Transformation of Identity and Cross-cultural Encounter in Anita Desai's Bye Bye Blackbird and Ruth PrawerJhabvala'sHeat and Dust

Abstract

The transformation of identity in Anita Desai’s Bye-Bye Blackbird and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’sHeat and Dustthrough the study of cross-cultural encounter is the main thrust of this dissertation. Desai’s novel Bye-Bye Blackbird explores the transformation of identity and cross-cultural encounter, the simultaneous attraction and repulsion of Indian immigrants to the west. Desai captures the hope and despair, pain and suffering and agony of the Indian immigrants. Similarly, Jhabvala in her novel Heat and Dust maps the cross- cultural encounter through multi-cultural and multi-focal inter-relationships of the European migrants. Desai and Jhabvala effectively unfold the socio-cultural sterility of India and Europe respectively. Through a host of uprooted and alienated characters from their original homeland, Desai and Jhabvala beautifully observe the predicaments of these outsiders in an alien Indian culture and European culture. Olivia in Heat and Dust, Adit in Bye-Bye Blackbird try to replace their haunting past by the meaningful present, but most of the time they fail to materialize their dream. In Jhabvala’s and Desai's novels, Heat and Dust andBye-Bye Blackbird,both have explored the themes of immigrants about their cross-cultural marriage, love-hate relation and psychological effect within Indian and European culture. Jhabvala and Desai’s attempt is to visualize the differences about on the social, political and cultural fronts where they wanted to be merged with Europe and India but the thought of their Europeanness and Indianness never left them, which ultimately leads their characters to be in crisis of their identity in alien culture.In this regard, both the novels are sharing the common sets of issues of cultural clash and quest for identity, which is the main concern of this dissertation.