Anita Desai
30
International Indexed &Referred Research Journal, May, 2012. ISSN- 0975-3486, RNI-RAJBIL 2009/30097;VoL.III *ISSUE-32
RESEARCH ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION
Among the post- independence Indo- English writers
Anita Desai holds a prominent place because of the immense popularity she commands as a novelist of human predicament of anxiety, frustration and loneliness in the insensitive and inconsiderate contemporary world. This paper aims at tracing the theme of alienation in the novels of Anita Desai. Alienation refers to estrangement that occurs in the relation between an individual and that to which he or she is relating to. It is a feeling of not belonging.
This feeling can be physical, mental, religious, spiritual, political or economical. At one time or the other each one of us has experienced alienation in one form or other whether in school, college, among our family members, in religion, in politics or in society
.This aloneness alone for them is the treasure worth treasuring. This kind of situation more or less prevails in Desai's first novel Cry, the Peacock. Cry the
Peacock, published in 1963 can be considered as a trendsetting novel as it deals with the mental rather than the physical aspects of its character.
It also deals with the total alienation of Maya from her husband, Gautama and from her surroundings and even from herself. Both husband and wife had different attitude towards life. She wants to be attached to the world and its abounding charms, while
Gautama wants to remain aloof and detached so as to attain 'peace of mind' This attitude alienates them from each other.
This incompatibility of nature causes deep alienation in the mind of the protagonist, Maya and she becomes intensely abnormal. K.R. Srinivasa
Iyengar writes:
* Her intensity-whether she is sane ,hysterical or insane-fills the whole book and gives it form as well as life".
1
Maya was born in an old orthodox family,
Research Paper—English
May,
International Indexed &Referred Research Journal, May, 2012. ISSN- 0975-3486, RNI-RAJBIL 2009/30097;VoL.III *ISSUE-32
RESEARCH ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION
Among the post- independence Indo- English writers
Anita Desai holds a prominent place because of the immense popularity she commands as a novelist of human predicament of anxiety, frustration and loneliness in the insensitive and inconsiderate contemporary world. This paper aims at tracing the theme of alienation in the novels of Anita Desai. Alienation refers to estrangement that occurs in the relation between an individual and that to which he or she is relating to. It is a feeling of not belonging.
This feeling can be physical, mental, religious, spiritual, political or economical. At one time or the other each one of us has experienced alienation in one form or other whether in school, college, among our family members, in religion, in politics or in society
.This aloneness alone for them is the treasure worth treasuring. This kind of situation more or less prevails in Desai's first novel Cry, the Peacock. Cry the
Peacock, published in 1963 can be considered as a trendsetting novel as it deals with the mental rather than the physical aspects of its character.
It also deals with the total alienation of Maya from her husband, Gautama and from her surroundings and even from herself. Both husband and wife had different attitude towards life. She wants to be attached to the world and its abounding charms, while
Gautama wants to remain aloof and detached so as to attain 'peace of mind' This attitude alienates them from each other.
This incompatibility of nature causes deep alienation in the mind of the protagonist, Maya and she becomes intensely abnormal. K.R. Srinivasa
Iyengar writes:
* Her intensity-whether she is sane ,hysterical or insane-fills the whole book and gives it form as well as life".
1
Maya was born in an old orthodox family,
Research Paper—English
May,