This paper explores the connection between diaspora and Indian literary fiction, focusing on themes of identity, culture, and displacement. It analyzes how diasporic literature reflects authors’ experiences of estrangement and the search for self-identity, examining the influence of socio-political and cultural factors on these narratives and their exploration of homesickness and patriotism.
The term Diaspora is derived from the Greek word “diaspeire” which refers to the act of dispersing or spreading seeds (Anand,2010). Diaspora is the term used to describe the scattering of a population from their native land. It defines those people who relocate from their area and establish themselves in a foreign country. While residing in the new place they frequently engage in discussions with their homeland, thereby preserving and disseminating their cultural, ethnic, and identity aspects of various geographical regions (Anand,2010). Whereas Diasporic Literature refers to the works that are written by the author who lived outside their homeland. In Diasporic Literature author is distinguished by feelings of estrangement, longing for the past, solitude, quest for self-identity, and perpetual uprooting of one’s being. Diasporic works explore the emotional experiences of emigrants and centre on the lives of immigrants, delving into their inner and outer struggles in an unfamiliar territory (Dubey, 2003).
The chief characteristic feature of this literature is the quest for identities, culture and ethnicity. This paper also explores the theme of the identity of the diasporic writer in their literary work what the changes affect the writing due to geographical change and how immigration affects the writing of the author. The Theme of identity’ has become an important question to be studied in the last few decades, especially in the diasporic literature. This article explores the theme of identity, culture and ethnicity and the concept of self-identity on a deeper level within the parameters of literary analysis and further examines how it changes across locations in the contexts in these texts based on a different geographical change. In Indian Diasporic fiction, the question of identity has received much attention concerning writers such as Anita Desai, Bharati Mukherjee, Amitav Ghost, Anita Nair, Jhumpa Lahiri Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and many others.
METHODOLOGY
The methodology of a research work pertains to the analytical framework deployed to analyse the literary texts at hand through the research lens. Therefore, the paper proposes to use a sociological lens for this research. These approaches have been chosen to locate the selected texts in their social, political and cultural background so that texts cannot be understood in isolation from their larger socio-political realities. This article will look at the social, historical, political and cultural factors that affect the depiction of literary writing and the feeling of homesickness, patriotism and the missing identity that is visible in the writing of Diasporic writers. This paper will also analyse how the voice of the Author has been represented in the literary work chosen for the study. The research seeks to deploy a multi-dimensional approach by exploring the influence of literature, history, and politics on the understanding of the theme of identity. This paper focuses on the analysis of Indian Diasporic Literary Fiction in English. The primary work of this paper is on some of the prominent 21st-century writers, namely Anita Desai’s ‘Bye Bye Black Bird’, Jumpha Lahiri’s ‘The Namesake’ and Bharati Mukherjee (Jasmine). With these texts, this study will analyse the representation of themes of identity, culture and ethnicity.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature related to the Indian diaspora is very popular nowadays and the current Indian works in English extensively depict various challenges arising from migration and diaspora, such as dislocation, fragmentation, racial discrimination, marginalisation, identity conflicts, and cultural clashes. These are the themes that are highlighted in this paper. Diasporic Literature holds a significant position in the literary domain due to its portrayal of cultural dilemmas, the search for identity, multiculturalism, and the universal qualities of human existence (Mandal, 2015). It represents the merging of several cultures and the change in the culture happens due to the change in the location. On the other hand, the identity of the person never becomes the same it changes due to various reasons and it changes mainly due to the change in experience. The Latin word “Idem” which means the same or continuity is where the word identity comes from. The social role, personal traits, and aware self-images are all part of the term. The real me is there. It’s going through all of the Diasporic work.
Diasporic literature explores the identities formed in multiple places, languages, religions and cultures of Homeland and Host land ( Rayaprol, 1997), Indian diasporic writing has taken on a new identity as it adapts to new cultures and becomes more accepted in the chosen country. Diaspora brings together people of different languages, cultures, and ways of thinking, creating what Homi Bhabha called a hybridist(Prinz, 2019). So, this paper also represents the author’s experience thought literary writing and mentions the reason why the identity of the protagonist varies due to the different experiences that impacted the culture and ethnicity. The scattered population exhibits a sense of cultural belongingness. Throughout history, individuals have relocated in pursuit of improved prospects. Diasporic author absorbs the ideals of their homeland and integrates into the surrounding area where they live. They experience a division in their thoughts, which they must integrate. Initially, numerous obstacles arise in their journey, but finally, they make a significant impression on their environment (Mandal, 2015).
