Land and Landscape in Anita Desai’s Cry, the Peacock

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Anita Desai’s novels unravel the mystery of the inner life of her characters. Anita Desai is interested in the psychic life of her characters. For her it is a depth which is interesting, delving deeper and deeper into a character or a scene rather than going round about it. She incorporates themes such as the agony of existence, the meta-physical void, the fears and trembling of her protagonists whose values, beliefs and structures are jeopardized, which, in turn, stand in the way of the individual’s self-realization. However, there is a genuine attempt suggesting a struggle to attain a maturity of outlook, and positive growth. Her forte is “the exploration of sensibility – the particular kind of Indian sensibility that is ill at ease among barbarians and the philistines, the anarchists and the moralists.(Iyenger 1983: 464).
According to her, the warp and woof of her works attract attention when “ the themes are analysed, the social and political elements are subtly camouflaged and subdued by dwelling on emotions and responses which are far more engrossing than the hard facts of reality.(Jain 1987:1). As her discussion progresses from thematic concerns to philosophical and psychological issues.The primary task of this paper is to dwell upon the female strength without losing the inner self of the character in all critical situations. The focus will remain on the politicization of land and landscape through the study of women’s search for identity in this complex social world where alienation, disintegration and submissiveness are inherently attached to female psychology. For example, Where Shall We Go This Summer is based on relating Sita’s desperate search for direction of India’s anxiety to find her identity.
Meenakshi Mukherje...

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In every one of our patient analyses shows us that they had been carried back to some particular period of their past by the symptoms of their illness or their consequences. In the majority of cases, indeed, a very early phase of life is chosen for the purpose – a period of their childhood or even, laughable as this may sound, of their existence as an infant at the breast(Freud 1973: 314).

Works Cited

• Anita Desai,Cry, the peacock . New Delhi: Orient Paperback, 1980.
• K.R.S Iyenger, Indian Writing in English . New Delhi: Sterling Publishers, 1983.
• Jasbir Jain, Stairs to the Attic: The Novels of Anita Desai .Jaipur: Printwell, 1987.
• Meenakshi Mukherjee, “The Theme of Displacement in Anita Desai and Kamala Markandaya,” World Literature Written in English, Vol.17, 1978.
Sigmund Freud, Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis .England: Penguin Books, 1973.

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