Twentieth century has many developments like technology, literature, education, environment, etc... India is one of the developing countries in the world. It has wonderful growth and development in that century. Fancy and technology improve people and their lifestyle. Education is the main aspect for the development. World cannot shine without human beings. Women are creatures of all. They do not get freedom like men, because of culture and tradition. In that century they get freedom to education. It gives knowledge and reality about the world. Thus they start to come out from home. India is the mother of tradition and culture. They are main reason for family system. A woman has many roles like mother, wife, sister, etc... She is the pillar of home, but she has minimal place in India. Still some people think they should not do anything without the permission of men. It clearly shows male domination society in India.
Anita Desai was born in 24 June 1937. She is an Indian novelist. As a writer she has been shortlisted for the booker prize three times. She received Sahitya Academy award in 1978 for her novel Fire on the Mountain from the Sahitya Academy of letters. She won the British Guardian prize for the Village by the Sea. She began to write in English at the age of seven and published her first story at the age of nine. Kiran Desai is the daughter of her. Clear light of Day was her autobiographical work as it is set during her coming of age and also in the same neighborhood in which she grew up. Anita Desai’s fiction depicts the contemporary India. In the fiction of Anita Desai, the renowned writer of the contemporary India, the patriarchal culture and the personal conflict of identity of women of Indian society have taken new shape. She clearly portrays in her fiction family, society which bring both people and place luminously alive involving the skill of shitting views of past and current and also she competently illustrates the unaltered real nesses of the Indian society in the subtlest way. Psychological development of characters is the basic crux which dominates almost all the works of Desai while making her characters to stand apart. She is definitely one the Indian writers who with their pen tried to alter the clichéd dogmas of the contemporary society. Her novels portray the failed marriage relationship which often leads to alienation and loneliness of the characters causing the emergence of nuclear families. Throughout her novels, Desai focuses on personal struggles and problems of contemporary nuclear life that her Indian character must cope up with. She portrays the cultural and social transformation that India has undergone as she presents her focus on incredible power of family and society and the relationship among family members and paying close attention to the trails of women suppressed by Indian society.
Anita desai, in her novels mainly explorers the emotional world of women, revealing a rare imaginative awareness of various deeper forces at work and a profound understanding of feminine sensibility as well as psychology. She sets herself to voice the mute miseries and helplessness of millions of married women tormented by existentialist problems and predicaments. She is concerned with the problems faced by her protagonists. Her serious concern is the journey within her central characters mostly being women. She portrays the inner conflicts of her characters and also underlines their individuality and quest for freedom.
Cry the Peacock is the first novel of Anita Desai. It was published in 1963. Through the novel she became trend-setter in feminist writing. Here Anita desai portrays hyper-sensitive and cultural Maya. She is the victim of many social and psychological predicaments. In this novel first chapter opens with the death of dog ‘Toto’. It is the pet animal to Maya. She has no person to share her feelings and affection. So she closely attached with dog. When it dies, she could not bear it. She feels like death of her own family members. Gautama who is the husband of Maya, does not feel about it, it shows Indian women characteristic and their situation. Other country women do not feel for the death of dog. In second chapter Maya watches a group of birds, while she remembers her family. Her father is a lawyer who gives luxurious life to her. He fills the desires of Maya. This is another atmosphere and creates the family impact to Maya. A bird family reminds Maya’s family. It shows that she is an Indian woman. In fourth chapter Gautama and Maya go to the party arranged by friend of Gautama. Maya comes out from room to enjoy the party but Gautama does not allow her among men. It shows the male domination in India. In fifth chapter Arjuna who is the elder brother of Maya introduced in the novel. He is totally different person in her family. He needs freedom from home. He moves his life as he wishes. It shows Indian men allow to go anywhere. In the same time people would not allow women to survey. In the seventh chapter she comes out from all the sorrows and tries to mingle with her family. She welcomes her husband in pleasant manner and asked about the court scene of that day. Later they go to upstairs, unfortunately Gautama falls down and he died. Again Maya mentally suffers because of the death. Even horoscope and time play a role in the life of Maya.
Diaspora happens only in the life of Indian women. They enter into a new world and have to mingle with all the people of their surroundings. Maya is one of the Indian diasporic women presented by Anita desai. She is also a sensitive woman. Desai’s novel beautifully depicts the Indian women position and situation through the character of Maya.
An attempt by UDHAYA KUMAR & AMBIKA, Tamilnadu
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