Abstract

Voices in the City of Anita Desai, is a novel which discusses the idea of freedom in life. The idea of freedom in life is initiative in the subjective novel, Voices in the City of Anita Desai which eventually emerges as the recurrent theme. The novel in stream of consciousness technique delineates the struggle of the people with brutal forces. The novel in discussion also focuses on human relationship and their freedom of life in its real but inner perspective. The people, characters, in the novel seem to be products of the social ethos which get subjective. The movements and patterns both physical as well as mental get self-analytical but introspective. Therefore, the character’s individual quest for a personal meaning in life or can be called freedom in life, is the recurrent theme of the novel in discussion Voices in the City which happens to be unavoidable interest of the novelist, Anita Desai. The investigation, ‘how the protagonists in the novel of discussion try to make their lives significant, meaningful and ambitious by struggling with the conflicts”. The paper researches the struggle for freedom in life in the novel, Voices in the City.

A comprehensible and new vision of life has been presented in the novel where new visualization of Indian life has emerged as an idea in this novel, Voices in the City. These voices are the different visions of life which have been put into due attention. Through these visions, a concept of freedom in life incorporates itself in the novel, which gives way to forceful characterization of the novel rather than plot construction. The paper investigates three aspects of the novel, Voices in the City. It tells about the voices of the characters, their importance and subtleties in the novels, strong characterization as well as freedom of creativity which is the subjectivity and sensibility of the novel. The novel is narration and exploration of new mood. The denial of life’s realities has been vividly shown effortlessly. A new way has been suggested, too, in a very clear manner. It’s against the dry intellectuality. It is a vivid description of new mood, new sensibility of new generation where, “feelings run riot, and a new mood—‘melting’ mood of heightened sensibility—should arise in consequence” (Hudson, p. 157). The research has been aimed at presenting the delicacies as well as the obvious feelings towards life and their experiences in individual way which obviously achieves a harmonious effect in the novel, Voices in the City written by Anita Desai. It presents a “powerful articulation” (Iyengar, p. 470).

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