TRAUMA IN WOMEN IN ANITA DESAI'S NOVELS

Abstract

Anita Desai is one of the leading novelists of Indian writing in English. She has written more than half-a-dozen novels and she portrays the plight of an intelligent, sensitive middle-class married woman in her novels. These women do not find any pleasure in marriage, for, they are married to insentive and uncaring men. It is obvious that a marriage succeeds only when the man and woman are complementary to each other. It is this aspect of marriage that Mrs Desai highlights in her novels like "In Custody," "Voices in the City", "Bye, Bye, Blackbird": "Cry, the Peacock" etc. Such women undergo a lot of mental suffering and often end up as neurotics. The novelist has traced the descent of these women into a trauma in a graphic manner, making use of Images and symbols in the process. Trauma is an emotional shock following a stressful event. It also leads to long-term neurosis. This paper attempts to highlight the plight of Mrs.Desai's heroines focusing particularly on Maya, the heroine of "Cry, the Peacocok". Sarala, the central character in "In Custody, and Monisha the Chief protagonist in "Voices of the City". Maya, who is the wife of Gautam, is an over-protected child. She is suffering from the fear of death, father-obsession etc. She is very disappointed when she finds that her husband does not understand her. She wilts under the pressure of marital discord and loses her mental equilibrium. Monisha, the central character of "Voices in the City" becomes an incurable victim of claustrophobia when she is misunderstood by her family. Sarala, the wife of Deven in "In Custody" becomes a victim of loneliness for, she is unable to understand her husband Deven. She is stone-faced. All these women are sensitive and intelligent. But they find no harmony in marriage thus ruining themselves, This article attempts to analyse how these women who are all from middle-class background end up as failures in life.