LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 23:10 October 2023
ISSN 1930-2940

Editors:
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         T. Deivasigamani, Ph.D.
         Pammi Pavan Kumar, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Managing Editor & Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.

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Social Reformation of the Masses of Down-trodden Men in Select Novels of Anita Desai –
A Subaltern Studies Perspective

R. Jeyadevi, Research Scholar and Dr. V. David Arputha Raj

Abstract

The recent novels in Indian English mostly deal with the past history of the masses of the marginalized in the South-Asian continent due to the impact of “colonialist elitism” (Ludden 2002) and its upshot-colonialism. Generally, the word, “colonialist elitism” (Ibid), denotes the Western modernity which badly influenced the masses of the marginalized groups in a society during the rule of imperialism.

In her novels, Anita Desai, one of the most eminent female writers of Indian English, often portray the harsh realities of the day today life of the masses of the marginalized including the lower-class workers, the lower-caste fishermen and the lower-caste women when they resist against imperialist elitism and its results. She often makes “use of symbolism” (N. R. Gopal 99) to portray the characters of her novels and uses pictorial words for describing the settings of the scenes in her novels. Also, she uses “flashback technique” (Ibid) in her novels significantly.

The select novels of Desai adding in Where Shall We Go This Summer? and Fire on the Mountain give an account of details about the inner thirst of the masses of the less-privileged men to get released from the tradition bound society by resisting against dominant ideologies prevailing in the colonial rule and its effects. Also, the novels describe how far the social evils prevalent in India such as class/caste discrimination, race, gender, religion, nation, colour, and age-oriented discrimination and other ethnic differences affect the everyday survival of the masses of innocent men in India.

Keywords: Anita Desai, WHERE SHALL WE GO THIS SUMMER? and FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN novels, resistance, social-reformation, self-potentiality, Subaltern studies criticism and colonialist elitism.

1. Introduction

The paper examines how the select novels of the well-renowned Indian English women writer, Anita Desai’s WHERE SHALL WE GO THIS SUMMER? and FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN expose the theme of self-reformation of the under-privileged masses of men when they encounter the adversity of the ever-growing colonialist elitism such as caste, class, gender, race, age, religion, region and “post-coloniality” (Ludden 2002).

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

R. Jeyadevi
Research Scholar
Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India
rjdevimam@gmail.com

Dr. V. David Arputha Raj
Assistant Professor of English
Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India
davidarputharaj@buc.edu.in
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