The Theme of Alienation in Kamala Markandaya’s Fiction Essay Example

when work is done with no hope of returns, it becomes as unprofitable as storing nectar in a sieve. When a man cannot centralize his hopes on any particular object or goal of life, they simply wear away and die. It is therefore, necessary that there should be no separation between man and his work, between endeavor and its effects, if man wishes to retain his human identity. Nathan is a tenant farmer who doesn't know any other work except farming and when he is compelled to leave his land he feels totally empty and dispossessed.

The news of the arrival of tannery makes Rukmani restless and she laments: Change I had before and it had been gradual. My father had been headman once, a person of consequence in our village. I had lived to see him relinquish this importance, but the alienation was so slow that we hardly knew when it came. I had seen both my parents sink into old age and death, and here too there was no violence. But the change that now came into my life, into all our lives, blasting its way into our village, seemed wrought in a twinkling of an eye. 1 Rukmani realizes the tannery will uproot them from their land .

When her son Arjun decides to go to Ceylon to work in a tea plantation; she dislikes the idea as she anticipates the family’s disintegration. She cries out:Two sons have gone, now the third is going and not to the land, which is in his blood, but to be a servant, which he has never been. What does he know of such work? 2 Rukmani’s fear

come true when Nathan tells her that they will have to leave the land as the tannery owners are buying their land. Nathan is deeply attached to the ancestral land . He has his roots deep in the soil and when he is uprooted from the land, he falls like an uprooted tree and cannot survive for long.

They are forced to live on the charity and shelter provided by the temple. Their last wish in this world is to save enough money to go home to their son. But Nathan’s weak body cannot survive and he passes away in Rukmani’s lap. Rukmani , however, lives on as her roots are in the soil, in her children and grandchildren. Thus Markandaya’s novel depicts the distress of the landless laborers when alienated from their soil and land . This proves that a man lives as long as his roots are unimpaired. Her next novel Possession deals with the theme of alienation in a different manner.

Lady Caroline purchases a young Indian artist Val in order to satisfy her physical and material craving. Thus he is alienated from his own people and uprooted from his own soil. Inspite of having all material comforts in England, his growth is marred. His paintings lost the feel and originality. The momentary exuberance of a materialistic life do not dry up the springs of traditional religious convictions so deeply ingrained in his soul. Finally spiritualism succeeds over materialism. He returns in his native land and dedicates his art to the divine spirit.

In A Handful of Rice, Kamala Markandaya presents hunger and poverty as the causes of alienation. Hunger and poverty affect the characters

psychologically and force Ravi to leave his village and parents in search of a respectable life in city. But soon he discovers that life for the poor is same everywhere: deprived, striving hard for skimpy wages and exploited by the rich. Disillusioned and alienated, he becomes a prey to the under world. By his good luck, he marries Nalini and join Apu’s tailoring but circumstances again shatter and disillusion him.

The sense of alienation is once again felt when he struggles to feed the entire family after Apu’s death. Jobless, unemployed and shattered by the death of his son, he once again seeks refuge in Damodar, who rejects him detecting him of no use. Go back to your village. It’s more your size, you are not fit for anything else. 3His integrity alienates him after this rejection and he finds that he has no strength to do anything as he is totally uprooted. The strength that had inflamed him, the strength of a suppressed laminated anger ebbed as quickly as it had risen. His hand dropped. 4

In The Nowhere Man Kamala Markandaya presents social conflict as the cause of alienation of the protagonist Srinivas. He settles himself in England and regards England as his native place. He tells Mrs. Pickering: This is my country now and again repeats, “My country. I feel at home in it, more so than I would in my own. ”5 But this feeling of belongingness is short- lived. The young men of England hold non- whites responsible for the economic depression and turn hostile towards them. His son Laxman, born and brought up in England, has also acquired the western ideas

and becomes selfish. He marries an English woman and leaves his parents.

Vasantha could not bear this shock of losing her son, and dies leaving her husband alone in this alien land. Srinivas realizes that he is now far gone to return to his homeland after 50 years stay in England when his roots are enfeebled, and he feels that he is lost and now he has nowhere to go. Nowhere, he said to himself, and he scanned the pale anxious eyes which were regarding him out, a nowhere man looking for a nowhere city. 6Throughout his life, he tries to reconcile himself in an alien culture. His efforts end miserably with his life when Fred and his associates set his house on fire.

Dr Radcliffe examining him for the last time says: He is dead and we have all had a hand in it. 7 Kamala Markandaya also presents some compensating characters like Kent, Dr, Radcliffe and Mrs Pickering who cared for Srinivas. Mrs. Pickering, a poor old divorcee, helps Srinivas in his emotional isolation. Commenting on The Nowhere Man, Dr. Assani observes: This novel treats of larger human relations rendering the work an interesting psychological study of human relationship as well as the of the essential loneliness. 8 In Some Inner Fury, Kamala Markandaya presents alienation by contrasting the opposite traits of Govind and Kitswamy.

