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EXPOSITIONS OF EXPATRIATE ENCUMBRANCE IN UMA PARAMESHWARAN'S ROOTLESS BUT GREEN ARE THE BOULEVARD TREES
(PSGR Krishnammal College for Women, Coimbatore, 2011-04) Lavanya S
Uma Parameswaran was born and brought up in India and currently lives in Winnipeg. She received her Master of Arts Degree and Diploma in Journalism from Nagpur University, a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from Indiana University and a Ph.D from Michigan State University. She has been working as a faculty for three decades at the University of Winnipeg. She has written several plays, poems and several scholarly books on post colonial literature. Uma Parameswaran, a multifaceted personality has won several awards and acclaims for her literary and scholarly pursuits. This paper focuses on elucidating the dilemma of dislocations, an awareness of being an alien in a particular society with the lived experience of immigrants. Uma Parameswaran’s work tries to give a positive orientation in ascertaining the identity of the dislocated rather hyphenated individual, to use her own words it is seeing a half-filled glass of water as, “half full or half empty.” In the process of psychological adaptation the immigrant finds himself in a paradoxical situation of convergence and divergence between two cultures. Rootless but Green are the Boulevard Trees was published in 1987 but the play is set in 1979. This poignant play dramatizes the life of an Indian immigrant family in Winnipeg struggling to balance between their tradition, culture, nostalgia and assimilative tendency. Sharad and Savitri are nostalgic for their past and often wonder whether they would feel at home in their adopted country. Daughter Jyoti has a white boy friend Andre and their son Jayant is planning for a trip to Montreal with his friends. Sharad’s sister Veejala resigns her job as the Professor at the University and announces that she is going back to India leaving her family at Winnipeg. Vithal her son feels alienated and is a member of extremist Indian politics. Jayant answers the existential anguish of all the characters in the play; the plight of being rootless in an alien soil is answered through his philosophy. He says: Yeah, rootless. Let’s face it, Jesus, no one, but no one has roots anywhere because that’s the way things are in 1979b A.D. But we can stand tall, man, and live each day for all its goddamned worth and ours. (54-55)
DILEMMA OF THE DISPLACED: BHARATHI MUKHERJEE’S DESIRABLE DAUGHTERS
(Nirmala College for Women, Coimbatore, 2012-03) Lavanya S
Bharati Mukherjee, a critically acclaimed author who has established herself as a renowned writer and has projected the cultural confusion and confrontation of a multi-racial society with precision. The expatriate writers portray a multi-cultural situation which is combined with existential anguish due to identity crisis. The protagonist, who suffers a sense of loss in the hostile social environment, ceaselessly struggles and then at last anticipating change starts the process of reaffirming her native identity. The diasporic situation has created rich possibilities for the understanding of various histories. Their cultural imperatives, interacting with the unknown forces of the new world, create a drama of collaborations of various cultures which the story teller has recorded in the novel.
ECO – MARXIST READING OF MICHAEL ONDAATJE’S IN THE SKIN OF A LION
(Dept of English PSGR Krishnammal College, 2013) S, Lavanya
Eco criticism the latest contemporary literary hermeneutics has assimilated into its trajectory Marxist literary and cultural criticism. The industrial revolution let to the capitalist movement wherein nature and human life is regulated by political control. Environment and the proletariat are exploited by the capitalist mode of production and have been brutally destructed by the authoritative regime which considers environment and human life from a utilitarian and materialistic perspective. In the political modernity “bios’ – environment and ecology is the core of capitalist mode of regulation which becomes key categories of political economy. Environmental crisis arises due to amassing of the green regime- the sustainable energy that vitalizes planetary life. Michael Ondatjee’s In the Skin of a Lion is a historical, literary and cultural text when dealt with a rigorous eco- Marxist analysis reveals the bio-political history of capitalism. Eco criticism deals with the problem that human beings encounter in relation to the environment or milieu in which they live; the environment could be natural or artificial – a city which is constructed by destroying the natural ecosystem. The novel historicizes the creation and development of the city of Toronto in 1920’s. The city comes into being after the destruction of the forest ecosystem, loss of life of the anonymous poor immigrant laborers who are employed in the construction of the landmarks of Toronto city. Thematically the novel is categorized Postcolonial and structurally as postmodern. This paper attempts to bring ecological concerns and immigrant’s status as outsiders under a common platform.
