Valorization of Subaltern Historiography in Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

Abstract

This thesis is a critical discussion of Arundhati Roy’s novel The Ministry of Utmost Happiness from the perspective of subaltern historiography. With the help of the reference from the text, the researcher finds Arundhati Roy challenging the mainstream official history and bringing the subaltern life as the subject matter. The major characters of the fiction belong to the dominated class: Anjum is a transgender character who is sexually marginalized; Saddam Hussain is marginalized due to his lower class. Tilottama is a semi-autobiographical exemplary subaltern character who is straightforward in making decisions of her life instead of living a dominated life. Roy brings various references from the history of Gujrat Riot, Assassination of Indira Gandhi, 9/11 attack, Kashmir insurgency and relates it to the organic life of civil society. She also presents various news reports and data regarding the problems faced by working class during Kashmir insurgency. She also brings various Hindu myths and poems in the fiction while describing the life of the subalterns. She takes along various news reports and data within the fiction making her work more authentic and trustworthy. She provides an alternative angle to view the history from the perspective of margins. It also concerns the national hegemony acted during Kashmir insurgency. The narration is in a fragmented form which is related to a fragmented life of subalterns. Hence, this fiction brings the issue of those shadowed subalterns that are neglected in the official history and calls for the inclusive historiography with the proper position for subalterns.