The goal of this research is to examine how the colony is portrayed by both the colonizer and the colonized. This paper focuses mainly on the politics of depiction by implementing the insights of postcolonialism. In this context, Twilight in Delhi by Ahmed Ali also deals with the same subject from the view of the colonized, whereas A Passage to India is a narrative of the British colony by its colonizer E. M. Forster. It may be argued that the writers’ two depictions of a similar colony represent different political and cultural viewpoints. The two authors’ representations of the same colony, one from a colonized civilization and another from that was colonized, consistently reflect their distinctive voices. Additionally, the latest research has incorporated Homi K. Bhabha and Edward Said’s analytical works on the depiction in the postcolonial theoretical perspective and explored the problem of cultural representation while using textual analyses. The research has shown that both works’ representations of colonial India differ significantly because of the authors’ respective cultural roles as colonizer and colonized.
Purpose of the study: This research explores Anita Desai’s Voices in the City from the cultural ambivalence and cultural imperialism aspects. Anita Desai’s Voices in the City (1964) is about the story of an archetypal Indian protagonist Nirode and his family. Methodology: This research is qualitative. Theories presented by Homi K. Bhabha and K. R. Lyenger support this research study as a major theoretical framework. This research is based on textual analysis.It discusses the issues of the remains of colonization and the impact of British imperialism during the transitional phase of the socio-cultural and socio-political situation of Indian society that reflects the ambivalent identity of the protagonist and other characters as well. Main Findings: Nirode is a colonial subject who distinctly observes the city of Calcutta and tends to escape from such cultural tendencies of modern Indian cultures and British cultures which causes his identity ambivalent. Nirode’s position as a victim and resistant to both cultures, his subject is determined amidst the socio-cultural, socio-economic, and socio-political power relations played by both British and Indian institutional cultural values and practices of the transitional phase of Indian society that creates ambivalent identity in the life of the protagonist and other characters which happens around the city of Calcutta. Applications of the study: The research is a contribution to the existing theories on one hand and an explanation and impact of the cultural ambivalence and cultural imperialism on Indian literature and society as depicted in the novel. Novelty/Originality of the study: This research is novel as it investigates socio-cultural, socio-economic, and socio-political power relations played by both British and Indian institutional cultural values and practices of the transitional phase of Indian society that creates ambivalent identity in the life of the protagonist and other characters which happens around the city of Calcutta. The theoretical framework is taken from two different theories in order to draw more argumentative discussion.
This research explores the diasporic experiences of South Asian immigrants and cultural ambivalence in Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss (2006). It highlights the conditions when East Pakistan had to adjust to an altogether new environment separated from their original culture after the Partition of this subcontinent in the year 1947. It reveals that the same historical, ideological, and thematic properties have been coming through generations and diasporic writers select these themes as their major subject of discussion. This research explores the varied nuances of family relationships in the writings of recent diaspora writers like Desai. The surge of globalization has washed away solitary identities. Theories presented by Homi K. Bhabha and Stuart Hall help this study in finding the answers of the proposed research question. This research provides a chance to understand the impact of Post-Partitioned (1947) ideologies behind the theme selection in the writings of diasporic Anglophone writers.
This research explores Manju Kapur's Home from the perspective of modernity. Tensions between tradition and modernity, represented in the novel can be viewed against the influence of a western culture that has taken place in the 21st century within the lives of people in India. Ideological stance on the notions of tradition vs. modernity in respect to the conflicting issue, through the characters as Nisha, Rupa, Yashpal, Ajay, Vijaya, and Raju, where they almost abandoned their parental business style, traditional thinking and moves ahead of their way either in their business or in the family life. Characters in the novel are deviated from their social norms and values due to the influences of western values on Indian society is a sign of modernity. This research is qualitative in nature. This research approaches Kapur's Home from the theoretical perspectives of modernity that have appeared in the studies of Jurgen Habermas, Immanuel Kant, Michel Foucault, Peter Wagner, Dilip Parmeshwar Gaonkar, and Ziauddin Saradar. This research finds that joint family divides into a single settlement, characters start to adopt modernity, forgetting their traditional norms and values for their benefit.
This research explored the lives and worldviews of Asian immigrants in the United States presented in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's stories in The Unknown Errors of Our Lives (2001). Central characters in Divakaruni's narratives embody the sufferings of immigrants in the New Land. Precisely it was proposed to study the stories from the perspective of the diaspora. In this collection, the researcher has selected five stories, including "Mrs. Dutta Writes a Letter," "The Intelligence of Wild Things," "The Blooming Season for Cacti," "The Names of Stars in Bengali," and "The Unknown Errors of Our Lives." Since the characters like Mrs. Dutta, Mira, Radhika, and Kahuku's mother emigrate from India to different zones of America, they combat issues of cultural contradiction, identity crisis, disruption and family strives. Unlike them, Tarun, Mrs. Dutta's son, and her family are assimilated into the American society, whereas the characters such as Mrs. Dutta, Didi, and Mira recurrently remember their original house and early childhood days with friends. It is because they are fragmented and frustrated in America. The study concluded that the characters in her stories are ambitious and want to live a luxurious life but because of the lack of opportunities, they could not fulfill their desires and even some of them decided to return to their homeland to get a better life.
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