While shifting from one place to another, not only food habits, clothes, living style, and language transform, but a complete identity transition takes place due to the change in their social culture and geography. This Hybridity and multiculturalism create a new path of change. Through the new experience, their literary work becomes more unique and the works of diaspora writers relate to multiple dimensions like the loss of inheritance, tradition, hybrid cultures, the pain of unbelonging, alienation, estrangement and isolation. In this regard, famous Indian Diasporic writer in English like V.S. Naipaul, Salman Rushdie, Bharati Mukherjee, Anita Desai, Chitra Divakaruni, Meena Alexander, Jhumpa Lahiri and many others, explores problems and possibilities engendered by the experience of migrant and diaspora life. This paper aims to look at the literary change that happened due to to demonstrate that the study of diasporic literature is both an analytical category and also an understanding of the conflicts related to Identity, Culture, and Ethnicity that are emphasised in the chosen novels Anita Desai’s ‘Bye Bye Black Bird’, Jumpha Lahiri’s ‘The Namesake’ and Bharati Mukherjee (Jasmine). Diasporic Indian writing in English is characterised by its diversity and complexity, emphasising intercultural linkages rather than being a uniform and homogeneous genre. There are a lot of different sociocultural identities, cultural practices, regional identities, settlement patterns, and socioeconomic changes in this writing, which makes it very different (Rayaprol, 1997). The Indian diaspora is very diverse, which gives diasporic writers a lot of material to use in their writing to explore national identity and racial differences.
In diasporic literature, writers bring their characters’ feelings of not having a place to call home and their efforts to straddle culture with their characters. This is reflected in the work of Diasporic writers, just like in the novel ‘The Satanic Verses’ by Salman Rushdie in which he uses the method genre to talk about migration by using figures of speech in this work protagonist represents the two identities and changes take place simultaneously whereas Chitra Banerjee Divakuruni in her book ‘The Mistress of Spices’ makes the main character, Tilo in to a foreign who show the pain of migration though this character author is representing the homesickness and inheritance, hybrid cultures, pain of unbelonging. The Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh shows how rootless a character can feel who was born and raised in a faraway land. In his book Afternoon Raag, Amit Chaudhari writes about the lives of Indian students at Oxford.
These writers also showed the good things about being moved. There are some good things about being a migrant, like the chance to see things from two different points of view and experience different cultural styles. Second generation diasporic Indian writers like Meera Syal, Shashi Tharoor, Hari Kunzru, Sunetra Gupta, Jhumpa Lahiri, etc. have faithfully demonstrated the lives of both the first and 2nd eras. This advantage makes it easier for Diasporic Indians, especially those from the second generation, to deal with having two identities at the same time A lot of second-generation Indian writers, like Meera Syal, Shashi Tharoor, Hari Kunzru, Sunetra Gupta, Jhumpa Lahiri, and others, have written about the lives of both first-and second-generation refugees (Singhvi, 2017).
Now I will focus on the Primary work of this article by analysing the literary text of the Indian Diasporic writing. The theme of identity, Culture and Ethnicity in the work of Anita Desai’s ‘Bye-Bye Black Bird’ Anita Desai looks at the idea of identity from the point of view of a person’s social, cultural and national identity. The main characters of the novel Adit, Dev, and Sarah all have fractured psyches because they define themselves by a small part of who they are and what’s going on around them while ignoring or hiding many other parts of who they are in different parts of their lives. Desai is known for how she writes about immigration, separation, and loneliness. There are three parts to the book. First is Arrival, then Discovery, and finally Recognition Departure. Dev has come to England to go to college. He moves in with Adit and Sarah. He gets angry when he sees Indians being slandered in public or private places. In the second part, they change and start to enjoy the country’s beauty. In part three, Adit, who was once happy living in England, starts to miss his home country.
Desai shows the struggle of people who can’t protect their ethnic roots and try to make new roots in a foreign land, but end up being unable to connect with their roots. Dev has an identity problem in the book because his ideal picture of England is very different from the real England that he sees. The strange atmosphere of English life threatens Dev’s basic sense of self-worth and honour. As he lives on the edge of life in England, without a family, a job, or a way to join the elite group of cosmopolitanism and internationalism, he turns to his Indian heritage. As a writer, can understand how the author’s mind works by comparing how much he likes many things about English life to how frustrated and angry he is getting, which he lets out through his England-bashing from his safe and stable Indian identity that no one can take away from him. England failed to live up to his standards and accept him as a person, so he is unconsciously getting back at them. Theme of identity in the work of Jumpha Lahiri’s ‘The Namesake’ Jhumpa Lahiri is one the known personalities in Female writing in the Indian Diaspora. She wrote about an immigrant in different parts of the world. Through the character of Ashima in The Namesake, she has shown how the Diaspora can be homeless, moved around, and feel alone. To show how immigrants think and act, she looks at her character’s problems, worries, and attitudes.
