LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 15:1 January 2015
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Desires and Conflicts in Female Bonding in
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s Novels:
Sister of My Heart and Vine of Desire

K. Nagajothi, M.A., M.Phil.

Sister of My Heart

Abstract

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, an avowedly feminist writer of the Indian diaspora in the US, excels in probing the unplumbed depths of women’s sensibility. Sister of My Heart examines the emotional bond and the tension between the desires, which the women characters, Anju and Sudha go through in the process of their growth. Despite their closeness, they have different personalities and approaches to life. Sudha discovers a dark secret about her father’s betrayal from her aunt Pishi and suffers from a guilt complex which tests her relationship with Anju. She even sacrifices her love for Ashok in order to prevent her cousin’s match in a traditional family from breaking up and renounces herself to an arranged marriage. Marriage entails not only their first separation but also their first rivalry with each other, a rivalry not of material possessions but of heart. Cracks appear in their relationship as Anju goes to America and Sudha enters a loveless partnership in India. The pregnancies of both women bring increased pain and a new relationship between them.

The Vine of Desire is a sequel to Sister of My Heart. Anju and Sudha reunite after a year of living separate lives. At first, the women are overjoyed to see one another and their bond seem strong enough to suggest that each woman’s unselfish goal is possible. Anju’s startling realization of her husband Sunil’s passionate obsession with Sudha shatters any illusion and causes a seemingly irreparable rift between them. Tormented respectively by guilt and bitter jealousy, Sudha and Anju individually grapple with both their inner pain and the outside pressures of frenetic, impersonal city life in America as they journey towards independence. Thus, the creator and her creation face up to standards laid down, boldly and create new spaces and voices for themselves.

Key words: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Sister of My Heart, The Vine of Desire

Chita Banerjee Divakaruni’s Works – Friendship with Women and Sisterly Bonding

Chita Banerjee Divakaruni is an Indian American author and poet. She is an award winning author. She has got the nationality of India as well as of the United States. She made an indelible impression on the literary world with her first novel, The Mistress of Spices, a magical tale of love and herbs. Her novels portray the forbidden aspects of women’s habited world and their creative imagination through earthly desires. Woman is the centre of her fictional world - her efforts, desires, and failures in the traditional Indian society and western society are the main focus in her novels. Her illustration of women’s world is realistic, credible, and authentic. She deals with the inner world of the Indian women as well as the immigrant women in her novels. The sisterly relationship between Anju and Sudha in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s Sister of My Heart and the complications that cause conflicts in Anju and Sudha’s sisterly bonding in The Vine of Desire are scrutinized in this paper.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

K. Nagajothi, M.A., M.Phil.
Assistant Professor in English (PART TIME)
The Standard Fireworks Rajaratnam College for Women
Sivakasi - 626130
Tamil Nadu
India
jothiskcm@gmail.com

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