AbstractsLanguage, Literature & Linguistics

The present thesis attempts to study Arundhati Roy s The God of Small Things newlineand some of her selected essays as multi-voiced narratives, using Bakhtin s concepts of newlinedialogism, where literary and extra literary concerns interact and inform to function as newlinedialogues across cultures, literatures, themes, concepts, genders, genres and styles. It is newlineposited that in Roy s works, no voice, ideology or meaning is absolute or the only truth; truth is rather the outcome of the dialogue between various voices and that it is the dynamic and subversive nature of language that makes truth elusive. newlineThe introductory chapter gives an insight into the literature on Roy s works and a newlinesummary of Bakhtin s important concepts. The second chapter illustrates polyphony of newlinehybrid voices in The God of Small Things. These voices are analyzed mainly in terms of newlinepostcolonial theory. The concept of hybridity in relation to the characters and their place newlinein history and how the theme of the colonized-colonizer can be extended to other power newlinestructures operating in the novel are discussed in this chapter. The voices of the various newlinecharacters are located in the three phases of Adopt , Adapt and Adept and this newlineestablishes a dialogue with Sri Aurobindo s three famous phases of Renaissance. newlineHybridity as an interstitial space of creativity and subversive force will be dealt with in detail. newlineThe third chapter is an attempt to delineate the multiple feminist voices in the newlinenovel. The feminists we come across in the novel belong to different points in time and to newlinea culture that is in constant flux. It is not a single story of the subjugated woman and her newlineprotest but rather we hear several voices reacting to the recurring theme of patriarchy and providing insights into different perceptions of this age old phenomenon. The muted voice of the natural environment also exhibits solidarity with the feminist movement. newline newline%%%Bibliography p238-258, Appendix p259-260