The Pursuit of Home and Identity in a Foreign Land: A Thematic Study of Arranged Marriage by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.

Abstract

The present research paper titled The Pursuit of Home and Identity in a Foreign Land: A Thematic Study of Arranged Marriage by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is a critique on little tails about middle-class Bengali Indian women who migrate to the U.S., imagining it to be a place for ideal happiness and a land of "promise." The purpose behind all the narratives would be how Divakaruni makes clear and concise portrayal of women trapped throughout the old world, how women cope as well as how women eventually seek their self-esteem rejected in everyone's bigoted culture. It also looks at how Divakaruni creates short images. Women struggle in all of these narratives to create their independent identification. The attempt aims to find as well as fuse a viable identity within the mainstream U.S. culture. Divakaruni tells the tale of Women in India struggling to adapt to America's sometimes disenfranchising community of the working class throughout this poignant series. 'Arranged Marriage' is a stunningly beautiful and poignant collection that portrays the possibility of change and starting afresh. Freedom is a blessing in disguise as well as an incentive for self-fulfillment for those Indian women living New Lives in America. This means to walk the thicket amongst old and the new convictions and also to appreciate the feelings this confrontation has to offer. Women's struggle in 'Arranged Marriage' is dual; firstly, they struggle for their own identity as an individual free from any patriarchal identity. Secondly, they struggle for an identity which is neither Indian nor American. The common line of thought that runs through the collection is that every now and then, the native flavour peeps through immigrants' lives, leaving them with sudden pangs of nostalgia. The pull of the motherland keeps these unfortunate immigrants divided between the two worlds and cultures.