Anita Desai Character Analysis

companions. Fate plays a pessimistic role in his life and in spite of having possessed good human qualities of sincerity, honesty and adjustment, he meets a tragic end. Since Arun has been a victim of nauseating care, he too believes in escapism to attain his lost identity. Emotionally starved, he disappears into the abyss of anonymity in America, the land of liberty. On comparing the Indian and American culture, he finds that if children in India are over-protected, in America they are left too much to themselves. Even in the land of plenty, people starve of care and affection essential for identity and selfhood as there is independence and self-reliance but no warmth, interaction, and emotional support among the family members. If he is
They misinterpret the philosophy of detachment which does not recommend physical retreat from life rather guides to conquer one’s selfish passions and wayward desires. Meaning and vision in life cannot be achieved by severing links with life but by operating within these to achieve an understanding of the human existence. Action, commitment and attachment lead to emotional solace and stability in the life of individuals. Instead of withdrawing and retreating from social life if Nirode had followed the maxim of adopting and adapting, he would not have suffered so much. Communication might have paved the way for understanding; mental affinity and open mindedness might have lessened his desolation and anxiety which otherwise exercise a dehumanizing effect on him. Nirode chokes the voice of his conscience in the zeal of his idealism and suffers alienation. His quest for identity is thwarted by his nihilism and unlike Amla and Dharma, his reluctance to mould himself according to the situation he is entangled into, lands him in trouble. An amiable relationship with society and others would have been possible only if he had moved a step away from his idealism and had made an attempt to live life through the medium of love and understanding similar to Deven. Initially Deven’s state of mind reflects incongruence between the real self — an
Whether migration is voluntary as in case of Adit, Dev and Arun or involuntary as in case of Hugo; it is generally a cause of stress as it thwarts the severing of native ties. Racial discrimination faced by migrants further intensifies their alienation. The age-old belief of the Occidentals that the Oriental culture is primitive, filthy and inferior; and the history of the Orient as narrated by the Western historians depict the Third World as ‘Other’. Moreover, the colonial dominion of the British on India for almost three centuries gives the English, a sense of superiority which they exercise through racial remarks as faced by Adit and Dev. Hugo too becomes a victim of racism in India due to his different physical characteristics. The kind of prejudice depicted in Desai’s novels is not restricted to a particular community or society. It is universal in nature and many multicultural countries like America, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada are witness to racial attacks. Even people within India who migrate from one state to another in search of a better living also feel culturally alienated as they are treated with distrust and contempt. Currently, our multicultural and multilingual nation is reeling under the fire of communal intolerance whereas the ideology of multiculturalism opposes cultural hegemony, appreciates cultural pluralism and