Theme Of Human Relationships By Anita Desai

Women in India were unaware of their miserable condition. It is in the post independence period the women’s quest for identity of her own commenced. The 20th century saw the shift from outer to inner sensibilities and no one can better understand a man or woman better a feminine writer. In modern English fiction a number of women novelists have arrived on the literary scene, they have set out making new forays in to the world of women. Nayantara Sahgal being a feminist writer has emphasized in her novels on freedom and a new definition of the New Women. Sahgal’s heroines are well aware of the injustice done to them in their marriage and they come out of this traditional bond.

Anita Desai’s female characters are ‘highly sensitive and neurotic’. But they are failure and unwilling to adjust with the real world because they live in alienated society and separated from their surroundings. They find indifference in their ideas from others and try to understand their way of life.

Unlike other women novelists, Anita Desai concentrates on the exploration of sensibility, that too feminine sensibility by probing deep into the inner life of a woman. Desai reigns supreme in her fictional world by focusing attention towards “the quest inward” and concentrating on the still grimmer and more harrowing presentation of Indian life. In fact all her characters are sensitive, solitary and hyper- introspective. Her fiction balances itself delicately on the fringes between things and awareness of things, between chaos and order of mind. Her primary interest lies in exploring the disturbed depths of the female psyche. . The most prominent feature of her fiction is her mode of individualizing the character. She is preoccupied primarily with the portrayal of women protagonists as living in a

Although in many ways this text can be seen as a radical feminist text, but Devi dismisses the idea as she is not a feminist. She feels that it is a mere coincidence that some professions are gendered and doesn’t regard women as a separate entity but treats their oppression as linked to a wider oppressive structure controlled by caste. She thinks that to ignore the latter in the shadow of the former, is a “denial of history”. But Usha Ganguli in her introductory text ‘Metamorphosis of Rudali’ presents a different view and says that in many ways this could be read as an ‘enabling’ feminist text-with the empowerement of Sanichri, the bonding between the two characters, the importance given to household chores, the common experiences of discrimination of women along class lines and the rare sensitivity expressed by the author towards women in general. Through this novella, Devi discusses and rethinks questions of class, caste and gender and how such structures affect women by giving a powerful voice to the gendered subaltern and thus rescuing them from the dark recesses of third world

As an artist Kamala Markandaya’s fiction is concerned with change in feminine sensibility brought about by the social, economic and cultural forces, whereas Anita Desai’s major concern is about exploration of the psychological condition of the oppressed hyper-sensitive women. The synoptic views of Anita Desai and Kamala Markandaya’s portray the women protagonists in terms of the shifting sensibilities and changing attitudes of married Indian women. It also tries to analyze the portrayal of women characters that belong to rural and urban upper classes of Indian society. As an artist Kamala Markandaya’s fiction is concerned with

The novel is divided into two sections, referred to as part one and part two. the first section of the novel portrays everyday life of an Indian family with their daughter Uma as the main character of the section. Throughout part one of the novel, the author tries to take the reader into a journey across the Indian social practices and family relationship. She does this through the way she portrays different members of the Indian family and other individuals who are depicted as different members of the Indian society. In this section, the reader can see the family structure, family members responsibilities, and expectations from other members of the family and the society in general. Apart from showing the reader the family life, she also tries to present situations and topics that shows the reader some important issues regarding the Indian educational system and the society attitudes towards it. Desai does this by portraying an Indian family which priorities men’s education over women’s. This is seen first through mama who is a house wife expected to stay home and take care of her family while her

Anita Desai stands apart from other female Indian writers due to her involvement with the life of young men and women in Indian cities. She discards all social concerns and asserts that she is interested in individual and not in social issues. She is concerned with psychic life of her characters. Her concern is the ‘why’ and the wherefore of the external action rather than the action itself. Her forte is the exploration of mind and soul and not the body. While dealing with the psychic problems of her characters, she finds longing her freedom in them. Desai stands apart from other women novelists for she throws light on the inner mental conflict which her characters undergo. Narrating the mental agony

But Virmati doesn’t care for the traditional norms and rejects her mother’s view. The protagonist has grown up seeing her mother’s restricted world and miserable plight which makes her protest against the system that does not allow women to be capable of being something else than a wife only. Virmati has been taught and made to believe marriage is the ultimate fate of women. Kapur focuses on the fact that although Virmati is educated and financially independent, she still suffers by being the second wife to the professor. Virmati enters into a scandalous relationship with her married neighbor Harish, the professor. It is impossible for her to accept a physical relationship. She is haunted by a deep sense of guilt. The official marriage, a social and public acknowledgment, is a must for her. This approval will establish her identity even if it is as the professor’s second wife. Marriage thus for her means deliverance from the fear of being socially condemned, a possibility which will perhaps bring her back into the fold and relieve her from the sense of insecurity and uncertainty. Marriage seemed to be the ultimate goal of existence for Virmati. Even though Harish married her and takes her to his home. Their marriage wasn’t accepted by the family. After all years of care, concern, sacrifice

