Tilo’s Ceaseless Struggle for Identity: A Study in Chitra Banerjee’sThe Mistress of Spices

Abstract

The present research work basically focuses on theprotagonist’sceaseless strugglefor identity in the debut novel of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni,The Mistress of Spices. Tilo, the mistressof spices, has many disguises and names that reveal her multiple identities.Like aChameleon,she keepson changing throughout the novel. It makesclear how complex is the problem of identity crisisis. She, like other fellow Indians, has toundergothis identity crisis while trying getting herself adjusted in the foreign land. Accordingly, the narrator changes her name many times, from Nayan Tara to Bhagyavati to Tilottama and finally to Maya, the most appropriate name, since it means spell or enchantment. She has to change her identities many times in order to arrive at a final definition of selfhood. LikeMukherjee'sJasmine, whose name ever changes,Tilo, too,is presented asa nameless person.She begins her journey westward in her quest for newself. She undergoes different agonizing moments in her march towards the cherished goal of her life.