A Critical Study of the Prejudiced Portrayal of Oedipus and Electra Complex in Anitha Desai’s Cry, the Peacock & Voices in the City
Journal Title: International Journal of English and Literature (IJEL) - Year 2017, Vol 7, Issue 5
Abstract
The prime responsibility of Literature is to hold a mirror to nature. Serious writers concern themselves with the serious aspects of human nature. The psychic state of man and woman had always been artistically articulated by writers for centuries now. Anita Desai, in particular, should be given the credit for adding a new dimension to the Indian writing in English by shifting the attention of the writers from outer occurrences to the inner state of being. Her novels are psychological novels and are written to explore the terror of human existence. To depict lone individuals facing singlehandedly the ferocious assaults of existence was her literary mission. In her earnest efforts to achieve her mission, she could not hold her breath for the fear of arresting or directing that the natural likeness of the characters as Henry James expects. K. R. Srinivasa Iyangar points it out very gently when he says that Anita Desai is surer with her female Characters like Maya, Monisha, Sita or Nanda Kaul than with her male characters. But any serious reader of Anita Desai would tell that the author marginalizes men in order to help her women shine in contrast. Oedipus and Electra are complexes exposing the psychic abnormalcy of the male and the female. Desai’s portrayal imparts semblance of virtue to one and vice to the other. Father fixation brings out the love and affection of Maya and makes her look more lovable and more and more human. But, the Mother fixation brings out the brute in the man, Nirode of Voices in the City and makes him look less and less human. This gender bias in Anita Desai is the subject of study in this article.
Authors and Affiliations
R. Ravi
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