S. Azariah Kirubakaran, Hephzibah S
During the time
when British ruled over India, Lord Macaulay played a pivotal role in framing
the Educational Policy of India, in order to colonize the mind and soul of the
Indians. Anita Desai in her novels brings out these type of Macaulay’s people
who had fallen prey to the colonizer’s hidden agenda. This
paper intends to focus on the colonial impact that continues to manifest itself
among the nativesin myriad forms, even after seventy four years of freedom. As
Homi K Bhaba rightly points out, the colonizers allure and influence the
natives to mimic their lifestyle and way of life resulting in ambivalence and
mimicry. This paper explores on this aspect, from Anita Desai’s novel titled,
Fasting, Feasting, in which the head of the family, Papa is trained from his
childhood to imitate the western way of life. Thereby he just lives a
hypocritical dissatisfied life, which not only affects him but also the people
around him and the society at large. The paper also explores Anita Desai’s portrayal
of such ambivalent characters, through which she simultaneously highlights people
who remained unpretentious and true to their tradition. The paper concludes
byemphasising on the need to hold on to the roots of one’s tradition and
celebrate the aura of authenticity that is in harmony with the native idiom in
all its splendour.
Macaulay’s people, hegemony, mimicry, ambivalence,hypocritical
life, traditional living
VOL.13, ISSUE No.3, September 2021