Ambivalent Identity in Anita Desai’s Voices in the City

Abstract

The present research analyses Anita Desai’s Voices in the City from the cultural ambivalence and cultural imperialism aspects. Anita Desai’s Voices in the City(1964)is about the story of an archetypal Indian protagonist Nirode and his family. It discusses on the issues of the remains of colonization and impact of British imperialism during the transitional phase of the socio-cultural and socio-political situation of Indian society that reflects ambivalent identity of the protagonist and other characters as well. Brought up in Indian society with English environment, Nirode isa colonial subject who distinctly observes the city of Calcutta and tends to escape from such cultural ten dencies of modern Indian cultures and the British cultures which cause his identity ambivalent. Nirode’s position as victims and resistant to both cultures, his subject is determined a midst the socio-cultural, socio-economic and socio-political power relations played by both British and Indian institutional cultural values and practices of the transitional phase of Indian society that creates ambivalent identity in the life of the protagonist and other characters which happen saround the city of Calcutta.