LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 15:5 May 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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The Unfolding of Korobi:
A Critical Analysis of the Gradual Growth of the Central Character in
Oleander Girl

Ms. Subhra Roy, M.A., B.Ed., NET, SET

Oleander Girl

Abstract

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, in her novel Oleander Girl, presents before us a girl’s quest for her father. In the course of this crucial journey of her life, Korobi meets many people, goes through crisis, understands how life works and, above all she understands her own self. Korobi with her simple girl-next- door image charms the readers, and, when she decides to go to America in search of her father, the people in her life get justifiably anxious about her well-being. But the docile college-going granddaughter of Bimal Roy is not weak as we may be led to think; she gets stronger with each trouble that is thrown in her way. Korobi finds her father after going through many emotional hardships. Her world comes almost on the verge of total disorientation when she discovers two glaring truths about her existence; though she doesn’t have any problem in accepting the first one, she gets shattered while dealing with the second. But she is a strong woman now, stronger than we can assume.

While in America, with many temptations around her, Korobi manages not to succumb to them, but she does understand her contradictory self better. Her newly-born attraction for Vic on one side and her vows of faithfulness to Rajat on the other, make her go through an emotional turmoil, which make her fathom her inner self. Even when she is going through financial crisis, she doesn’t act like a damsel in distress, as she might have done in Kolkata under the overbearing patriarchal care of Grandfather or Rajat; she decides to cut her long hair to sell them for money! This has been a very difficult decision for her, but, when she does so, she feels “untethered’’ , free from the burden of overblown family dignity and tradition. But even after getting lured towards the free and self-dependent life in America, Korobi comes back to her lonely Grandmother; she comes back to Rajat. But she is a mature Korobi now; life has taught her tough lessons. In this article, I have tried to analyse the long path that Korobi has travelled to be transformed into a stronger and braver woman. It can be concluded that Divakaruni’s Oleander Girl is a bildungsroman which highlights the gradual growth of Korobi, who possesses all the qualities of an oleander – beautiful, yet tough.

Key words: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Oleander Girl novel, Korobi, problems faced, girl-next-door, quest for identity, emotional hardships, oleander, untethered

Korobi and Her Mother

These are the treasured lines of the poem etched out on the book that Korobi had hidden under her wedding pillow, only to be read to Rajat in their flower-filled bedroom. The poem is not an ordinary one; it’s the one that “...My mother has sent to us....” (Divakaruni 288). Korobi, the central character in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s Oleander Girl, must not have expected a more valuable gift than the anthology of poetry containing the poem which was often read by her mother. Moreover, it was sent to her on her wedding day by her father, to find whom she had left no stones unturned. The search for her father which took her to America, had metamorphosed Korobi into a much stronger woman –“...beautiful – but also tough’’ (Divakaruni 253), like the oleanders. When she started her journey, cut away from the cocooned world of 26 Tarak Prasad Roy Road, she must not have imagined the harsh facts that would turn her world upside down for a while! With gradual experiences in a foreign land, far away from Kolkata, Korobi turns out to be a courageous woman who had learnt to make peace with her past, as well as with her future. In this article, I would be highlighting on this process of transformation which Korobi has gone through, while searching for her father in post 9/11 America which is alluring but unwelcoming at the same time.

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


Ms. Subhra Roy, M.A., B.Ed., NET, SET
Research Scholar
Department of English
TripuraUniversity (A Central University)
Suryamaninagar 799022
Tripura (West)
India
suvizimu@gmail.com
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