The book is about Ashok and Ashima Ganguli, two first generation refugees from Kolkata, West Bengal, India, to the United States, and their children Gogol and Sonia, who were born in the United States. The novel’s title shows Gogol’s fight. Gogol is the son of Ashok and Ashima. They are Indian and moved to the United States to find their place in the society where Gogol was born and raised with his strange name. In this work, Lahiri mentions Indian culture and tradition and how the protagonist tries to follow in the US. In India, names do mean something. India has a lot of rules about how to name a child. Indian kids usually have two names: one that they use at home and one that they get permission to use. Domestic names are for family, neighbours, and close friends. Gogol feels stuck between the country where he was born (the United States) and the country where his parents were born (India). To keep ties with their home country, his father works hard to teach their children the principles of that country. Gogol is becoming more like the people and ways of life in his home country. His home country doesn’t fully accept him either, and he has to keep figuring out his national identity while moving back and forth between the two. He finds that he is pretty much an outsider in both countries. There he is an American, and here he is an Indian. Over time, he slowly learns that his name is unique, which will cause problems with his identity as he gets older.
In her book, “The Namesake” Lahiri writes about expatriates who are tormented by two cultures: their home country and the country they have moved to. The second generation of diaspora goes through some cultural displacement, a sense of being in-between, and a sense of hybridity. Gogol is full of worries about his parents, who haven’t been able to fit in with life after adoption yet. Ashok and Ashima Ganguli, along with their children Gogol and Sonia, live abroad and are always switching between the past and the present. The novel probes into the inner psyche of characters and brings out a stirring and teasing sense of identity through the clash of cultures. Theme of identity in the work of Bharati Mukherjee’s “Jasmine” “Jasmine” is a story about an Indian woman. It starts with her birth and her early years in a small village in India. In addition, it talks about her move to America and how hard it was for her to find herself and become an American. After the prediction comes true, Jasmine goes on, showing that the stars have moved and the heroine is getting strong enough to change from a weak, submissive Indian wife to a strong, independent Indo-American woman who lives mostly in the present and doesn’t worry about the past or the future. When she gets married to Prakash, he changes her name to Jasmine. As soon as Jasmine gets to the United States, she stops being shy and puts on a cool T-shirt, tight cords, and running shoes. As her clothes change, so does the society. Due to the changes her uniqueness starts to fade always She goes from being a “visible minority” to being just another foreigner with this change.
The main character’s change of identity from Jyoti to Jasmine to Jane to Jase shows the end of one Image and the beginning of a new one, which is a good thing. It is hard to get to know Jasmine’s true self because she changes so quickly from one event to the next that her identity is hard to pin down. The broken pitcher is brought up over and over again, which represents the deaths of Jasmine’s different selves. When Jasmine talks to Dr. Mary Webb, she says that as a Hindu, she believes in rebirth, but that it means different things at different times. She has seen how the Indian refugee’s lives are pointless and how they have to hide their Indian heritage. In general, the book shows how strong a woman can be to fight and adjust to life in the brave new world, not how bad immigration is. To sum up, Long Jam Monika Devi says that Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine is Jasmine’s journey toward finding her true identity. Her trip to America is part of her search for who she is. Even when the main character faces problems, learns about herself, creates a new identity, and ends her old life. Transformations called metamorphoses have been used by Mukherjee in Jasmine’s life as she looks for her true self.
CONCLUSION
This study sheds light on the deep theme of identity in Indian Diasporic Literary Fiction by looking into the complicated relationship between migration and literature. Diasporic literature explores the emotional experiences of immigrants, focusing on their inner and outer battles in new places. It is marked by feelings of isolation, longing, and a constant search for self-identity. The key idea of this study is how important the theme of “identity” is in diasporic writing, especially in the works of well-known writers like Anita Desai, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Bharati Mukherjee. The study used a sociological view to look at works like “Bye Bye Black Bird,” “The Namesake”, and “Jasmine.” It looked at how social, political, and cultural factors affected how homesickness and patriotism were portrayed, as well as how these things affected the identity of writers who had moved to different places. The literature review focused on the variety and complexity of Indian diasporic writing, showing the problems that come up because of movement, being moved, identity conflicts, and cultural clashes. A thematic study of chosen works showed how characters’ identities changed over time and how moving to a new place affected their cultural and ethical ties. Diasporic writing has helped us learn more about ideas like hybridity, multiculturalism, and the search for identity that everyone has. In the end, this study adds to the larger conversation about diasporic writing by focusing on how identity, culture, and ethnicity are shown in a variety of ways. In these chosen works, there are powerful examples of how literature shows how complicated life is, showing how identities change as a result of movement, cultural mixing, and the search for a sense of belonging in a circumscribed setting.
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