Bharati Mukherjeeoccupies a very important place among the diasporic writers.The circumstances of her birth, upbringing, education in India, marriage to a North American and her education and career on the American continent are the indispensable contexts to understand her fiction. Sheis a prominent Indian American immigrant novelist.
This paper aims to study how Bharati Mukherjee deals with a woman’s quest for identity in her novel Desirable Daughters.She presents the various circumstances in which an Indian woman faces identity crisis as a daughter, sister, wife, daughter-in-law, and as a mother in India and after immigration in America and how she deals with it.
Mukherjee’s novelDesirable Daughtersis a tale of Tara’s quest for her identity. …show more content…
He couldhave embodied every strain of Bengali beauty, wit, culture, athleticism and intelligence, but if my father had not selected him, he would forever be seen as wanting and pathetic (51).”
After marriage, a wife has to worship her husband. She is not supposed to call him by his name as per Indian tradition :
“I, of course, as a good Hindu wife-to-be, could not utter any of his (Tara’s husband0 names to his face (23).”
But as Tara moved to America, she tried to become progressive and loosened the traditional hold over herself :
“But we’re progressive people; after crossing the dark waters to California I called him (her husband Bishwapriya) Bishu, then Bish, and he didn’t flinch (23).” Soon after her marriage to Bish, Tara was taken to meet an aunt who was an example of an ideal Indian wife :
“My mother-in-law said, “….. she holds the bedpan under him. She cleans him with her own hands. And she has a master’s degree from the Delhi School of Economics. How many moderngirls are prepared to do that (83)?””
However educated an Indian girl might be, she is considered to be an ideal wife only when she serves her husband selflessly and unconditionally. After marriage, she has to devote herself to her husband and lead a life of endurance, loyalty and …show more content…
It is an examination of the search for meaning in one’s identity, relationships and values. Tara possesses many identities at one time, yet she seems comfortable with her multiplicity, which allows her the freedom to assimilate while at the same time retaining the aspects of Indian culture she wishes to preserve. This multiplicity is the new form of assimilation for this generation of South-Asian diasporic immigrants. Rather than transplanting Indian culture or disposing of it altogether, the current pattern appears to be reinventing the very notion of one’s culture as it bears on one’s
This paper aims to study how Bharati Mukherjee deals with a woman’s quest for identity in her novel Desirable Daughters.She presents the various circumstances in which an Indian woman faces identity crisis as a daughter, sister, wife, daughter-in-law, and as a mother in India and after immigration in America and how she deals with it.
Mukherjee’s novelDesirable Daughtersis a tale of Tara’s quest for her identity. …show more content…
He couldhave embodied every strain of Bengali beauty, wit, culture, athleticism and intelligence, but if my father had not selected him, he would forever be seen as wanting and pathetic (51).”
After marriage, a wife has to worship her husband. She is not supposed to call him by his name as per Indian tradition :
“I, of course, as a good Hindu wife-to-be, could not utter any of his (Tara’s husband0 names to his face (23).”
But as Tara moved to America, she tried to become progressive and loosened the traditional hold over herself :
“But we’re progressive people; after crossing the dark waters to California I called him (her husband Bishwapriya) Bishu, then Bish, and he didn’t flinch (23).” Soon after her marriage to Bish, Tara was taken to meet an aunt who was an example of an ideal Indian wife :
“My mother-in-law said, “….. she holds the bedpan under him. She cleans him with her own hands. And she has a master’s degree from the Delhi School of Economics. How many moderngirls are prepared to do that (83)?””
However educated an Indian girl might be, she is considered to be an ideal wife only when she serves her husband selflessly and unconditionally. After marriage, she has to devote herself to her husband and lead a life of endurance, loyalty and …show more content…
It is an examination of the search for meaning in one’s identity, relationships and values. Tara possesses many identities at one time, yet she seems comfortable with her multiplicity, which allows her the freedom to assimilate while at the same time retaining the aspects of Indian culture she wishes to preserve. This multiplicity is the new form of assimilation for this generation of South-Asian diasporic immigrants. Rather than transplanting Indian culture or disposing of it altogether, the current pattern appears to be reinventing the very notion of one’s culture as it bears on one’s