Despande is well aware about the pulse of Indian society and she knew the ultimate fact that despite certain radical changes in technology the Indian society is still clinging to its tradition and its attitude towards women. So she attempts to intimately analyze human relationships and more emphatically man–woman relationship within the orbit of family and society therefore her range is rather narrow like that of Jane Austen's novels. We can find a number of relationships in the novel who are subjected to familial influences. The marital relationship between Jaya and Mohan remains the focal point in the novel. Jaya is finding herself questioning in her different selves like daughters, wives and mothers. She is never satisfied with her different roles as it crushes her individuality as a human being. She knew that her relationship with Mohan was a delicately balanced one. Both of them are performing their duties and do not share an understanding. Mohan always makes her feel that he is least

It is note-worthy that the women are the sufferers and then, they are oppressors also. Works have been done on the poor plight of women, especially in India but it has been a tedious task to mark out the traces of women dominion in Deshpande novels. The artistic beauty of the author lies in being able to project both sides of the coin. She has never been defensive about womanhood, although a male writer is acclaimed as a writer whereas if a woman attempts to write, she is tagged as feminist. “When a man writes of the

The development feminism in India has prompted the scrutinizing of the conspicuous old patriarchal control. The ladies of today decline to be manikins in the hands of men. Henceforth the picture of ladies has experienced an intense change. The Indian female authors have made a move from the conventional depictions of persevering generous ladies to delineation of their inward life and inconspicuous relational connections. The clashing enthusiasm of man and lady in the general public thus of self-stating ladies, who are engaged in intense scan for their personality, is the lobby characteristic of present day depiction of female characters. Arundhati

The concept of space is very relevant in the study of diasporic communities. Cultural otherness, generational and cultural alienation from their ethnic community leaves the Indian diasporic women trapped in a space between the culture of homeland and that of the host country. They lack security and emotional support from their family and the isolation leads diasporic women emotionally and economically dependent on their husbands to the problems like depression, loss and nostalgia. Lahiri’s The Namesake, is a cross cultural multi generational story which examines the cultural conflicts, pangs, aspirations and dilemmas of the Indian immigrants who find themselves in between the native and host cultures. Namesake is the story of Ashima Bhaduri, a student in degree class who becomes Ashima Ganguli after her betrothal to Ashoke Ganguli of Alipre. After marriage they shift to Boston. The book opens with Ashima Ganguly who is upset, homesick, spatially and emotionally alienated from her ancestral home, trying to recreate the taste of her favorite Indian snack, thereby trying to reconstruct her past. She thinks of her past with nostalgia of her home and spends her leisure in reading Bengali poems, stories and

Depiction of marriage in Indian novels is a recurrent theme and it is the element in Indian writing in English which gives it a typical Indian sensibility. In this connection Meenakshi Mukherjee in her work, Twice Born Fiction (2001) observes, Among some hundred and fifty novels published in the last thirty

Manjukapur is a well known feminist writer in India and Abroad. In her third novel “Home’’ she reveals many questions against the traditions, identity, marital problems, struggle for existence and future and settled as a migrant. The theme of the novel is the joint families can destroy, lack of mental peace and perish and preserve the understanding and going on searching for identity and individuality .Banwarilal has two sons Yashpal and pyare lal . Sona and Rupa are co-sisters.sona’s daughters Nisha. Nisha refused traditional marriage. Nisha wants empowerment and bright colorful life. Nisha wants identity, a valued life , secured achievement and career. So in end the middle class woman cannot cross and escape from the traditional values which are bound by society.

I feel that the book is distinctive and special in a way, as it alternates between the view of Hari and Lila is in the village of Thul. From these two point of view we can get the idea of similarities and differences between city and village life. The situation in the village was very bad as we can see the father drunk and a critically ill mother the character of the family struggling to make end meet. It brings the struggle of man for evading the psychic pressure of life in the hope of survival. The writer denounces the flaws of society by painting scenes of everyday life and also how society works and how it can put pressure on people sometime to the point of destroying individual. Anita Desai’s critical sense of observation and her essential thinking with common men become important in her expert characterization, vivid description of a vigorous plot which is highly authentic. When we examine the concept of free or new women in this novel, we take it for granted that Anita Desai understanding of feminine sensibility is well display in all her novel. Her protagonist, most of whom are women, battle desperately with, their traditional