THE REALM OF NATURE IN DORIS LESSING’S SHORT STORIES “THE OLD CHIEF MSHLANGA” AND “FLIGHT”
(tiNai, the ecocritical initiative of OSLE India, 2013-02-12) A, Dhanalakshmi
Nonagenarian and Nobel Laureate of 2007, Doris Lessing’s love for the landscape of Africa is evident from her works. She grew up I Zimbabwe and many of her works has Africa as its background. Sha as a child spent most of her time in the veld and is familiar with the creatures of it and that impact is seen in her fictional world. Her fertile imagination has nature in the background and her encounter with the animals is avidly portrayed in her works. The landscape she describes adds beauty to her works. The short story The Old Chief Mshlanga is a short story about the white girl who changes her misconceptions about the natives after meeting the tribal leader. The conflict between the ruler and ruled is beautifully portrayed with the background of the farm. The other story Flight tells the mind of an aging grandfather who does not want to part with his last granddaughter and is compared with soaring birds only to return home in the night. Lessing to portray the affinity of man with nature has vividly used nature and animals in her short stories.
‘ERIKSON’S PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT – IDENTITY FORMATION IN UMA PARAMESWARAN’S MANGOES ON THE MAPLE TREE.’
(Dept of English PSGR Krishnammal College, 2014-01) S, Lavanya
The paper proposes to apply Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development to analyze the confusions related to identity creation and formation of enduring relationships among young adults. Uma Parameswaran is a Canadian writer of the Indian diaspora. The novel Mangoes on the Maple Tree portrays the personal and social travails faced by second generation Indo-Canadians in the process of identity creation. The novel provides an in depth psychological study of youngsters as they cross the adolescent stage and become young adults. Uma Parameswaran is a Professor of English at the University of Winnipeg, Canada. She published SACLIT An Introduction to South Asian Canadian Literature in 1996. The work contains a collection of essays written between 1982- 1992 and focuses on the South Asian diaspora in Canada. The ethical constrain between two cultural constructs causes highest degree of sensitivity in the formation of human relationship. Erickson’s theory describes the impact of social experience in the development of personality.
TRADITION AND PROGRESSION IN TSITSI DANGAREMBGS’S NERVOUS CONDITIONS
(Vergal Publication, Vol II, 2016-09) P, Lincy; A, Dhanalakshmi
Tradition and Progression are complementary to each other. Tradition guides the posterity to lead a life filled with moral and values. Progression creates an identity for an individual in the society. Tsitsi Dangarembga, a Rhodesian writer, graduated in Medicine and Psychology founded expression in writing novels. Her novels Nervous Conditions (1998) and its sequel The Book of Not (2006) heralded her arrival to the literary world. Her novel Nervous Conditions portrays this aspect of how eventhough following strict traditional norms, the protagonist. Tambu has progressed in her life. Victor H. Vroom’s Expectancy Theory of Motivation stands as an aid to explain the process of progression in the protagonist Tambu’s life.
FATHER-SON RELATIONSHIP AS PORTRAYED IN CHAIM POTOK’S THE CHOSEN
(Vergal Publication, 2016-09) S, Sanjana; A, Dhanalakshmi
A novelist and Rabbi, Chaim Potok was born in 1929, in the New York City.He graduated in English Literature and later received his Ph.D in philosophy from the university of Pennsylvania. He penned nearly nine novels and his first novel is The Chosen. Relationship is an important bond in life that evokes varied feelings like love, hatred, joy and anger. Among the many relationships. Father-Son relationship is an important one in man’s life. It is pure and the father wishes to make his progenies as his soul representative that he will leave in the world after his death. This paper aims to highlight the father-son relationship as portrayed in the novel The Chosen. This novel brings out the two types of fathers, one using language to communicate and the other communicating through silence. Judee K Burgoon’s Expectancy Violaitons Theory helps to analyse the aspect of silence that prevails betweent eh protagonists and his father.
"NATURE” MAN’S PANACEA – A STUDY ON DORIS LESSING’S SHORT STORY “THE NUISANCE”
(The Women Press, Delhi, 2020) Dhanalakshmi A
Man in his greed to possess the world is ravaging the nature of her beauty. His insatiable thirst is exhausting the earth and many writers have cried about stopping this madness but to no avail. The 2007 Noble Prize winner Doris Lessing to points at this ravaging nature of man in many of her works. In the short story “The Nuisance” she portrays the plight of a marginalized woman like that of nature who is in need of help. The cry of both women and nature is not heard and the article portrays the plight of both.