Kit, being an Oxford return, totally alienates himself from the Indian way of life. His whole attitude to life is Anglicized whereas his adopted brother, Govind is deeply steeped in Indian culture and remains an alien to the society in which Kit moves. R. S Pathak in this regard point out

: Kit is a typical alienated person who is only a vine clinging to the British Raj having no individual identity of his own. 9 Kit’s alienation goes deep as he has imbibed the superficial aspects of western culture whereas his wife, Premala is deeply rooted in Indian soil and culture.

So she does not identify with Kit’s society and life style . So their relationship doesn’t fulfill the requisition of ideal husband- wife relationship. Govind’s alienation and rootlessness is the result of condescension attitude of Kit and his parents. The lava of revolt, that seems to be bubbling in Govind find its outlet in revolutionary activities. Kit’s wife Premala also suffer from identity crises. With her Indian roots, gentle unpretentious ways and deep disgust for the insensitive western culture, she is a misfit in Kit’s life. She drifts from her loneliness and finds fulfillment in her adopted daughter and her school.

The characters of Richard and Mirabai shows the mature balance between two cultures East and West. When the crunch comes Mira displays her dedication to the freedom movement and her people while Richard stays with his people. At the end both suffer from identity crises and suffer tragic consequences. Richard tries to adopt himself to an alien environment without dispensing with the rich sensibility of his culture. But soon he realizes that he is still an outsider. He said : It’s a terrible thing to feel unwanted. To be hated. 10 Mirabai, is a character closest to the author’s heart.

She is the centre of consciousness in the novel and the mistress of heightened sensibility and imaginative vigour. She chooses and imbibes all that is good

in the Western culture without letting go of her roots. In the later part of the novel, she suffers from a feeling of alienation from Richard and his people. The identity crises of Mira takes the form of the choices. Kamala Markandaya presents the choice as: Go? Leave the man I loved to go with these people? What did they mean to me, what could they mean, more than the man I loved? They were my people those others were his.

Did it mean something then, all this ‘your people’ and ‘ my people’ . Or did it have its being and gain its strength from ceaseless repetition? They are nothing to you , cried my heart. Nothing, nothing. If you go now, there will be no meaning in anything anymore. But that –stark illuminated moment –of madness, of sanity- went , and I know I would follow these people even as I knew Richard must stay. For us there was no other way, the forces that pulled us apart were too strong. 11 Finally she chooses to go with her people and there by resolving her identity crises and feeling of alienation.

In Two Virgins the lure for modernization results in alienation of the characters. Lalitha is more beautiful than her sister Saroja. She desires to be modern and become a film star. She moves to the city to fulfill her dreams. Lalitha , who is lured by the glamour of the modern world becomes a prey to the hands of Mr. Gupta, the film director, who exploits her sexually. Disillusioned and pregnant, she comes back to her village. She tries to commit suicide but is

saved by Saroja. Inspite of these bitter experiences, she leaves her parents for good, as she could not resist the colourful temptation of the modern life.

Amma, Appa and Saroja tried in vain to find her . On the contrary, Saroja yearns for her village, which spells for her security and familiarity. She learns from her sister’s experiences and strengthens her resolution to stay in the village. She is firm and steadfast and does not move before the masculine allurements in the form of Devraj or Chingleput. Thus, Lalitha is alienated and uprooted from the village because she cannot fix her roots in the village whereas Soraja because of her firm determination and will power strengthens her roots firmly, in her soil.

Markandaya’s next novel The Golden Honeycomb presents the uprooting of the cruel English rulers in India. They were uprooted because they were unable to identify themselves with the Indian people. They created a gulf of masters and slaves between them. Although Bawajiraj’s roots are firmly fixed- slowly but surely he gets alienated from his people as he becomes a puppet in the hands of the British rulers and imposes taxes on his people . Rabi, his son opposes his father Bawajiraj because his mother Mohini inflames fire of patriotism in him. Usha accompanies and inspires him in this battle.

The resentment in him and the anger of the people takes the form of demonstration and a pitched battle can be seen between the crowd and the police. The final scenes show the gradual slipping of the British power, and of their mistakes. The British are finally uprooted with the assimilation of the States into the Republic

of India in 1947. In all these novels we see how certain forces working in the universe cause the rootlessness and alienation of man . It is the strong will power and determination of man that can save him from alienation. This theme has a universal appeal in the context of the modern world.