the fastness of the Dalit movements in thousands of Indian rural areas. They proceed to a plan of action for a censorious character in the movements for women's rights. However, they are unable to put an end to structural discrimination and exclusion. Violence and impunity are used to keep them in their place. In India, the term ‘subaltern’ is generally used synonymously with the term ‘Dalit’, especially focusing their attention on the oppressive structures of caste in the Indian context, which divided people as superior touchables and untouchables or upper castes and lower castes. Today’s women have begun challenging to oppose the discrimination and are disagreeable to makeover a female space for themselves. The Dalit women have started searching for the root cause of marginalization against them. Women in this pedagogy bring forward their personal identity as women as well as Dalit.
Kerwords: Caste, Dalit, Disputes, Gender, Injustices, Nexus, Violence.
26. Eco-critical Outlook of Subalterns in Nectar in a Sieve of Kamala Markandaya and in The Hungry Tide of Amitav Ghosh
Vinod Manoharrao Kukade, Assistant Professor in English, Fule-Ambedkar College of Social Work, Gadchiroli, Maharashtra.
Abstract
This paper deals with the outlook, thoughts and approach of the subalterns towards ecology and environment that Kamala Markandaya and Amitav Ghosh present in their novels “Nectar in a Sieve” (1954) and “The Hungry Tide” (2004) respectively. An analytical method is used to deal with this study. Kamala Markandaya and Amitav Ghosh are great environmentalists who with a deep sense of ecological perspectives presented the subalterns’ lives that they lead in the lap of nature and laid down their indignant approach towards growing industrialization, deforestation and unethical act of killing animals. This study will show that how subalterns are more sensitive to nature, the more environmentalists and contribute to the protection of nature which is getting devastated day by day. According to Cheryll Glotfelty Eco-criticism studies the relation between the physical environment and the literature. Here, the focus is how these two novels present the relation of the whole environment and the literature through the life and thoughts of marginalized people and areas where Subalterns live. The agrarian culture, Rukmani’s love of nature, birds and animals; Nathan’s love of farming; introduction of tannery and its adverse effects upon the life of the Subaltern are presented in “Nectar in a Sieve” by Kamala Markandaya. Amitav Ghosh, in “The Hungry Tide”, presents the lives of the Subalterns in Sundarbans, the beautiful and healthy atmosphere of Sundarbans, and the attitude of Subalterns towards saving the life of the animals in Sundarbans.
Kerwords: Devastation, Ecocriticism, Environment, Nature, Subaltern.
27. Metamorphosis of Sudha and Anju in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Vine Of Desire
Ms S. Vishnupriya, M.Phil Research Scholar, The Standard Fireworks Rajaratnam College for Women, Sivakasi - 626123.
Dr B. Siva Priya, Research Guide, Assistant Professor of English, The Standard Fireworks Rajaratnam College for Women, Sivakasi - 626123.
Abstract
Diasporic Literature is a very vast concept and an umbrella term that includes in it all those literary works written by the authors outside their native country, but these works are related to native culture and background. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is one of the most impressive and dynamic voices among the writers of Indian Diasporic Literature. As an Indian immigrant writer, Divakaruni stands firmly in the native tradition, depicting the change of diasporic experiences of women in her novels. The fiction of Divakaruni is related directly to the twentieth-century revolutions of community and individuals. Divakaruni’s “The Vine of Desire” illustrates the female protagonists’ struggle for identity, their bitter experiences in a foreign land which transforms their life from dependence to independence. They finally emerge as self-assertive individuals. This paper focuses on the process of attaining the metamorphosis of the two main characters, Sudha and Anju in a foreign country.
Keywords: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Diasporic experience, Identity, Independence.